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!