We as teachers don't always need to be re-inventing the wheel. A multitude of resources are available on the Internet that will help you with teaching using the Six Traits. Some quality links follow. Enjoy.

Northwest Regional Educational Lab is a tremendous resource for teachers beginning with the Six Traits. Besides providing quality rubric, many other resources are available at a click. Much of what is available there is free.

• About Six Trait includes Research, FAQ, Trait Myths, Beginning Writers, and Info Requests.
• Scoring includes Scoring Guides (rubrics) and Scoring practice.
• Teaching includes Getting Started, Lesson Plans, Discussion Forums, and Prompts.
• Developmental Continuum in Writing provides information on how to develop a program in writing for a school using the Wauwatosa School District as an example.
• Six-Trait Assessment for Beginning Writers provides information for teachers of the primary grades. (You might be interested in the other links I've collected for lower grade teachers---Links for Primary Writing Teachers)
• 6+1 Trait^TM Writing Products is the site where you can purchase materials to support Six Traits instruction from NWREL.

From Ginny's Site Links many valuable resources are available. If you are looking for literature to align with the traits, you might use the following sites:

• Using Picture Books to Teach Narrative and Six Trait Writing
• Six Traits Resource Guide Litchfield Elementary School District Six Traits Literature Resource Guide
• The books that Vicki Spandel wrote that align traits with literature For Elementary and Middle School and For Middle School and High School.

It's very important to have writing samples to use when working with students. The following sites provide scored writing samples:

• From NWREL Scoring Papers by score, trait, and grade level
• From Federal Way Schools Grade 1 | Grade2 | Grade 3 | Grade 4 | Grade 5 | Grade 6 | Grades 7-8 | Grades 9-10 | Grades 11-12
• From Houghton Mifflin Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Grade 4 | Grade 5

There are many sites that have free lesson plans for Six Traits.

• Kris Nelson's 105 free lessons (You can download the lessons free from this link and then email Kris for the free materials that go with the lessons---She asks that you send $5.00 to pay for the CD and mailing costs. Further information on link site.)
• Writing in the Modes (Persuasive, Narrative, and Expository)
• Six Trait Lessons from Kent School District
• Writing Lesson Ideas by trait and grade at Aberdeen School District
• Six Traits ideas at Madison School District (PDF format)
• Teaching the Six Traits from Tucson Unified School District along with this URL
• Six Traits Mini Lesson Plans by trait (use left hand menu) from Albuquerque Public Schools
• Lesson Plans for Six Traits from Flowing Wells School District

This information comes directly from my site, but sometimes too much can be confusing---so I'll stop with these references and hope you'll find some things you can really use to help you teach using the Six Traits. My published materials are available through Teacher TimeSavers and photos of the completed projects are here.

Resources via Vicki Spandel who started with NWREL and now is working with Great Source

• 
  Creating Writers : Through 6-Trait Writing Assessment and Instruction
  by Vicki Spandel
• Write Kits from grade 3 through grade 8 by Vicki Spandel and this link also includes the books that suggest lessons for Six Traits tied to literature (near bottom of page)

Visit Ginny's Educational WebPages!