This is the first of three blog posts that will focus on sharing resources fro teaching writing. The activities posted as comments come from participants in the Writing Rocks! class that took place on June 17 at the Lane Education Service District in Eugene, Oregon. These activities are Six Trait related. Here’s an example:
Trait: Ideas/Content
Focus: Clear and focused writing
Book/Author: The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski
Publisher: Harper Trophy
ISBN: 0-06-443753-1
Summary: This creative book takes simple rules that adults make up such as “Eat your vegetables,” “Comb your hair,” and “Don’t play with your food” and provides imaginative, humorous explanations.
What you need: Paper, pencils, file folders or large construction paper to make folders
What you do: Read a couple of entries from the book. Then, as a class, identify a school rule (e.g No running in the halls) and write the “Official Reason.” Next, brainstorm a list of possible “Real Reasons” for this rule using the book as a model. Choose one of the reasons and show how this could be written as a short, focused narrative. Have students think of a rule (school, home, community) and go through the process themselves. Use folders to display finished copy: “Rule #” on the tab, “Official Reason” on the outside, and “The Truth” on the inside. Share compled folders then display outside the classroom for others to see.
Trait: Voice
Focus: Humor
Book/Author: Tales of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 13-978-0763625290
Summary: This is a complex, poignant, humorous fairy tale with a small, large-eared, big-hearted, literate mouse portrayed as a hero. His quest is to save a princess from an evil rat and his henchmen. This mouse serves as a model of honor, integrity, and dealing with the practical realities of life.
What you need: Copy of Tales of Desperaux, paper, pencil
What you do: While using the book as a read-a-loud, pause at the chapter in which the king insists that because he is the king and brokenhearted at the death of his wife, hi is entitled to make ridiculous laws. These include outlawing soup, spoons, and rats. Brainstorm with students some ideas for ridiculous laws that pertain to their lives and serve as recorder until the class displays both enthusiasm and understanding of the topic. Have students make a list of their own ridiculous laws. Allow approximately 20-30 minutes. Have students share their favorites, and be ready to laugh!
Trait: Organization
Focus: Sequence of events
Book/Author: Vacationers from Outer Space by Edward Valfre
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0-590-96563-B
Summary: A family on vacation encounters aliens in a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. Through a series of adventures, a boy discovers that the aliens are actually friendly, and consider earth one of the greatest amusement parks in the galaxy.
What you need: Pencils, strips of construction paper measuring 4” by 12”, glue sticks, large sheets of construction paper
What you do: Read book and discuss the sequence of major events in the story. Have students choose partner and discuss the major events in the book. Pass out 4 strips to each pair. Instruct ½ of the paired students to write 4 events from the first part of the story, and ½ of the partnered students to write 4 events from the second part of the story. When students are finished with their task, collect strips. Combine sets of partners so there are 4 in each group of students and pass out a complete set of story events to each group. Students arrange strips in proper story sequence. Reread story, and allow for students to reorder any events in improper sequence. At end of lesson, have groups glue strips in sequence on larger sheets of construction paper. Share results with class.
Trait: Words
Focus: Use of thesaurus, synonyms and antonyms
Book/Author: Tough Boris by Mem Fox
Publisher: Voyager Paperbacks
ISBN: 13 978-0152018917
Summary: Boris is a tough, fearless, pirate who leads a ship of pirates bound for an island with treasure. His tender heart is revealed by his love for his parrot. A young stowaway helps mend is heart upon the death of his parrot with bravery and a song on his violin.
What You Need: Thesaurus for each pair of students, index cards, pencils, writing notebooks
What you do: Read Tough Boris and discuss words in text used to describe Boris and their meaning and opposites. List words using document camera. Expand discussion to include other character traits. Pass out a thesaurus for each pair of desk partners. Review , demonstrate, and practice with students the use of a thesaurus in finding synonyms and antonyms. Pass out 12 index cards to each set of partners. On each of three of the cards, students write one of the descriptive words previously discussed and listed. Using the remainder of the cards, they are to use the thesaurus to write 2 synonyms and one antonym for each of their 3 original words. Allow 20-30 minutes. At end of the time, collect the cards. At the end of the lesson, or for the next day’s lesson, distribute a set of these cards to each desk partner and instruct students to sort according to synonyms and antonyms and record the results in their writing notebooks. Share their results with class. These words will also be used in future writing assignments.
