Happy Thanksgiving!

As of the last two days of writing, some of my students have been choosing to draw in their writer's notebooks.  Some of my students are actually putting ideas in there via drawings, while others are actually wasting a lot of time when they could be writing!  Where do I go from here?  Reteach what a writer does?  Or reteach how to use the writer's notebook?  Ideas please!

On another note, I also taught my students how to reread and gave them 2 sentence starters for the share chair!  It was so neat to watch some of them practice what I taught in the mini lesson! I love watching my students grow as writers!

In other news..

A teacher who has started Writer's Workshop asked me this question today.  I have no clue what to tell her, so I thought I'd put it out here.

After 2 “Publishing Week”s, I have students publishing about all sorts of things!  And now—I don’t know what to do with their completed work.   I had them all write on one prompt last week, so those are going in a “short-stories” compilation book--- but what do I do with their different stories about different topics?  (especially those that are only 1 page front and back….)

Please and thank you!

It seems I am the only one alive on this blog!  Anyone out there?

EKK!

Melissa!  I am SO glad you are back in action! 

Here's an update on what's going on in 1st grade.

Today I introduced the "special paper" 1st grade writers use.  I modeled writing a story on it (as far as teaching goes it went well, but as far as mini skirts go, it was definitely on the retro broomstick skirt side-if you know what I mean!)  Then I let them try their own special paper.  I started their engines by letting them brainstorm what they would draw/write at the beginning/middle/end with a partner.  I took notes while they were writing. And I added FOUR names to the brag board :) 

I am a little weary about what to teach next.  Here's what I saw:

Some students only drew pictures and put their hands on their head (a signal we do a lot in other subjects in 1st grade to show that they are done and ready for me to check their work). 

So many raised hands!  I tried not to answer their questions- to get them into the routine of actual workshop, but it was hard!  They just sit there forever thinking I'll come :)

When students finished (or thought they were finished when they only drew the pictures :0) they started talking to each other and distracting others around them.

Some students didn't even get to the writing and spent their time drawing/adding color- even after I modeled quick pictures in my lesson.

Some of my students are having a hard time writing Beginning Middle End (this showed up when we told oral stories as well).

Where should I start tomorrow? 

I'm thinking maybe "Yesterday, while we were writing I saw a lot of people show me they were finished, but they didn't know what to do when they finished."  and explain they should get their bookbag.  I feel like I need to be modeling BME but I must learn to keep my lessons short!  Should I talk about crayons last also?  Or wait on that?  Am I headed in the right direction?  There is so much to teach and so little time!  What's the most important thing to teach next?  EKK!

What are your thoughts, writers?

So Sorry

To those of you who have posted on here... let me say I'm sorry for not reading and checking this every night. I need to change the settings to notify me when there are new posts! I'm here now.. and I'm working to comment on your posts/questions! KEEP THE BLOG ROLLING! This can become whatever you all need it or want it to be! :)

Melissa

Thanks Melissa!

Our Dean of Students attended the 1 day Writer's Workshop training last Thursday.  I got to talk with her about what she thought, and she was so impressed!  Thanks Melissa for spreading your excitement!  Now there are two teachers who will catch on fire at our school! :) I am very, very excited!

Assessment

I did my baseline assessment and wanted to know what the next step was. The students are super excited about writer's workshop, but I need to know what I do after the assessment. Thanks for your comments and help.

Questions

Today I was able to take a baseline assessment and begin my anecdotal notes.  Tomorrow I will introduce the Writer's Notebook and begin to decorate!! 

I was also able to share what I learned at the WW Institute with the 1st and 2nd grade teams today.  They had some great questions that I thought I would get your feedback on a couple because I frankly do not know the answer to them.

1. During mini lessons, are we suppose to teach grammar? Or should we devote another time during the day to spend on that part of writing?  (5-10 minutes seems like crunch time for these lessons!  Yikes!)

2. Is it just a teacher preference to allow your students to draw before they write, or is there an age appropriate answer?

I would love to know your thoughts! 

Just checking to see if I am successful at connecting and posting. Looking forward to Monday, when my students will begin their writer's notebooks. Good wishes for all you writers out there!

Great Fun!

Had a lot of fun at the session yesterday and can't wait for the next session!

Day one

Day one of the Writers workshop. Off we go. Hope this turns out great.

Hello from Donna

This morning has been a great learning session, in order to get students fired up about writing.

