Have You Met Rudolf Revising Reindeer?

1. Have You Met Rudolf Revising Reindeer? He knows how to “Revise” your writing

2. Read your Paper • After you have written your 1st draft, read it to yourself. • You revise with your ears. • By reading your writing, you can hear how it sounds. • Read it to a friend or family member and ask them how it sounds.

3. Elaborate With Details • Create a picture in the reader’s mind. • Use juicy color words (raspberry red, sapphire, shimmering white) • Use emotion words. Annie was delighted when she received her dazzling gift. • Use sensory words. creamy, velvety, buttery etc.. • Use exact names for nouns. For example…Annie was delighted as she peered out her window. The cloudless sky was painted with strokes of raspberry red and sapphire. The birds were chirping and the smell of fresh cut grass welcomed spring.

4. Vivid Verbs • A good writer captures the reader’s attention with strong verbs. • Instead of said, use complained, groaned, moaned, whispered, begged, pleaded, hissed. • Instead of looked use gazed, peered, admired, observed, examined, glanced. • Instead of went use strolled, darted, scurried, tip toed, crawled, zoomed, whizzed. • Instead of got use received, grabbed, tagged, earned,

5. Indent Paragraphs • Every time you begin a new paragraph, indent. • To indent you can use two fingers. • By indenting, you are showing you know it is a new idea, thought, or event.

6. Show Don’t Tell • By showing and not telling the reader of your paper can picture details. • To show sad, you can say tears trickled down her cheeks, she had a frown, and she slumped over as she buried her face into her hands. • To show happy you can say he had a grin form ear to ear, he was jumping up and down, and yelling yahooo! • To show scared, you can write her heart was racing, her palms were sweaty, and she kept biting her nails.

7. Include Figurative Language • Use similes (She is as bright as a star) • Use metaphors (She is a star) • Idiom (It was raining cats and dogs) • Alliteration (plump, pink pumpkins) • Hyperbole = exaggeration (I have told you a million times)

8. Neat Handwriting • To be able to read your great ideas, we need to understand your handwriting. • Take your time to write legibly so we can understand what you have written.

9. Grammar and Punctuation Counts! • Write in complete sentences. • Begin a sentence with a capital letter. • End a sentence with a punctuation mark. • Items in a series should be separated by commas. • Maintain a consistent verb tense. • Do not use double negatives. • Capitalize the pronoun “I” • Capitalize proper nouns • Capitalize the names of the weekdays, months, and holidays. • Use correct tense formation.

10. Replace Dull Words • Words like pretty, ugly, big, small, good, bad, nice, and tasty are dull. • Replace them with words like lovely, hideous, colossal, petit, stupendous, horrendous, pleasant, and finger-licking good are more interesting.

11. Express Thoughts • Great writers share their thoughts and ideas. • To share a thought or idea, you can say I pondered, I wondered, I imagined, I hoped, I wished. Example: Maria heard a rustle in the bush and thought to herself, Could that have been snake?”

12. Include Variety of Sentences • Use a variety of sentences. • Avoid starting each sentence the same such as then, then, then, then, or and, and, and, and, or I, I, I, I. • Start with transitional phrases. • Have a question in the middle of the paragraph.

13. Never Say the Following • These are my three reasons. • Hi, my name is… • Oh, my gosh! • I forgot to tell you. • The end… • I hope you liked my story. • I forgot to tell you… • Bye, I’m outta here!

14. Dialogue • Using dialogue or conversation is great! • In an expository only use up to two dialogue. For example, “Bummer!” “Hooray!” • In a narrative, only use it if it is important information. For instance, She whispered, “You grab his attention and I’ll sneak over and steal the key.”

15. Elaborate • Use examples to elaborate. Abraham Lincoln was an honest man. For example, every time he had extra change, even if it was a penny, he would still return it. • Use a personal experience by starting with One time. One time, he walked for miles just to return a penny.

16. End with FLAME • In your ending remember to include • Feelings (I feel…) • Lesson (The lesson I learned is…) • Action (From now on I will…) • Memory (I will never forget the time or I will always remember when …) • Express a wish or hope ( I wish … I hope..)

17. Revise…Revise… Revise… • Using revising reindeer after you write your 1st draft, will help you score a 4 or more. • Keep reading great writing and share it with family and friends. • Keep learning ways to improve your writing! • Keep a vocabulary bank and every time you learn a new word, include it in your vocabulary bank.