Megan Imamura
Writing Rocks! Book Activities
Trait: Organization
Focus: Clear Beginning, Middle and End
Book/Author: Rex by Ursula Dubosarsky
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-545-03783-9
Summary: This book is about a class pet named Rex, an iguana. Rex gets to go home each night with a different student and a class journal. The student gets to tell about by writing or drawing a picture of the activities they participate in. It would be a fun book for 1-2 graders.
What you need: A copy of the book Rex, pencils, writing journals and colored pencils (after writing is complete they can draw a picture to go with their stories).
What you do: After reading and discussing the book Rex, students will complete a writing lesson on what they would do with Rex. This would be a good introduction if you had a class pet and were going to do the same thing as in the story Rex. I would emphasize how important a clear beginning; middle and end are for each story they write. “What would you do with Rex if you had him for the night?” After the students complete a final copy I would give them the opportunity to share with their classmates if they would like.
Trait: Ideas/Content
Focus: Learning confidence in art and writing
Book/Author: Ish by Peter H. Reynolds
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978-0-7636-2344-9
Summary: This story is about a boy named Ramon. Ramon loves to draw anything and everything. This is until his over critical brother starts to make Ramon doubt his artistic abilities. He becomes so worried that his drawings are not perfect that he looses his interest in drawing. Until he notices that his sister is saving all of his crumpled drawings in her room. She helps him see that as long as they are the best he can do he should be proud and not worry about being perfect. As long as you are proud of the finished product that is what is important.
What you need: Paper, pencils, colored pencils.
What you do: After reading this book to K-2 graders and having a discussion about Ramon. I could relate it to the students by asking questions such as: Have any of you had the same experience as Ramon (could be in other areas like playing sports, doing ballet, math, writing science, etc.) How did it make you feel? Did you give up? Keep trying? As long as you try your best that is what matters in the end. I hope this book would encourage the students to try their best no matter what the task is in front of them. I would use this book to introduce self-portraits at the beginning of the year.
Trait: Word Choice
Focus: Precise words that paint mental pictures.
Book/Author: Dear Deer by Gene Barretta
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 978-0-545-10633-7
Summary: This is a fun book that teaches students about different homophones. Each page has two different examples of words with a picture to go with it. I think this would be a good book for 3-5 graders while learning the concept of homophones.
What you need: Paper, pencils, writing journals, worksheets and other visual follow up activities.
What you do: Read a couple of entries from the book. Then, as a class, identify the homophones on the first page. Check for background knowledge. If no one knows explain what a homophone is: two words that are spelled differently but have the same sound. If you just hear the word you don’t know which way it is spelled but context clues help you figure it out. Finish reading the rest of the book to students. After, have them use a homophone and put it in a story. Challenge: come up with new words not used in the story. After final drafts are completed pair-share.
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
Trait: Voice
Focus: Honing in on a character’s good voice and examining the use of humor and a natural, authentic voice of the character to enhance writing.
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Lane Smith
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0-590-44357-7
Summary: This book takes a look at “the true story” of what happened with the 3 little pigs, but from the view point of the wolf. The wolf is sorely misunderstood and retells the events of this classic story is a humorous, engaging way that the reader cannot help but be captivated by. It all started with the need to borrow a cup of sugar, and a bad case of allergies…
What you need: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs book
What you do: The idea of this voice exploration lesson is to really make students aware of the impact a character’s voice can have on their writing. Read the book “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” in its entirety and then have a class discussion about the main character’s voice. Discuss what makes the characters voice so strong (use of humor, natural and present day sayings, fresh and engaging descriptions, etc.). Now pick another well known fairy tale and quickly sequence the events of the story. Once that is done, have students personify a character and retell the story using a strong voice. Rewrite sections of the “new” fairy tale as a group but enhancing the voice of the chosen character of the story along the way. (In the 3 little pigs, its the wolf that was chosen as the character to give a strong voice to.) You may also take this a step further and have partners work on specific events within the story injecting their own voice to the groups chosen character. Share your story at the end discussing where uses of great voice occurred and why they were good voice elements.
