Editing Checklist Made Easy!

I've seen a lot of different editing check lists out there, but I haven't really found one that matches the 6 writing traits for the third/fourth/fifth grade level.  So I made one.  Here is one of the editing checklists that I use with my students for nearly every piece of writing that we take all the way to the publishing stage.  Feel free to print and use in your classroom as well!

Editing Checklist

Use the 6 writing traits to edit your work carefully.  Review your work with an editing checklist to polish your work. Make sure that your story meets all of the following:

 1.  First, check that you have one main idea for your whole story.  Take out any random sentences and make sure that you have supporting details in each paragraph, with at least three sentences per paragraph. (Ideas & Content)

 

2.  Next, make sure that each paragraph is separated with an indented line or that you skipped a line between each paragraph.  Check that each paragraph has one main idea and supporting details. (Organization)

 

3.  Now, make sure that all of your sentences start in different ways.  Add transition words or rearrange sentences to make them start differently. (Sentence Fluency)

 

4.  Highlight any word you think might possibly be misspelled.  Look up these words on dictionary.com, in dictionaries, and on spellcheckers. (Conventions)

5.  Make sure that you have at least one great juicy, descriptive, or feeling word in each sentence. (Word Choice & Voice)

6.  Examine the first letter of each sentence and look for proper nouns (names of people, places, or things) and check that they are capitalized. (Conventions)

7.  Read your entire story aloud with a whisper phone, and change anything that needs to be edited. (Sentence Fluency)

8.  Re-write your story on a fresh new sheet of lined paper. (Presentation)

 

 

Do you have a favorite editing checklist?  What are some ways that you've gotten your students excited about editing?  How do you help them find misspelled words?  Leave a comment, repin this page, and enjoy writing with your students:)