Book Punch Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step - Merit Software

Merit Online Learning User Guide for Teachers – Book Punch Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step
Book Punch
Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step
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Merit Online Learning User Guide for Teachers – Book Punch Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step page 2
Teacher Orientation to Book Punch Structure or "Anatomy of the Program"
The following pages show the steps students work through to write their paragraphs.
“My Progress” across the top of the screen indicates the section on which the student is working.

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INTRODUCTION
Introduces the book on which the writing prompts are based.
First students will see a series of introductory screens.

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TOPIC
Students are given several writing prompts and are asked to choose one as the focus of their paragraph.

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TOPIC
Students personalize Text-to-Self Topics
In the Text-to-Self writing prompts,
students are asked to enter their own
personalized subject, which will be the
topic of their paragraph.

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PRE-WRITING
A series of questions encourage students to brainstorm about the topic they have chosen to write about.
Tips are available if the student wants help.

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PRE-WRITING
The program places students' answers in the Pre-Writing Notepad.
The program places students' answers
in the Pre-Writing Notepad.

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PRE-WRITING
Students are encouraged to think about the topic and list all of their ideas.
After students have answered the prewriting
questions they are asked if they
have more ideas to add.
The program engages advanced
students by encouraging them to add
more ideas on the topic.

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WRITING - OPENING SENTENCE
The program provides sample opening sentences.

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WRITING - OPENING SENTENCE
After viewing sample sentences, students write an original opening sentence to introduce their paragraph.

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MORE PRE-WRITING
Students look at their opening sentence together with their pre-writing items.
Students are asked if they wish to list more pre-writing items to support their main idea.

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MORE PRE-WRITING
Students review the pre-writing items for relevance to the opening sentence.

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WRITING - BODY
Students write sentences for the body of the paragraph.
The Pre-Writing Notepad reappears with
the Writing Notepad next to it. The
student's opening sentence appears in
the Writing Notepad.
Students begin the body of the
paragraph by choosing an item from the
Pre-Writing Notepad. Then they use
this item in a sentence, which is saved
in the Writing Notepad.

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WRITING - BODY
Students write sentences for the body of the paragraph.
Students are encouraged to write
complete sentences. The sentence
must begin with a capital letter, have
appropriate end punctuation, and
include at least two words.

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WRITING - BODY
Students write sentences for the body of the paragraph.
Students continue to choose items and
write several sentences to complete the
body of the paragraph.

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ORGANIZING
Students decide which sentences to use and in which order.
The Writing Notepad containing the
student's sentences appears on the left
half of the screen. A Paragraph
Notepad with the student's topic
sentence is on the right half of the
screen.
Students transfer sentences from the
Writing Notepad and arrange them in
the Paragraph Notepad, deciding which
sentences to use and in which order.
All the sentences do not have to be
used, but at least four must be chosen
for the student to proceed.

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ORGANIZING
Students review their work in paragraph form.
In the second step of the Organizing
section, students see their work for the
first time in paragraph form in the
Paragraph Draft Box.

ORGANIZING
Students add transitional words.
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Students are encouraged to add
transitional words to help the sentences
flow smoothly from one thought to the
next. The program includes examples
of how to connect ideas in different
ways.
From this point on, students may print
their work. (The printout will show the
section of the program from which the
work was printed.)

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WRITING - CLOSING SENTENCE
The program provides sample closing sentences.

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WRITING - CLOSING SENTENCE
After viewing sample sentences, students write an original closing sentence to end their paragraph.

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REVISING - OVERVIEW
Students review their whole paragraph in the Paragraph Draft.

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REVISING - OVERVIEW
The program guides students in the use of the Add, Change text, Remove, or Move buttons.

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REVISING - OVERVIEW
A series of screens asks students to check their work and suggests places to use the editing tools to make changes.

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OPTIONS MENU
Students are presented with optional lessons to help them improve their writing.
The Options Menu contains four
subsections: STYLE, SENTENCE
STRUCTURE, GRAMMAR AND
PROOFREADING.
Each subsection contains lessons
designed to help students improve their
writing.
The record-keeping program lets the
teacher know which subsections the
students have completed.
The Reading Check does not include
the Options Menu.

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STYLE
Students are encouraged to review their choice of nouns, adjectives and verbs.
Examples show how changes can make paragraphs more interesting to read.

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SENTENCE STRUCTURE
The program reminds students about the common sentence structure problem of run-on sentences.
Examples show how to correct them.

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GRAMMAR
Students are encouraged to improve their use of commas.
Examples show some of the many ways to use commas in a paragraph.

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PROOFREADING
The program reminds students about the proper use of capital letters.
Examples show students how to use capital letters correctly.
In the first proofreading screen, students
see their work in paragraph form in the
Paragraph Draft Box.
After reading their paragraph students
review their use of capital letters.

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PROOFREADING
Students revisit their paragraph for spelling errors. Spell checking is available here as a review tool.

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PUBLISHING
Students are given the opportunity to continue revising their work before publishing.

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PUBLISHING
Students have a final opportunity to review their work before saving it.
The Publishing Menu has three choices:
Review:
Review the revising sections again.
Spell check:
This is a final opportunity to review
spelling.
Save:
This saves the student’s work to the
student’s online portfolio.
After students save their paragraphs the
Publishing Menu changes allowing them
to print out their completed work.

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PUBLISHING
After students save their work they are congratulated and presented with new choices in the Publishing Menu.
After the students' paragraphs are
saved, students are presented with
these options:
Print:
The student’s work appears in a
browser window for printing. Name and
date appear at the beginning of the
printout. Ther Reading Check printouts
report the student’s key point score. The
student’s Evidence and Inference
paragraphs display the topic’s prewriting
prompts.
Word Processor:
Copies the student’s work to the
Clipboard so that it can be pasted into a
word processor document.
New Topic:
This button allows students to start a
new topic without going back to the
Learning Center.