The Rain Came Down
Trait: Organization & Sequencing
Focus: This book and exercise will allow writers to understand and experiment with sequence of events.
Author & Illustrator: David Shannon
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0-439-05153-3
Summary: This sequencing book takes a look at cause and effect relationships. It does this in a way students are readily able to understand. First, the rain comes down, causing chickens to squawk. The squawking causes a cat to yowl, the yowling cat then causes a dog to bark, and so on and so on. The story builds on itself, and then reverses its order when the rain stops and calm once again resumes. Since the sequence is repeated in reverse, it really drives home the sequence of events and the cause and effect relationships.
What you need: Paper or sentence strips, The Rain Came Down book
What you do: The idea of this organization and sequencing lesson is to really make students aware of the proper sequence of events within their writing. Read the book “The Rain Came Down” in its entirety and then have a class discussion about the sequence of events the author used and the cause and effect relationships that occurred through out the story. Then pick an important event all of your students participated in such as a school assembly, a field trip you went on, a class party you’ve held, etc. Use this common experience to create a sequence of events so that all the students can participate in. Write the events out on individual pieces of paper (either sentence strips or paper with the aide of a document camera). Now distribute the “events” to partners and ask the group as a whole to arrange them in the correct sequence the group originally created.
I like how you use a “shared event” to make this into an authentic lesson. Good job!
Quick as a Cricket
Trait: Word Choice
Focus: Enhancing word choice to paint a picture with words and describe simple objects eloquently.
Author: Audrey Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Publisher: Child’s Play International
ISBN: 0-85953-151-1
Summary: This creative book takes a child’s look at animals to describe a child and the many facets of what makes him unique. This book takes common animals children are familiar with and uses unique word choices in a simple manner to describe the boy and paint a picture in your head.
Lesson Summary: The idea of this word choice lesson is to really make students aware of the power of their word choices. The simple format of the book and worksheet really allows students to focus on word choice. After completion of the worksheet, you can end the lesson, or take it a step further and have students illustrate and possibly bind and make books. Since each student should be describing their own personality traits, this could be a fun beginning of the year activity to help get to know each other.
What you need: Paper, pencils, Quick as a Cricket book, Quick as a Cricket worksheet (below), and possible book making materials.
What you do: Read the book in its entirety and then have a class discussion about the word choice the author used. Brainstorm and think about possible reasons for specific word choices with corresponding animals and how this relates to a personality trait of the boy. Then, as a class, come us with some other creative word choice examples. This would be a good opportunity for the teacher to describe them self while modeling the technique. When students have a handle on the idea of choosing interesting words to convey a meaning and personality trait, pass out the worksheet below and begin letting them describe themselves paying specific attention to creative and imaginative word choices.
Quick as a Cricket Worksheet
1. Speed (fast and slow)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
2. Size (small and large)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
3. Feelings (happy and sad)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
4. Temperament (nice and mean)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
5. Strength (strong and weak)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
6. Noise (loud and soft)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
7. Inner Strength (tough and gentle)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
8. Personality (brave and shy)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
9. Energy (calm and wild)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
10. Your Choice (pick two opposites)
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
I’m as ___________ as a ___________.
When students are finished filling out their worksheets, have them partner share and give peer reviews, (1 compliment, 1 question, and 1 suggestion). Then have a few students group share 1 example from their list. Discuss as a group what makes those word choices strong.
