Customer Reviews

Razzle Dazzle Writing: Achieving Excellence Through 50 Target Skills

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Many teachers realize that writing is such a critical element in the Florida curriculum. As fourth grade teachers who are expected to perfect certain skills in writing we have found that
Razzle Dazzle is an outstanding tool in which to present and perfect these skills. The key to Razzle Dazzle is that this program is extremely well rounded in all subject areas. It pulls in Spelling, English, Writing, and others to engrain them within each other. Therefore, when a student begins to write all the tools have been established in every area and the child is able to produce a beautiful piece that has great vision, higher vocabulary, and sufficient detail.

After working for a year using Razzle Dazzle we have witnessed an amazing amount of growth unprecedented by previous years writings. We were able to improve a greater percentage of students' work with greater ease on the student and the teacher. This was possible because the program breaks the skills down in lessons, repeat concepts, and has them creatively designed. The skills involve teamwork, peer teaching, and allow for several revisions for perfecting thoughts and ideas. Therefore, this allows for children to raise their own standards and build a stronger background of knowledge pertaining to writing.

In conclusion, we have become so amazed at even what the average to low student could produce that we are convinced we will continue to utilize this program and spread the good news to every teacher we encounter. We thank Lissa Forney for giving us the guidance to achieve the goals we so desperately craved to meet.

Razzle Dazzle Writing is, by far, the best teacher resource I have ever purchased and used in my classroom. Not only is it "teacher friendly", it has made teaching writing an absolute joy. My students are eager to learn each of the 50 Target Writing Skills presented in Razzle Dazzle because they know that they can easily incorporate the skills into their daily writing. Additionally, each skill fosters creativity and individuality as student drafts are revised through the Writing Process. I have seen reluctant writer's turn into enthusiastic, confident and mature writers as result of Razzle Dazzle Writing. Melissa Forney's approach equips students with the tools and writer's tricks needed to be successful and excel. Razzle Dazzle Writing naturally teaches to the 6-Traits in a positive, practical manner. Melissa Forney takes the guess work out of teaching writing and ensures that all students will be able to celebrate their own quality writing.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING! 94% OF MY SIXTH-GRADE STUDENTS MET OR EXCEEDED THE A.I.M.S. WRITING STATE ASSESSMENT THIS YEAR AFTER USING THIS BOOK! DID I MENTION MY SCHOOL IS A TITLE ONE SCHOOL? MORE THAN THAT WAS THE WRITING THAT MY STUDENTS PRODUCED. THEY USED ONOMATOPOEIA, STRONG VERBS, SIMILES, TAKE-AWAY ENDINGS. MY STUDENTS BECAME AUTHORS AND WERE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF THE WAY THEY COULD WRITE. THIS BOOK MAKES WRITING FUN FOR THE KIDS AND THE TEACHER. THE FIVE-MINUTE PLAYS WERE A HIT TOO! THE LISTS THAT THE KIDS COULD REFER BACK TO FOR STRONG VERBS, JUICY-COLORS, TRANSITIONAL PHRASES, ETC. MADE WRITING A BREEZE. KIDS HAVE AMAZING IDEAS---THEY JUST HAVE TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO GET THEM ON PAPER. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND "GRAMMAR WITH A GIGGLE" TOO. "GRAMMAR WITH A GIGGLE" GIVES KIDS EXCELLENT VOCABULARY TO USE IN THEIR STORIES AND TEACHES GRAMMAR IN A FUN WAY.

This book is something special. You really have to get it to understand what I mean by that. It just has so much personality and so many witty ideas. It has actually sparked my creativity in more ways than one. I've really enjoyed the fact that it is like a handbook on the basics, but also a toolbox of ideas. Most handbook style books that I have come across get boring real fast. Melissa Forney must have spent a lot of time and heart on this one.

Sometimes I even just look over the table of contents to make sure that I have crossed my "T"s and dotted my "I"s. Just look at the search this book icon to see what I mean.

Fabulous book that I discovered last fall. I used many of the mini-lessons in the text and found my writing test scores went up tremendously. Great ideas and easy to prepare lessons. My students loved the poems and plays that were designed to help the students recall different writing skills.

I have used this book with my own lessons and bought it for all the 2-5 teachers in my building. Very user friendly. Has great ideas for mini-lessons and wonderful resources to copy for students to keep in their wirters' notebooks. I highly recommend this book!

This book is aimed toward older students, grades 3-8, but I have 2nd graders. Another teacher at my school recommended it, so I gave it a try. While not every lesson is appropriate for my grade level, a lot of it is. I especially like how there is a mini-play (2 or 3 minutes) to go along with the lessons. My students love the section of word choice, where there is a play of Strong Verb vs Weak Verb (like a boxing match). It has reproducible reference sheets for the students to use for transition words, color words, strong verbs, etc. These are great to add to a writing folder. I can't imagine how great this would be for the intermediate grades. Great resource! Especially when you aren't given much of a guideline on how to teach writing!

I enjoyed this book. It gave some very practical advice on creating a workshop environment for writing in the Intermediate grades. I have used the ideas (modified) with younger writers and they are equally as beneficial.

I think this is a must have for anyone who would like to put some Umphhh back into writing in the classroom.

This book has been so helpful to me in preparing a writing class for our homeschool co-op for beginning writers. It is incredibly thorough, offering handouts for students as well as some worksheet type practice, and guidance for the teacher. The author has even included some skits to introduce writing concepts such as: strong verbs, metaphors, details, revising a draft, etc. All very humorous and cleverly done. The book has a wealth of information on essay writing, including an introduction to the 5 paragraph essay. Creative writing is also covered with her "story glove" approach. Here the 5 fingers on the glove represent the following: grabber (starting off the story in a way that grabs the reader---she has a whole section on different ways to do this), problem or challenge, action, solution, "takeaway" ending--which is the lesson the main character learns by the end of the story. The book is full of prompt ideas for expository writing as well as fictional narrative writing. If you are familiar with the 6 traits of writing, she doesn't use that exact method, but I can find all the elements within her book. There are also checklists and assessment charts. The author, Melissa Forney, has a fun, engaging style that the students and teacher will appreciate. I HIGHLY recommend this book for elementary aged writing classes. I bought several different books to supplement my curriculum and I could have just bought this one and been done.

I work in a sixth grade classroom with second-language learners. This book is the best. I showed it to my fifth grade colleague, and he bought it. What is great about this book is that it has lists of words you can give to the kids such as strong verbs or sight words or transition words. It has wonderful teacher sheets to copy for teaching mini lessons. I used many of her ideas such as show/don't tell, or teaching similes or teaching dialogue. Seriously was not a book that I put on the shelf and rarely looked at. It's hard buying a book and not being able to thumb through it, but I tell you that you won't be disappointed with this one!