Welcome to the Third Writer's Workshop Institute

I want to welcome you and tell you just how EXCITED I am for you to be a part of our Third Writer's Workshop Institute here at ESC Region 12. Writer's Workshop Institute is powerful and it can be transforming for your classroom writing instruction if you choose to let it!  Becoming a teacher of writers is a journey... and with Writer's Workshop Institute you are surrounded by others on the same path.  I challenge you to be willing to "not know" where you are going, but to forge ahead anyway. I will hold your compass, I will be your guide. It is my honor to be your teacher! Lace up your hiking boots... here we go!

A Visit to Academy ISD

I think the first thing that struck me upon entrance to Mrs. Jahns' classroom was the amount of "doing" on the part of her students. Now, keep in mind I am here the Friday before the last (all early release) 4 days of school.  Students were anxious to get ONE MORE THING published before the end of their third grade year. Unfortunately my camera does not want to cooperate with the upload so this is an image free posting session. Sorry Monica!


This a classroom full of tools for writers. A well stocked publishing center with fancy scissors, sharp crayons, several choices of paper, alphabet stencils, shape book patterns, staplers, drawing books, etc.  Students were coming and going, getting the supplies needed so that they could publish their writing properly. 

I watched the work for a bit and then I pulled in close to a few writers.

One writer was telling about her field trip to Pearson- yes- the place that makes the TAKS test! She had a detailed paper telling all about what they did and what they saw there. However, there were several places where I was confused.  After she read her story to me, I told her about how I had never been to Pearson and how it had been a long time since I went on a field trip. 
I asked her, "Do you think there are any parts in your story where you think I might get confused about what happened on the field trip?" She nodded her head yeah. I made her read it again to me and I told her I was going to stop her if I got confused. So we did just that.
I stopped her three times. Each time I asked her- "Why am I confused there?" She had great things to say- "You don't know who Rachel is!" or "You don't know where Pearson is!" or "You don't know who they are".
She of course then clarified those parts and I reminded her to always think about the people who will read what you've written, and ask yourself, "Will they know what I am saying or will they be confused?" 
It was a great conference.

Next I moved over to a gentleman writing a CHAPTER BOOK! Oh yes.. you heard right. He was on Chapter 5.  I didn't read all five chapters, I just started to talk with him about his book.
"Tell me about your book."
"It's about an octopus who gets lost from him mom and looks to find her."
"Wow, that sounds interesting. What has happened so far?"
He gave me a good synopsis.
"What is going to happen next?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I kind of figure it out at I write it."
Oh??!!! Oh no....no.. that is not how writers work is the thought that came through my head! I of course did not say it that way. Instead, I grabbed a chapter book (Romona and Beezus) from the (very well stocked I might add) Classroom Library. I showed him the chapters listed in that book.
I asked him, "Do you think Beverly Cleary just figured this book out as she wrote it?"
He shook his head no. I said, "How do you think she did it?"
"She had a plan for it."
"Maybe we need a plan for your book too. A plan can always change, but I do think writers like you and writers like Beverly Cleary have 'an idea' of a plan before and while they write." So together we made the plan and I left him the plan for his future chapters on a post-it note. Kids KNOW how writers work, sometimes they just need us to hold them accountable for doing what writers do!

This again was a classroom full of doing which is why I'm so sad that none of my pictures seem to want to upload. "Server rejected" is the message I am given.... well fooey!

It was a great day and a great visit with writers in 3rd grade at Academy. I also got to go give a hug to a former Kinder student now in 4th grade!  She had been in Mrs. Jahns' Classroom the year before! 
Thanks for inviting me to your classroom Monica. 

Everyone... have a GREAT SUMMER!

Welcomed with Open Arms in Clifton

Awww... Clifton! I have been there several times over the last few years to train staff and walking the halls I saw so many familiar faces. Before heading inside I watched a PK class have races out front. I had forgotten all about RACES! I used to do the same thing with my Kindergarten class at the start of recess beginning in the spring.  Kindergarten kids (and in this case PK) are so cute when they RUN!

I wasn't just there to watch recess however, first up on my schedule was Kindergarten! You know how much I love it down in Kindergarten. I showed up in time for some singing and dancing. "Who let the N out? N.. N...N..N...N"

I of course joined IN!  Then we all hunkered down on the rug for our mini-lesson.  Ms. Ripley was showing kids how to write MORE in their stories.  More in the middle than just one sentence.  We had a great time watching and helping her think about MORE to say in the middle about the class trip to the zoo.  The students were itching to get to their own writing. And WRITE THEY DID! Wow, Ms. Ripley, you have really taken these writers far this year! LOOK at the writing that Kindergarten kids are doing in Clifton!