This could conclude your mini workshop on the power of word choice or you could take it further and have students then illustrate their comparisons and finally bind them into books. Since they are supposed to have described their own personality traits, this could be a good beginning of the year activity to get to know your students.
Trait: Word Choice
Book: The Dragon and the Unicorn
Author/Illustrator: Lynne Cherry
Publisher: Trumpet
isbn: 0-590-29985-9
Materials: book, doc camera or have the kids sit in a circle around the teacher, paper and pencil
It’s an incredibly beautifully done book, and the illustrations could inspire even the most reluctant writer. It is a story of misunderstanding and then understanding. To begin with, have the kids gather in a circle where they can see the illustrations clearly as you go through the pages. (I’m working with grades 1-5, but I think this one could go to just about any level.) To get the kids thinking about what to write, the teacher covers the words of the book and just shows the illustrations. Be sure they can all see, and go slowly enough that they can really enjoy and think about what the story might be about. Then, have them return to their seats, and start a brief list of adjectives that describe what they have seen. Place the pages, one by one, on the doc camera so the kids can see it as they work. Have them number each of the thoughts they have as you turn the pages, so they’ll know which picture their ideas go with. Slowly turn each page, and have the kids to look at the illustrations (words covered) and write their own story. Encourage them to try to capture the feel of the pictures with a variety and colorful words. Give them a limited, but plentiful, time to write for each page. Once you have gone through the whole book, ask for volunteers to read their stories as you turn the pages to accompany it. Read several of the kid’s versions, then read the original one from the book. Have them compare the one they wrote, the ones they heard from their classmates, and the original. Do some positive critiques of the stories. What could they add or leave out? What words would make the stories more interesting? How can they make their versions more interesting to the reader? Were their words strong and clear or were they too vague? What verbs did they choose? Did those verbs bring their story to life for the reader?
Trait: Voice
Book: Ant Cities
Author/Illustrator: Arthur Dorros
Reading Rainbow book,
isbn: 0-590-42628-1
Materials: book, doc camera, index cards, paper and pencil
It’s a cute little book, very simple, about ant’s life. I thought it would be fun to read the story to the kids, putting it on the document camera while you read, and have them notice the details of the pictures, pointing them out to each other as we read each page. Afterwards, have each of them “become” one of the ants, writing their character choice on an index card to stand on their desk. They could then rewrite the story as though they were telling the story about their own life. For example, there is a picture on page 20 of some kids watching the ants. The kids (as an ant) could comment about how humans watch or observe them. On page 24, it talks about ants liking different kinds of foods. As the kids rewrite the story, they would change that to include something about what their kind of ant likes to eat, or even make it funny, adding in a silly food that they like to eat. They could talk about what it feels like to always be working on the tunnels and gathering foods. They would need to choose one of the ants to become, a queen, a male, or a worker ant, and include the details from that view of ant life. Once they are finished, the kids can share their stories and add suggestions to each others’ stories. Did they stick with the character they chose? What would make it clear that they were that particular ant? If you wanted to carry it further, you could have them write out a reader’s theatre for it, having each of the children speak in the voice of their character.
Trait: Sentence Fluency
Book: Rumpelstiltskin
Retold & Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Caldecott Honor Book
isbn: 0-590-05699-9
Materials: book, doc camera, paper and pencil
This is another book with incredible illustrations. Adults and children alike will enjoy not only reading the story, but pouring over the illustrations. The story is the classic one of the little man who spun straw to gold and was hoping to attain the queen’s baby in return. To save her child, she must guess the little man’s name. This book gives the teacher a chance to have the kids look at a variety of sentence types, and beginnings. It shows the flow and rhythm of poetry in places. The teacher can show the kids how there is more emphasis or strength to a short sentence at times than an overly long one. There are examples of different sentence lengths throughout the book. As a teacher, I’d have the kids read over the story with me (showing the book on the doc camera) and count the words of the different sentences. Then, I’d have them discuss why different sentences had different lengths. Would it be better longer? Should sentences be combined? What works best for different parts of the story? Is a one-word sentence a good one? Why or why not? After discussing the sentences, I’d have the kids write their own story, either with a beginning idea or turning them loose if they already had one, making sure they focused on including a variety of sentence lengths in the appropriate places.
