Transitional Words: The Missing Link

Transitional words and phrases help a story to flow smoothly from one idea to the next. Sometimes students need a visual aid to check whether or not their ideas are flowing effectively.
Read the students' papers to them while using a game like Jenga as you read. The generic version is ideal because the blocks come in three colors, which can represent the introduction, body and conclusion of the papers.
Stack the blocks by color and each time a student has a weak or ineffective transition, remove one of the blocks. For example, if you have the red blocks on top, and there is a weak transition in the introduction, you would remove a block from that section. If a student moved from one idea to the next with no transitional words or phrases at all this would leave gaps or holes in the writing. In this situation, you would remove two blocks from the game instead of one.
The weakly organized papers will be recognizable by the way the tower of blocks looks after the entire composition is read. It will usually fall apart, much like the story written by a student whose writing is filled with weak or nonexistent transitions.
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THINKING CAPS - The Reading Writing Connection

During class time, a good teacher will want to pause when he or she finds higher level vocabulary words in the story. This creates a teachable moment. After that, however, where does the word go?
Unfortunately, most of the time it becomes like a mere acquaintance: out of sight, out of mind.... never to be thought of or used again. After noticing this fact, I began using an idea that has proven very effective in my classroom.
Recognize your Reading time as an excellent opportunity to make a stronger connection to Writing and allow the students to bring their own caps or hats from home to wear. From Dr. Suess to Davy Crockett and Nemo to the simple but fun "beanie" hat; you name it; at some point over my teaching career I have probably seen it! Encourage the children to express themselves creatively - some may even want to make their own.
As oral reading takes place, they can take out their hats and wear them as a reminder to make the Writing connection. Each student will need a multi-subject notebook with a separate section for each of these items: difficult or new vocabulary, sentences written in very unique ways, similes, metaphor, idiom, onomatopoeia, personification, hyperbole, etc. For greater impact, a teacher in the lower grade levels may prefer to decide which examples are to be included, while in upper level classes, students can take ownership in ;this activity by making these decisions on their own. In this way, each notebook becomes a reflection of the individual's ability and his or her life perspective.
Later, during Writing assignments, the students will use their notebooks as a tool to improve the overall quality of their papers. Your more capable writers will often drive a greater sense of pride from working with examples they've produced themselves than those they can get from professionally designed posters or other materials made by someone other than themselves.

Better Vocabulary Exercise

Even though you have told your students time after time not to use certain worn-out words, bad habits are hard to break. This activity can be utilized when you are reading compositions orally to the students and giving feedback.
Before you begin reading, write each student's name on tag board paper with a permanent marker. Each time you come across an illegal, overused or "watered down" word as you read a student's composition, squirt the tag board with his or her name one time. This makes a very strong visual, displaying which students are still using too many baby words and which are improving. The winner is the student with the driest tag board after all compositions have been read.
To convince the losers of the importance of using higher vocabulary, have them go back and change all their ineffective word choices to better ones. This will take the thrill out of those who simply use baby words because they want to see their papers get wet. Just don't spray the students!