I was with both of the writers whose stories are featured above and I made each of them talk through their story first.  They didn't want to, but I made them.  Talking it through it so important. That is how the part about the giraffes long blue tongue and how the elephants were eating the hay with their trunks became part of their story.  If they say it, most often they will write it in their story too! Thinking about an ending was something else we talked about. If this were my class if might be something I would do a few mini-lessons about.  How do you think of a sentence that ends a story- a sentence that doesn't sound like there is more story coming?  I think these two writers got it!

I was thoroughly enjoying my time in Kindergarten, but they left me and headed out of the room on their way to an afternoon activity class... bye Kindergarten... I hear 1st Grade calling my name! 

I walked into Jennifer Gauer's classroom and she sat me right down next to Zac. Evidently Zac was eager as a beaver to "publish" his writing, but didn't want to take the time and care it takes to get something to a publishing state. Jennifer had recently made some Writer's Checklists to help her 1st Graders think about all the things necessary during an editing or revising stage before publishing.  I asked her if she gave me liberty to go after this the way my writing heart was telling me to and she said "YES PLEASE!"

The first thing I knew I needed to do with this checklist was color code it. When kids edit/revise I want to see evidence of that work on their papers and I always did that using colored pencils or crayons.  In 3rd grade they used those four sided colored pens.  The first three things on the checklist were easy- Name, Date and Title. Check, Check, Check. The next ones were not so simple. And I actually would change the order on the checklist- something I didn't realize until I started using it with Zac.(See how it is reordered below).
Next We should have checked if all the sentences matched the title. We made that green. We read each sentences and asked "Is that about the seasons?" We found that a sentence about jumping in leaves all night long and playing at his cousin's house had nothing to do with the seasons and using a green crayon, Zac crossed them OFF!  This was a big deal! I really thought he might fight me to do this, but he went right along with it. 

Next we checked if there were at LEAST 3 sentences, yes, of course. But after crossing off parts, his story was not as long as he wanted it so we had to brainstorm other things about the seasons he could add to replace the unrelated sentences he had crossed off.

Next up were periods and capitals. I like that these went next to each other. We made periods orange and capitals blue.  We read each sentence checking that there was an end mark.  If there was he made it orange... we found ONE that was missing. His face was priceless. I resisted the urge to say "I told you so- that is why we edit."  Now we had orange periods, and after every orange period there should be a blue capital.  Again he found a place where he had forgotten to use a capital. "I told you so"!   :)

Finally came spaces. There was a spot that needed better spaces and he grabbed for his eraser. I explained that rather than erasing it, editors have marks they can use to show better spaces. I showed him how he could draw a line with his purple crayon to show where he knew better spaces should go. If he would have erased I would have lost my "evidence" of editing.  I left Zac to write more about the other three seasons- all he had mentioned were details he knew about fall so he needed to give the other three seasons equal justice within his story. When I came back I noticed he had continued the editing plan on his own with his newly added sentences! See below...
WOW! WOW! WOW!
I love my job!

Good Times with Tyler Tigers

My travels this week took me to Belton ISD and Tyler Elementary. Let me first mention that before I had moved here to Texas, I would visit Jeff as much as possible down in Texas. I came over Spring Break in Michigan to pound the pavement and find a teaching job.  Tyler Elementary was the FIRST elementary school I knew about in the area and I used to watch the students coming and going in the morning and after school from our front porch.  This week I got to go inside for the first time- not before driving by our old farmhouse first though!

First, I went to Ms. Sarinana's room. She is the first grade bilingual teacher at Tyler. I have never been in a bilingual classroom. I first noticed a little girl who did not come to the carpet with everyone else and was just choking back tears at her desk.  Come to find out she only speaks Spanish and was a little overwhelmed to say the least. What a blessing that Ms. Sarinana was able to talk to her in Spanish about her assignment when the class got started. WOW! That was a wonderful experience for me to witness firsthand.

Today was a day for poetry in first grade. They were working on a poem using their five senses.  Sensory details! The mini-lesson started with Ms. Sarinana modeling her own thinking and brainstorming of a poem using her five senses about the BIG storm that had just ripped through the town! The one that had me up the night before when I should have been fast asleep checking the weather and calming my dogs down myself. 