Good way to introduce one word “sentences.” They really can be powerful tools in writing. Gary Paulsen uses them a bunch.
Lesson Plan for Ideas & Content…
Trait: Ideas & Content
Book/ Author: Thank you, Mr. Falker, by Patricia Polacco
Publisher: Philomel Books, The Penguin Group
ISBN: 978-0-399-25762-9
Summary:
This is the autobiography of Patricia Polacco. She not only had a learning challenge, but was treated as an outcast because of it. Her life changes when she meets Mr. Falker.
What you need: A copy of Thank you, Mr. Falker, writing paper, pencils
What you do:
1. Read aloud, Thank you, Mr. Falker.
2. After reading, ask the students the following questions as you write on an overhead projector:
who the story is about
what happens
when does the story take place
where does the story take place
why are the events happening
3. Brainstorm with the class what details could be added to make the answers to the questions more interesting. Use adjectives and adverbs.
4. Discuss: Which details are most important to the reader. Which details should be taken out?
Followup lesson:
Students prewrite their own: who, what, when, where, and why narrative about someone that has made a difference in their lives.
Students revise and add details.
Students pair up and do peer-editing, keeping only those details that are important.
Share student writings.
Lesson Plan for Sentence Fluency…
Trait: Sentence Fluency
Book/ Author: The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-443227-6
Summary:
The Important Book is filled with many poems about things considered unimportant. Each poem begins and ends with the same line, “The important thing about _____is that it is _______.” The rhythm and patterns found in each poem are predictable and fun to read. (Students enjoy hearing and reading positive comments about others during the modeling portion of the lesson.)
What you need: A copy of The Important Book, writing paper, pencils
What you do:
1. Read aloud The Important Book.
2. Ask students if they hear a pattern or rhythm that makes the reading flow smoothly.
3. After reading several poems, do not read the last line aloud, but rather have students say it.
4. Model (using Overhead Projector) the construction of this style of poem, using the format of the book, with the topic..Important Things About Me. Model: prewrite and rough draft
5. Students (as a class) help edit and revise the poem:
add details
use a variety of sentence lengths in the beginning, middle, and end of poem
do lines in the middle of the poems begin with different words.
6. Use the revision to model writing the final draft.
7. Students practice creating their own poem of Important Things About Me following each modeled step: pre-write, rough draft, edit, revision, final draft.
8. Each student begins with one poem.
9. Students share poems with class.
10. Collect poems. Add more Important Things About Me poems during other writing times. Each student will have completed a book when finished.
Lesson Plan for Conventions…
Trait: Conventions
Book/ Author: Punctuation Celebration, by Elsa Knight Bruno
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-545-27978-9
Summary:
A collection of short poems tell how different types of punctuation marks are appropriately used in text. There are fun illustrations that enhance the text.
What you need: A copy of Punctuation Celebration, Index cards
What you do:
1. Have individual index cards labeled on one side with a punctuation mark illustrated in the book.
2. Have individual index cards written on one side with a statements, series, dates, dialogue, abbreviations, or questions. DO NOT include any punctuation marks on these cards, but have them match up to the punctuation index cards.
3. Optional: Include additional index cards with the following vocabulary words: imperative, declarative, interrogative, exclamatory.
4. Hand out all index cards to students. Students move around the room to search for their match of punctuation marks, written cards, or vocabulary words.
5. Students share their matches.
6. Add to this lesson as you teach additional conventions.
Trait: Organization
Focus: Repetition and endings
Book/Author: Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-85110-0
ISBN-10: 0-689-85110-3
Summary: Child feeling brave as enjoys friendly encounters with sea animals while looking for treasure. He quickly backtracks when he comes upon a shark, finally surfacing in his bathtub with mother waiting with towel in hands.
What you need: Supplies for creating a class book.
