Writing "Do Nows & Transition Words

This year is all about the "Essential Question."  Forget differentiation, this is the new learning fad!  Well...in my school at least.  What's new in my district is the requirement for standards and objectives to be posted, as well as the stress for an essential question to be posted.  This is all needed for the new procedure of administrator "walk-throughs" three plus times a year. Lucky for me, our Literature textbooks include one-two per story/article.  Soooo...I have been incorporating the essential question into about 1/2 of our daily "do nows."  I project something like this from my laptop when students walk in and they get right to work copying.
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October 23, 2015                                       "A Royal Mystery"  (Drama)
Objective: to identify traits of a play/drama               Standards:  CCSS.....

Do Now:  Respond to the essential question for this week's reading in your journals. 

How do art and performance help us understand a text?  

Class Activities: 
1. Essential Question (share)
2. Read "A Royal Mystery" 
3. Complete WB page 10 (HOMEWORK if not completed in class)
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I love this strategy for a few reasons.  And because I love lists, I will list them. ;)

1. Everything an observer could possibly need to know is posted. 
2. The darkness calms students.
3. I have a few quiet minutes to check HW and talk to students if I need to relay any messages.
4. Based off the writing, we discuss and this serves as a great anticipatory set!
5. Students are WRITING!  Often!  
        a. These quick responses are not daunting and students enjoy don't mind doing them.  
        b.  I grade the journals on the weekend and these little bits of writing show me a LOT about my                students skills.  (Some write two pages; others two sentences.)

After grading this week's lessons, I noticed my students do not use transition words.  This weekend, I put a little anchor chart together for them in an easy-to-use/kid-friendly format.  

Here's the link at my TPT:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/TRANSITION-WORDS-LIST-2168419

Feel free to check it out!  Next week I am doing a two day Writing Workshop on Personal Narratives before a long weekend break for the teachers' convention. Let's hope these transition words help my pre-teen cherubs! ;)