The students would be doing the brainstorming of the poem today and Ms. Sarinana was showing them how to think about the things they could see, touch, smell, hear, and taste about a certain event or experience.  The students watched her and then they were off to work at their desks on their own graphic organizer. I will be honest, I was not sure how they would handle this task. It seemed HARD! These kids knocked it out of the park! Several wrote about the storm, but many came up with their own unique ideas... rollerskating... the carnival... etc.  This was great! I am hopeful that some "final" poems will come my way!    I would love to see them! Did you hear that Yolanda? Wink! Wink! Check out some of the ideas...

Way to go first grade! Thanks for sharing your classroom and your writing with me!

Down the hallway I traveled to THIRD GRADE!  Remember... third graders are bordering on scary to me! By THIS time in the year they are almost FOURTH GRADERS!  I am not funny or smart in the eyes of FOURTH GRADERS, but I walked in and put on a brave face! Don't let 'em see you sweat right?

 I was a little late, so I had missed the mini-lesson but anchor chart evidence showed me they were working on the Trait of Word Choice. I loved the feel of writing time in this classroom! There was a high expectation of on task behavior, but there was not an expectation that confined writers to their seats.  That was the first thing I noticed. Some students wrote at their desk, some were at a round table at the back of the room, some wrote and talked with others, some wrote privately and pensively.

I wish I could have recorded it. It was exactly the atmosphere of "Workshop".  There was movement, there was noise, there was flexibility, there was choice, but there was WRITING, and a LOT OF IT! Great job creating that culture Susie! I can't wait to use some of these photos in my PowerPoints as well! That is the "look" of Workshop.

Now on to the writers! I talked and conferenced with several, but a few stand out.  One gentleman I pulled up next to, was writing about a trip to Six Flags. He had nothing on the paper when I sat down. I asked him what he wanted his writing to be about and he said
"Six Flags".
I kept pushing, "But WHAT about Six Flags?" He looked at me funny.
 I kept going. "I have never been to Six Flags before." Now he laughed at me- that is not possible right?  "I don't know anything about going to Six Flags! I don't know about the rides. I don't know what you can do there. I don't know how far away it is. I don't know what kind of clothes to wear." 
That got him to talking. He started telling me the INS and OUTS of Six Flags.
"Maybe that is what your story could be about. Your story could tell someone who has NEVER been to Six Flags, like me, the things they need to know about the place."
He pushed his glasses up on his face, got his pencil and started his first sentence.... "I think you should learn things before you go to Six Flags."
YES! Writing success... an interesting topic with a unique voice. I think the importance of THINKING about what you want to say before you write it also bubbled up in this conference.

Next writer was Angelita. Angelita was writing a story titled My Favorite Sport.  I sat down and started my conference with one of those questions y'all learned about that GET THE WRITER TALKING... I said "What are you working on today as a writer?" Some kids read their story, but Angelita helped me zoom into what she needed as a writer that day.
"I'm working on picking good words to use in my story." She pointed to the word fantastic! (spelled ventastik) She knew that was a good word to use in her story. Problem was, I noticed she used it again in the next sentence, so it lost its pizazz!  I asked her to listen as I read her story out loud to her. I said listen for where you use that awesome word, fantastic. I read.  Her eyes got big after I read.
I said "what did you notice?"
"I kind of used it too many times."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I used it once, and then I used it again right away."
"So what do you think you should do?"
"I think I should find another word to use."
Hmmm.... interesting idea Angelita! :) Score one for me... and YOU!
The conference continued and we found other great words to use including the word excruciating- yes I spent time in a dictionary in 3rd grade.

Thank you Belton for opening your classroom doors to me! It was truly my pleasure!

My Heart is Whole... In Kindergarten

I spent the morning in Kindergarten today! I was greeted with many hugs and smiles and looks of awe! There is nothing like a visit to Kindergarten to make you feel like a SUPERSTAR! Some little girl didn't even know my name yet, but she ran over and said "I made this for you". She proceeded to hand me a piece of paper that had been colored on. I took it with a reaction that showed what a treasure I believed it to be and proceeded to back it with tape and wear it on my shirt for the duration of my visit. It is now inside my Writer's Notebook. 

