Writing Piece of the Month

I am back to school and getting back into the swing of things.  My kiddos have gotten off to a great start.  I will be back to post classroom pics very soon.  Today, I wanted to share my newest writing resource that I can't wait to get going in my classroom.  I spent a large chunk of my summer working on it and it's finally done- YAY!

My goal for this resource was to have a fun writing activity each month that I could compile together at the end of the year to make a writing portfolio.  This is completely separate from the writing pieces we do in Writers' Workshop.  These writing activities are seasonal pieces that go along with popular children's books.

This is a great way to expose children to a variety of writing genres and great literature.  Here is a peek at what is included:

There are 15 different activities included that encompass 11 different genres.  

I can't wait to get started with my students!  I'm going to start this week with the 2 August activities.  It's still early in the year, and they are still getting to know each other better, so it's perfect timing.

These are the books I will be using for this resource, but there are so many other great books that can be used in addition or in lieu of the ones I listed.  Mine are merely suggestions.

If you are interested, you can check it out in my TPT store by clicking here, and I would love to give it for free to the first 2 people that leave a comment.

Writing Clips

I really needed a new way to get my students to fix up their writing.  We talk about transition words from the start of the year and even have a list in our writing folders, but I wanted to be sure they were actually being used in their writing.  I decided to make clips for the most common transition words we use.  I also made a set of clips that listed alternatives for the word-said.  These clips have been a huge hit in the classroom.  My students simply grab a clip, use it to spell the word(s) correctly, and then return the clip to the ribbon.

It also gives them the chance to get up and move a bit, which is perfectly fine with me, if it means they are improving their writing in the process.  I love watching them get up to look for just the right clip for their writing piece.

They were a cinch to make, too.  I only needed ribbon, clothespins, and binder clips, which I already had at home.
I have the labels attached.  They aren't the cutest, but they get the job done!

How-To Writing

We wrote our How-To's at the very beginning of the year.  It has just taken me a really long time to get around to posting it.  How-To Writing is part of the Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Primary Writing.  She elaborates about How-to writing in her Nonfiction Writing Unit.  If you are a K-2 teacher looking for fantastic minilessons for writing, then her books are a must read.

I begin my unit on How-To's by explaining that in order to write a How-To, they must be an expert at whatever it is they choose to write about.  I always share my own personal experiences to model that writing has to be about things that come from the heart.  I explain how I am an expert at making banana splits because my very first job was working for Dairy Queen. I share some fun stories about my experiences there and then explain that before we can write a how-to, we must understand the steps to writing a  How-To.  Basically a How-To write a How-To.

After discussing the components of a How-To using the chart above, I then share my own How-To.  My How-To is created on chart paper, so it's large enough for everyone to see.  My example is below.  I have a fantastic student teacher this year, who is also a great artist.  She made me a new chart this year, that turned out super cute.

We talk about each step and I point out that each step is numbered and begins with transition words.  While we go over each of the steps, I have my students copy my example and follow along with me.  I always explain that they are learning how to make a banana split from my How-To.  By the time they finish this lesson, they will be well on their way to being an expert too.

 After we finish working on the How-To together, then they create a cover for their How-To.  I have patterns for students to color to create a cute banana split for the cover. 

 

 After we finish our banana split How-To's, then they are ready to start choosing topics that they are experts at.  I have blank How-To pages for them to write their own How-To's.

In the past, I've made banana splits in class, and then had students go back and write the steps on their own.  I chose to have them write my steps this year, so that they would have a really clear understanding of How-To's before they undertook the task of writing a How-To independently.

If you are interested in this How-To Writing Pack, you can get it in my Teacher Store for $2.50.  It includes the black lines for the How-To Steps.  I simply ran them off on neon card stock.  It also includes the Banana Split How-To paper, the open-ended How-To paper, and the patterns to create the banana split for the cover.  Click on the image below to head on over to my store.