What you do: Read book aloud. Children will quickly join in, reciting “Way down deep…” at the beginning of each page and the transition “Swim away,” before turning to the next. Stop after first two animals and ask children to predict text for next page. Stop before last page and ask for predictions about ending. Discuss how Ms. Peck used repetition to create the rhythm of an ocean wave to tell the story and to trick the reader up until the surprise ending. Authors can use repetition to organize many different kinds of writing. Class could compose a story using repetition: Way Down the Hall in Room Number One.
Trait: Word Choice
Focus: Specific Verbs
Book/Author: Wheels on the Bus by Raffi
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0-517-56784-9
Summary: Lyrics with illustrations for the traditional song describing actions and sounds encountered during a bus ride.
What you need: Chart paper, markers
What you do: Read/sing along with the book. Discuss the advantage of using more precise words. Generate lists of words that could be substituted for “go” in each verse. Wheels could turn, roll or rotate: driver orders, directs or calls; children bounce or bob; horn honks or sounds, baby cries, bawls or wails, etc. As a class, decide on the new lyrics and reread/sing.
Notes:
Trait: Conventions
Focus: Capitals and periods
Book/Author: Bears by Donna Bailey (Goats, Donkeys, Eagles, Kangaroos and Snakes are other titles in this series easily substituted for this lesson.)
Publisher: Steck-Vaughn Company
ISBN: 0-8114-2633-5
Summary: Informs with text (at a beginning reader level) and photography, about behaviors and habitats of polar bears, black bears and giant pandas.
What you need: Pages of book retyped (permission), leaving out capitals and punctuation and including a half an inch of space between words; 1” green dot stickers, ¼ “ red dot stickers.
What you do: Read the book aloud. Discuss what constitutes a sentence and the use of a capital and a period to indicate its beginning and end, conventions that help make the content of the writing clear to the reader. Have pairs of students edit one of the pages using stickers. Green stickers cover over first letter of first word of a sentence. A student writes the appropriate “green-light capital” letter on the sticker. Red “stop-sign” stickers are placed at the end of each sentence. Share editing with whole group to agree on accuracy and reinforce understanding or students can self-correct with book.
Notes:
©Diana Fitzer, Kindergarten
Book: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Trait & Focus: Ideas & Content, Personal Narrative
Author: Judith Viorst
Illustrated by Ray Cruz
Publisher: Aladdin Books
ISBN# 9780689711732
Grade Level: 2 – 6
Summary: Alexander awakes one morning with gum in his hair and continues to view his day from the perspective of what is going wrong.
Materials: -Notebook paper
-various graphic organizers to support writing sloppy copy
Activity:
1- Read the story and lead a discussion about things that go wrong and can make a bad day.
2- Assist students in brainstorming descriptive words to replace commonly used words. “What words did Judith Viorst use in the story?” “What words can you think of?”
3- Have students make a list of things that have gone wrong or could go wrong in a single day.
4- Students organize their lists using a graphic organizer.
5- Students follow previously learned writing steps from draft to publication of personal narrative.
6- Extension may be illustrating the story for publication and/or actually making a book for sharing at school and home.
Book: RRRALPH!
Trait & Focus: Word Choice, Onomatopoeia
Author: Lois Ehlert
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN# 9781442413054
Grade Level: 3-5
Summary: In this enchanting picture book using the collage process to create the pictures, Ralph the dog, answers the narrator’s questions in ‘dog speak’.
Materials: – notebook paper to record sounds during reading of book
-prepared handout for recording animal sounds (see next page)
Activity:
1- Introduce the word, onomatopoeia. (Words that describe sounds)
2- Ask students to record the animal sounds that they can identify during the read aloud.
3- Discuss and record for class, words generated by students that describe sounds.
4- While working independently or in pairs, have students complete handout.
5- Extension – Write a paragraph using onomatopoeia.