Shortly after my arrival it was time for the Writer's Group Meeting where I was introduced to the class as Mrs. Sommers's teacher!  Make note of time number two that I felt like a SUPERSTAR!  Mrs. Sommers was showing the class her Writer's Notebook and I couldn't help it- I went and retrieved my own from the bag I brought in... SUPERSTAR episode 3.  Students were finishing up letters to soldiers today and many who were finished would be making their photo envelopes for their ideas folder.  (Thank you Writer's Workshop Institute).

The first thing that became evident when I saw students leave the rug (after having turned and talked with a partner about their writing plans for the day) was that this is a classroom where WRITING TAKES PLACE! Student folders were overflowing with papers and students knew exactly what to do when writing time began.

Mrs. Sommers had a list of students to confer with about their soldier letters. I am so happy to have this picture to replace the one I use of a teacher with a RED PEN in her hand. Rhonda- watch out- your picture is going to be part of my powerpoints now. Look how intent she is! Look how focused on that student! What a gift she is giving her writers- her full attention!

 I let her work as normal, and I pulled in close to some writers. Unfortunately names are escaping me so another description will have to do. I sat down next to a gentleman with the cutest squishy cheeks you ever did see! He was writing a story called Me and Scrappy.  Little did I know that Scrappy is a frequently chosen topic.  His story read...
Me and Scrappy
Me and Scrappy
He rides in the car because my mom picks him up.
Yes.. that is where the story ended.  I settled in as a listener first. And I said... who is Scrappy?! He said, "My dog!" Oh... I explained to him that I had no idea who Scrappy was (everyone in the class knew, but not me).  I asked him if Scrappy was his Uncle? He laughed. "NO"  I asked if Scrappy was his brother... "NO".  His classmates piped in and said, "It's his DOG!" OK. "Where did you write that?" I asked the cute squishy cheeked gentleman.  We worked out a new opening sentence. "Scrappy is my dog. I am his daddy." The second part the student came up with all on his own.

Next I asked him to tell me more about his dog. He told a story about Scrappy and the fence, Scrappy and the bed, Scrappy and how he jumps on him. I looked at this writer and explained that he had not written any of that down on paper. He shook his head and assured me that he had. "I don't see it!" I said looking at the paper in front of me.  He started digging in his folder and sure enough- he pulled out not one, not two, but FOUR other stories about Scrappy. And he HAD in fact written those things in those stories. Turns out, my conference should have been about more ideas for story topics with this little guy. 

I spent a little time with Andrew. Very quiet and soft spoken. When I sat down next to him, his eyes got all big and his face blushed a little. "ME? You want to talk to ME?", he seemed to be saying.  Andrew was just getting ready to start writing a new story. "About what?" I asked him. "About when my mommy gets the baby out of her belly!" Ah... Kindergartners have such a way with words! They are even funnier with their illustrations of such things!  He explained that his mommy is having a baby- a baby brother.  I asked questions to try and get his mind going with what could make a good story.  I left him to work. 

When I came back, he had his folder closed and was working on his picture envelope. "Are you done with that story?" I asked.  He shook his head yes. "Well let me see!" I said. His story read:
I am happy my mom is having a baby.

Yes folks- that was IT!  I shook my head.. I scratched my temple... I looked on the back of the paper? I asked "Is that it?" He looked surprised to be called out on the table. "You didn't write about how you are going to help him learn to read like we talked about. You didn't write about how you don't want to change his stinky diapers like we talked about?" He started to smile. "I don't think you are done." I said.  He got his pencil back in his hand and he continued to write! When I left he had it on the NOT DONE side of his folder to keep adding more details to tomorrow! Praise God!

Alas it was time to get on the road to Waco. I began packing up.  Over came a sweet cherub whose name I never did get.  She had been writing about her Calico cat that day.  She opened with...
"Can I ask you a question?"
I should have known not to allow that from a Kindergarten student I had just met, but I said,
 "Sure!"
"Are you pregnant?" she asked. I know my eyes got large, I swallowed my pride, and instantly sucked in my (slimmer than it was last year this time) stomach and said, "No dear, I am not pregnant." She continued to stare at my belly a few more seconds... she may make a good Nancy Drew someday, examining the clues.

Thank you Kindergarten for a NON SUPERSTAR sendoff.  I will reconsider this outfit more carefully before wearing it again in the future and I will admit, I have been holding in my stomach ever since.

Conferring in the Country... I mean Hubbard

Another day with real live kids and I must say it was another experience that solidified in my mind that- kids are awesome!