Writing and illustrating Chart

Summer is nearly over! Yikes...where did it go so fast!!!  I was looking over my To-Do list and knew it was time to get some of these projects done.  I had been wanting to create a writing and illustrating chart for awhile.  When my students tell me they are done...my famous last words are always- Did you use your whole canvas?
They know this means-
Did they use all the lines? If not, then stretch that story out!
Did they color in all the white space?
The only white should be something meant to be white, like clouds or snow.

I knew I was going to have to create my own because it was really important to me that the paper was the same paper that we use in the classroom.  I left the picture black and white, so I could hand color the examples.  I wanted it to be really authentic, and for them to know exactly what I'm looking for.

If you are interested in this chart. You can find it at my Teachers Pay Teachers store for $2.00.  Click here to head on over to my store.

Here's how it turned out:

 

Writers' Workshop

We are finishing our Small Moment stories this week.  Some of my students are adding to their pictures. Others are still adding to their words.  And others are revising and editing.  Everyone should be ready to publish by Friday.  I use a really simplistic chart in my classroom as a visual for the writing process. It reminds them of a stoplight.  Writing is red- stop everything else and write! Revising and Editing is yellow- cautiously check over your writing.  Publishing is green- It's almost time to let their writing go into the world for others to enjoy. I use the Status of the Class form below to keep a log of where students are in the writing process.

Writing Internal Story

My students are blossoming into wonderful writers.  We are having a blast learning about small moment stories.  Some of them are eagerly writing their 3rd or 4th story.  Today, we talked about how we can make our stories even better by adding internal story.  We brainstormed a list of sentence starters to help us add internal thoughts and feelings to the stories we are writing.  You can see our anchor chart below.   

 

Small Moment Booklets

We are continuing to write Small Moment stories.  Before they were ready to begin writing their Small Moment stories, they had to choose a topic and plan their stories in  their watermelon booklet. The watermelon reminds them to take a large topic and pull out a tiny moment (seed) from that larger topic.  Each page is labeled B,M, and E for beginning, middle, and end.  The beginning should introduce their characters and setting.  The middle should have a problem, and the end should be the solution to the problem.  They simply jotted down a couple sentences for each part in their booklet.  Then, they were ready to begin their stories.  They are currently writing their stories, and elaborating on what they wrote in their watermelon booklet.

 Click on the image below for a free copy of the booklet

Small Moments

We are continuing to work on Small Moment Stories from Lucy Calkin's Units of Study.  We are having a great time storytelling. This is a picture of an anchor chart we created. We are taking large watermelon topics and pulling out the "small moment" seeds. They wrote their small moment ideas on post-its and we discussed whether their topics were watermelon or seed topics. After several read alouds and sharing stories from my own life, they are finally starting to see the importance of zooming into that smaller moment. This also gets them away from writing stories that are merely lists and moves them towards writing stories about a moment in time.

 

Transition Words

We are still working on Small Moment Stories.  We talk about transition words daily as they come up in both our reading and writing.  We talk about how transition words connect our thoughts and make our writing sound smoother and better.  My students LOVE songs!  We have songs for just about everything.  If there isn't a song, then we make one up.  This is our transition word song and the list of transition words that my students keep in their Writing Folders.

Click on the images below for the free printables.

Good Writers...

We continued with Small Moment Stories today.  Today's read aloud was, The Shortcut by Donald Crews.  It's a perfect book to use as a model for Small Moment Stories.  As we read, students started noticing things like onomatopoeia, descriptive language, etc.   We created a chart today titled, Good Writers often...

Good Writers Often

Writing- Small Moment Stories

We started Small Moment stories today, which are my absolute favorite Lucy Calkin's Unit of Study.  You can check out Lucy Calkin's books here.  There are so many great picture books for teaching small moment stories.  Some of my favorites are- A Chair for Mother, Salt Hands, The Paperboy, Shortcut, Big Mama's, The Snowy Day, and Owl Moon.  We talked about watermelon topics (big topics) and seed stories (small moments).  Here is the anchor chart we created today in class.  Small Moment Anchor Chart