The Common Core State Standards for Language Arts state that media skills should be blended throughout the reading and writing standards. Wixie provides a powerful platform for students in the middle grades to “employ technology thoughtfully to enhance their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use.” 

In middle grades, students are transitioning from thinking like a child to thinking like an adult. They are capable of dealing with conflict and complexity, and should be asked to write for a purpose beyond the academic. Writing to entertain others, raise awareness and change minds can help these writers explore the new boundaries of their thinking.

Students can use Wixie to both organize their ideas and research, as well as share writing to impact the world around them. Here's how.

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The friendly letter is a ubiquitous elementary project, but without a meaningful context it often ends up as a rote exercise in following formatting rules. With the advent of digital tools and social media, the rules for formatting a friendly letter writing are also changing. While many bemoan this change, digital tools also made it easier to both edit writing, add visuals and voice, and share immediately with an audience beyond the classroom.

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Designed by teachers and educators at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, the 6+1 Trait® Writing Model of Instruction & Assessment organizes writing skills into seven “traits” that provide a common language for writing instruction.

The traits are:

1. Ideas
2. Organization
3. Voice
4. Word Choice
5. Sentence Fluency
6. Conventions
7. Presentation

Using these traits can help students see techniques of great writing, as well as take action to build specific skills that improve their writing.

Here are ways you can use Wixie to help students practice and support skills building for each of the traits.

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You can use Wixie tutorials to empower students (and teachers) to create to learn. The Wixie Tutorial Collection is made of documents you can view or even copy to customize.

Don't worry if the content of the tutorial doesn't exactly match your curriculum. Use it to give students a quick set of basic skills so they can apply the same steps to build a similar project that meets your learning goals. Here are some ways you can use each tutorial.

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From templates you can print, to digital greetings with recorded messages, Wixie makes it easy to create Mother's Day and Father's Day messages parents love.

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