Week 01 · Wednesday: Evidence Hunters (Reading and Writing 6-8)

Wednesday: Writing Lab, Two Pieces of Proof

Rocket slides his draft across the Signal Desk. "Repair day was a team effort. Done. Headline, paragraph, finished."

Raven reads it twice. "You say it was a team effort. Where is the proof?"

"Everyone knows it was. They were there."

"The readers were not there," Raven says. "What do you notice about your second sentence? It repeats the first."

Nova hovers over the sign-in sheet pinned to the corkboard. "How many pieces of proof would convince someone who stayed home?" she asks.

Rocket counts the names on the sheet. He counts the people who stayed late. He starts writing again, faster this time.

"Two pieces," he says. "At least two. One piece could be luck."

Learn it: several pieces of evidence

One line of evidence can be a coincidence. Two or three lines that point the same way make a case.

In a report, the evidence is what the report states. Quote the exact words, and give each quote a lead-in.

Lead-ins: the report says, the report notes, according to the report, the writer describes.

Raven models it: "The report notes that eleven neighbors came. It also says four people stayed to fix the railing. Together these show a team effort."

State your point in one clear sentence.
Quote the first piece of evidence with a lead-in.
Quote a second, different piece with a lead-in.
Explain how the two pieces together support your point.

Read it

Repair Day at the Skate Ramp (a report from this week's Signal)
This week The Signal reports on Saturday's repair day at the Maple Street skate ramp.
The ramp had been closed for two weeks after a board at the top came loose.
By nine in the morning, eleven neighbors had gathered at the ramp with tools and work gloves.
Dede from the corner house brought a saw and a box of screws from her garage.
Two older students measured the gap while three younger kids sanded the rough edges.
Raven kept the sign-in sheet. Nova held a light steady when the sun went behind the clouds.
The new board was in place by noon. Then came the part nobody had planned.
A neighbor noticed that the railing wobbled too. Without being asked, four people stayed to tighten every bolt.
By two o'clock, the ramp was open again.
The first rider down was Theo, on a borrowed board, wearing a helmet that was slightly too big.
Asked why she stayed late, one neighbor said, "It is our ramp. You do not fix half of it."
The sign-in sheet lists eleven names. Three of them had never been to the ramp before Saturday.
One of the three, a student from the next street over, asked to be on the list for the next repair.
The ramp is open every day until dusk. The Signal thanks every neighbor who came.
We will report on the next repair day as soon as it is set.

CHECK IT: REPAIR DAY AT THE SKATE RAMP

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Which line is evidence that the repair was a team effort?

Which second piece of evidence also shows teamwork?

What does the neighbor's quote most directly support?

Which detail is explicit in the report?

Statement	True or false?
The ramp opened again by two o'clock.	?
The report says the railing was fixed before the board.	?
Nova held a light when the clouds came.	?
The report says the ramp is closed on Sundays.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISEThe board came first, then the railing. The report says the ramp is open every day until dusk.

How many neighbors signed the sheet? Type the number.

WHY THIS EXERCISEThe number is explicit in the report, and it is the first piece of evidence for a team effort.

LEAD-INS AND QUOTES

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Which sentence cites the report correctly?

Which pair of lines gives TWO different pieces of evidence for teamwork?

Statement	True or false?
A lead-in tells the reader where a quote comes from.	?
Two lines that say the same fact count as two pieces of evidence.	?
Quoting the exact words is better than remembering roughly.	?
"I think" is a good lead-in for evidence from a report.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISELead-ins point at the text. Different facts make different pieces. Exact words let a reader check you.

Try it

Read the repair day report aloud to the corkboard, or to a wall.
Each time you hear a fact a reader could check, say "evidence" out loud.

Write it: Writing Lab

Checklist

My point is one clear sentence about the report.
I quote two different lines as evidence.
Each quote has a lead-in such as "the report says".
I explain how the two pieces together support my point.
Every sentence begins with a capital and ends with a period or a question mark.

Signal notebook: write a paragraph that makes this point: the skate ramp repair was a team effort. Cite two different lines from the report.Now make a different point about the report, your own. Support it with two pieces of evidence and lead-ins.Read your paragraph against the Checklist. Fix one thing, and write down what you fixed.

Two pieces of proof make a case. Tomorrow you will choose between pieces and pick the strongest one.