I started my time in Hubbard conferring with a little boy named Thomas. There were several writing opportunities for students on that day, but Thomas was writing about his field trip to the zoo. The first thing I noticed about his work was the way he had modified his large illustrations box to be instead several smaller boxes, each showing different animals. I also noticed that his first sentence was nonfiction and giving a fact he learned on his field trip. I started, by asking him to "Tell me what you were thinking with your illustration".  He proceeded to tell me that he saw many animals and wanted to write about each one. "So this is going to be a nonfiction piece?" I asked. "Yes." He replied. He was very sure of himself. I like that in a writer! I mentioned to him that sometimes in nonfiction pieces that authors and illustrators will add labels to the pictures. I suggested that might be something he would want to think about in this piece. (he has them in this picture, but he did not have them at the time of the conference). I also asked what his plans were for the rest of the writing. He told me he wanted to write the facts about each animal. I told him that would be great. I pointed out each animal in his picture and had him say what was most interesting about each. I left him to work and could hardly wait to see what he continued to add to his writing.

By the way... check out his illustration of a giraffe!
I love it!

When I came back to Thomas 10-15 minutes later or so... his writing was completed. Not only did he write a fine piece of nonfiction, but his idea (and of course the desire for praise like the praise I poured out on him in the conference we had) spread like wildfire to other writers in the class. See the piece Thomas finished as well as the way his idea spread to others. This could lead to a series of mini-lessons on writing nonfiction.

The finished piece by Thomas.

The idea Thomas had, as used by his classmates.

The second interesting conference I had was with a shy girl named Lindsey.  I instantly zoomed into Lindsey's picture and asked her about her illustration. See below.

I asked her to describe the picture. I asked specifically about the lines by the monkey's mouth. She said that was to show that they were making sounds. I asked her how she knew to draw it like that and she shrugged. I told her that is how illustrators DRAW sound in their pictures. I then asked her if she had every used word in her pictures before.

 She looked at me blankly. I flipped over her paper and proceeded to draw notes from our conference. I told her that sometimes in pictures you can see people "talking" and that it looked like this.... (see drawing) and that sometimes in pictures you can see people "thinking" and it looked like this (see drawing). 




Then I asked her to show me the part in her story where she wrote about the sounds. She had not done that yet.  I told her that when you use the sounds in your story it is called Onomatopoeia. After the group at the table got done laughing at the "funny word" we had more conversation about what it means and how a writer could use sounds in their story. I helped Lindsey brainstorm the sound the monkeys were making and we thought about how she could spell that. We brainstormed other sounds that could be in a story about the zoo. The sound of the bus horn beeping, the sound of the kids yelling, the sound of the leaves blowing.  Again, this writing conference idea caught on like wildfire.

As I was headed out the door and back on my way to Waco, I had a student call out, "What's it called again when you put sounds in your story?" I love my job!

Thanks for a great year!

Melissa, thank you so much for being such a wonderful instructor/presenter throughout these 5 workshops. You truly are amazing at what you do. I have enjoyed putting your teachings to use (well, trying to anyway) and I am excited to watch myself grow and build on your teachings for years to come.

Party in Jonesboro

It was my pleasure to travel to Jonesboro this week! They invited me into their school to see Writer's Workshop in "action". Thanks to the very detailed directions provided, I was able to find the right entrance to the K-12 school just fine and a little gentleman was glad to point me in the direction of the office. Little did I know he would soon be a writer I would be talking to.



First stop- 3rd grade in Ms. Cate's room. I was there a few minutes early and got caught up on my "cursive". I had forgotten all about the "shelf" and that z has always given me fits! After cursive it was time for Writer's Workshop. Ms. Cate told them to get their notebooks (and that is when it dawned on me that mine was back at the office packed up for Institute #4- NUTS!) They all had things they wanted to show me from their notebooks and it was so cool to see evidence of Institute inside, heart maps, boo-boo maps, etc. Way to go Ms. Cate! Your kids had LOTS of ideas for writing.



Then it was time to write... writing time began with kids saying "I'm gonna finish my story from yesterday", or "I'm gonna start a new story", or "I can't wait to write about __________". I was in a Writer's Workshop classroom... I could just feel it! I settled in next to a gentleman names Wyatt. He was working on a BOOK! It wasn't a book yet, but he wanted it to be one! We talked for a bit and he did in fact have a story that you could just SEE playing out across pages. He informed me that it was modeled after another book the class had read called The Quiet Book. (Ms. Cate is bringing it to share at next Institute). His book was written on lined paper, so the first thing I had to help this writer do was get a "vision" for his book- or tell it across pages.



