Rainbow Editing

Editing and revising? Probably not an activity that thrills your child. Try adding a splash of color to the task with rainbow editing. Teacher and parent approved, rainbow editing is a technique used to promote skill and confidence in even the most reluctant writers.

What You Need:

• Colored pencils
• Rough draft of a written assignment
• Glue stick
• Paper
• Pencil
• Poster board

What To Do:

1. Reread the rough draft with your child
2. Make sure you have one colored pencil for each color in the rainbow.
3. Let your child know that rainbow editing isn't used just for pointing out mistakes -- it also can show what works really well.
4. Have your child edit his rough draft using the color key below. (Feel free to adapt the color key to suit your child's needs.)
5. Use a red pencil to circle misspelled words.
6. Use an orange pencil to underline descriptive words.
7. Use a yellow pencil to circle transition words.
8. Use a green pencil to underline the topic sentence and the concluding sentence.
9. Use a blue pencil to mark words that should be capitalized or to add in punctuation.
10. Use a purple pencil to circle boring words that could be replaced.
11. If your child is having a tough time getting used to the technique, help him out. This can be a team effort. You can even try taking turns to spot words or phrases that need to be marked.
12. After the editing is finished, have your child write out his final draft on a separate sheet of paper.
13. Help him glue the draft and the finished product side by side on the poster board.
14. Have him use his colored pencil to write in the color key in the margins..
15. Encourage him to decorate the rest of the poster board.
16. Hang up the rainbow editing display in his room, an artsy reminder of how fun good editing can be.