So we said parts of his story out loud and imagined turning the pages as we read. Next we used crayons to make each page a different color. For example, he used the color blue to underline everything he wanted on the first page of his book, another color underlined everything that would go on the next page etc. We counted up the colors and we knew how many pages- or so I thought! 20 colors, 20 pages, BUT little Wyatt reminded me that books have pages before the pages. "The page that is just the picture before you read, and the page that has the writing about when it was written". Yes Wyatt... I will make sure you have those pages too. I went to go make his book (construction paper and copy paper inside- 5 staples, ta-da) and came to show Wyatt. His eyes showed me that this was pleasing to him. I left Wyatt to his work of placing words on the right pages. He decided he wanted to do all of this words, and then all of his illustrations. I also reminded him that words can be anywhere on the page. I reminded him there are still lots of things to think about as he is writing the words. I let him work.



I moved over to another gentleman (there's only ONE girl in this class by the way). This gentleman had seen what Wyatt was doing and wanted a part of it. He informed me that he wanted to write a book, "cause Wyatt had given him an idea". His book was all about friends. and when I sat down, that was all there was on the paper. The title...Friends. And so sat the writer not knowing where to go.



I was knee deep in brainstorming. "What do you want your book to say about friends?" I asked. "Friends can be nice" he replied. I went and got a blank piece of paper- this conference was going to be help this writer brainstorm and we needed paper to do it on. I introduced him to a web (not sure if this had been taught in his class previously). We put friends in the middle and going from what he said, "friends can be nice", I put the word characteristics in a bubble to the side. We came up with 6 or 7 other characteristics for friends. We also generated ideas for things friends can be good at, where you can find friends and things friends can help you with. When this conference was over, he had a cute third grade boy's smile on his face- he NOW knew what his book about friends was going to be! Whew!



Thank you 3rd grade- time to move to 2nd!



I was a few minutes late getting into second grade (see friend conference above), they were waiting on me to get there to start their mini-lesson. I was instantly excited because on Mrs. Smith's lap was her Writer's Notebook! This was gonna be good! And it was... Mrs. Smith shared a story from her notebook about her son and the stories they used to make up when he was a young boy about a special rock- a "pet" rock so to speak. The best part of her mini-lesson was that sharing the story touched her. Her eyes got a little glassy, cause she was remembering her now grown son when he was just a little boy. I'm sure there are MANY more stories about that little son to share with the little ones in her own class.



The students were going to be making up stories about objects they had brought from home. Making that object become a character in their story. I couldn't help but jump in (I know- it's the teacher in me and the fact that I am desperate for a classroom of my own again some day- SOME day). I pulled their writing motors in the group. Asking them which object (there were three on their desks) that they might choose. Some kids knew right away and some had to think a bit, but when they went to their seats, they ALL knew which object to start their story about.



I ended up sitting by a gentleman who was writing about his slinky. Didn't know it at the time, but he is the promising writer of the classroom- his teacher thinks he may in fact PUBLISH a "real" one some day! He was writing about his lost slinky and was on a roll. I watched him write, and when he came to a break I interrupted his work. I asked him to tell me what he is thinking about this story and what is going to happen next. It really looked like his hand could not keep up with how fast his ideas were flying. We stopped at the part where the slinky had fallen out of his pocket.



"What are you thinking is going to happen in this story?" I asked. "He is going to look everywhere for his slinky and then he is going to find it at the store with all the other slinkys" ( is slinky an example of when you should drop the y and add ie? Hmmm... seems to me like a brand name... so I am leaving it as is!) The fog lifted and I decided to talk with him more about that part where he said the boy was going to look all over. I really didn't want him to JUST write- "the boy looked all over" - that is boring. I wanted him to show, don't tell, so I went for the kill.



"That part where you said 'he looked all over'. I think that is really neat. Where might a boy go look for a Slinky?" We brainstormed out that he could look at his grandparents, at the grocery store, at his school etc. And I asked, "So is he going to ask his grandparents, 'Have you seen my Slinky?' What are the grandparents going to say?" To which the young writer said, "no". I encouraged him to keep writing, thanked him for talking with me and moved on.



When I checked back with him 10 minutes or so later, I was so uplifted! He had included going to three or four places looking for the Slinky, asking the same question at each stop. He had included asking "Have you seen my Slinky?", but with every person he asked their responses were different. Grandma and Grandpa said, "No, but would you like some cookies?" WOW! That is how you teach the WRITER, not the writing!



Thank you so much 2nd grade- time to go see the BIG, BAD, 4th Graders!

Ms. Foote's class was just coming in from the library when I arrived. They knew right away to get out their Writer's Notebooks. Today, they were knee deep in writing time. Right away I pulled in close just asking kids to share some things from their notebook with me. I think this may have been one of the neatest experiences of the day because the stories these kids shared with me with REAL! I was getting to know complete strangers through their writing. One gentleman was almost in tears over his story titled Ethan. He had tears in his eyes as he whisper read it to me. Ethan was a friend who had moved away. I think the best line was, "We were best friends forever, until he moved." I told that young writer that that is what writers do. They write about what matters. I told him to write everything that makes his heart hurt about Ethan down on paper. When I left him, he had added, "I'm mad that he moved" to his writing.

I moved over to another gentleman who was working on a piece about basketball. Nonfiction. He started with the history of basketball and how it was created. He went on to talk about great players like Michael Jordan, even telling his reader that you can go on YouTube to see videos of Michael's best slam dunks. There was so much potential to this writing and I wanted him to keep going. I asked him if he had a favorite team and he said "The Celtics". I asked him what he could write about the Celtics and he said "I don't really know anything about them". Well.. I'm sure that same computer that has YouTube has Wikipedia! I encouraged him to find out all the cool stuff about his team that he can and to add that to his writing about basketball. He nodded his head considering this idea.

Another young girl stands out from this class period. She was writing a story about her Marine Uncle. Problem is the story really had more to do with everything and the kitchen sink, than it did about her Marine Uncle, so we had some talking to do. I started by asking her why she chose to write about her uncle (pretending the story was actually about her uncle). She told me it is because he is special to her and because she worries about him and other people who go to war that they may not come back safely. We had a bit of a heart to heart, I pointed out the part in her story where she said "I pray for people who leave their families that they will be OK". I told her about my Army Husband. I encouraged her to think about writing a letter to those "people" telling the things she says in her prayers. She nodded her head, and when writing time was over, she was changing things in her story.

Whew! I am worn out just writing it all down, but honestly, it was a great day! All those stories and hundreds more are why I had a Workshop classroom... and why I work to help you do the same!

Where am I headed for my next visit? I can't wait!

Found a cool idea

While searching for some helps with new words, I found this site. You may know about it already, but if not, it has a start on "WOW Words" and gave me an idea how to expand with our own. www.sparklebox.co.uk
I made a colored 4x6 of the WoW Words they gave and we put it at the top of a page in our writer's notebook. Then we added our own as we thought of them or came across a good one as we read. This was a good mini lesson that just keeps growing and I do see the kids using it.

The site has a list of "nasty and nice" character words as well. I saved that for another day. I think the characters they used could be better and perhaps I will improve. Young people faces appear on the nice word cards while old people faces appear on the nasty. Now that folks is just wrong. Old people can be nice too. I think that sends a bad message...poor old folks have enough going for them without being dubbed "nasty". ( I resemble that remark.)
Happy writing! If you have a cool idea that works...share!
Cynthia

Crisis Averted

Back in third grade and students are eager to see what their teacher has learned. What cool things are we gonna write about or do to help us think. The first thing I decided to share was the boo boo map. This would give them a new focus for ideas and who doesn't have at least one really good boo boo! Well, someone had "borrowed" my masking tape. No problem. I ran up the hill to the office...no masking tape in the stash of supplies. What! Now what am I gonna do for a band aid? Never fear, if you can't come up with something kids will not let you down. On my desk, I had a collection of post it notes and tabs. Someone had given me a set of tabs that were paper like post its but short and harrow....perfect band aids...AND they come in colors! (Just like band aids right?) Kids loved them! Easy to draw and write on. Nice size for small fingers and big pencils. May be a little large but perhaps we can trim or compromise. We just had to have some band aids and this fit the bill today. Yep, looks like I am making a weekend run to Wal Mart for more "band aids"..I think they are the Wal Mart brand type things.

Our people have faces....some teacher at the first of the year showed them how to place face parts on a head and hair. They remembered! Kids are neat!

Can't Wait!!

I can't wait until Tuesday!!!!!!!