Merriam Webster Online-
ONOMATOPOEIA
-the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)
ONOMATOPEOEIA
List sounds you know or create a sound for the following animals:
Duck- ___________________________________
Cat- ___________________________________
Frog- ___________________________________
Cricket- ___________________________________
Seagull- ___________________________________
Sheep- ___________________________________
Snake- ___________________________________
Bee- ___________________________________
Other:
_____________________ _____________________
_____________________ _____________________
_____________________ _____________________
Book: A Picture Book of Anne Frank
Trait & Focus: Organization, Timelines
Author: David K. Adler
Illustrator: Karen Ritz
Publisher: Scholastic Books
ISBN# 043907227
Grade Level: 4-7
Summary: Adler presents simplified biographies of notable people with the addition of realistic illustrations.
Materials: : 9” X 17” paper, cut in half, length-wise to create a 5½” X 17” strip
Activity:
1- Introduce the words ‘timeline’ and ‘chronological’.
2- Introduce the concept of timelines. (One example may be each of the students noting important events of their own lives such as birth, beginning of school, birth of a sibling, medical event, moving, religious ceremonies, marriage of important adults, death of family members or important adults. Students write these events on small strips of paper, noting their age at the time of the event, then arrange them in chronological order.)
3- Share the book with students.
4- Model putting the important information on the 4½ X 17 timeline strip. (The books in this series have a list of important events in the life of the subject, but not a timeline.)
5- Using other simplified biographies from this series, or similar biographical series, have students read the books as a team and assist one another in taking notes on important events.
6- From their notes, students will create a timeline on the 5½ X 17 strip, as earlier demonstrated.
7- As an extension, students may create a paragraph for each event on the timeline and organize them as a biographical report.
17” X 5½”
____________________________________________________
Hash lines can be pre-drawn on the time line or created by students to more accurately show units of time between events.
Book: North Country Night
Trait & Focus: Word Choice; students will use a thesaurus to find similar word choices for the book.
Author: Daniel San Souci
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
ISBN# 0-440-41029-0
Grade Level: 4-5
Summary: The cabin lights go out on the North Country Night, and the snowy forest comes alive with creatures. The creatures watch out for predators and take cover in their houses, dens, or other adapted escapes. This story talks about how the creatures interconnect with one another in a positive or negative way.
Materials: *A copy of North Country Night for each student
*Writing journal for each student
*Pencil for each student
*Thesaurus for each student
*Dictionary for each student
*Index cards for each word assigned by the teacher, folded and put into basket
*Index cards for students to write their final thesaurus word
*North Country Night put onto PowerPoint, with publisher permission
Activity: Students will bring their journals and their pencils and gather around the teacher. The teacher will read aloud from the book, North Country Night. The teacher will let the students know ahead of time that their will be a lot of “weighty words” in this book. The teacher will inform the students that he or she will stop when coming upon a weighty word. The weighty words in this book include the words keen, lopes, fierce, instinct, burrow, bitter, silhouetted, tawny, preoccupied, dense, lumbers, bough, sleek, frisky, curious, shuffles, scavenger, bandits, ashore, embankment, graceful, lofty, and hearth. There may be other weighty words that the students add in the course of the lesson. The teacher starts reading the book, and stops at each of the words listed above. The students write down the words and the definition. The teacher calls out to see who can guess what the word means. The teacher emphasizes looking at the word in context.The teacher then introduces what a thesaurus is,, and checks if anyone has experience with one. The teacher will model how to look up a word in the thesaurus, and whether or not a new word would fit in the story. When the book is complete, the students group into partners (teacher can pick the partners ahead of time, attempting to put advanced students with more challenged students). Partners will go to the basket and pick an index card that has a word from the book on it. They will go back to their seats and look up the word in the thesaurus. In their journals, they will write several thesaurus words for the word they picked. When they have decided that their best thesaurus word “fits” into the story, they will write it on an index card.
The class will come together once again and bring their index card. Teacher will play a PowerPoint for the lesson and replace the original word with a comparable word. At the end of this lesson, students can assess whether the original words should stay or the new words take the medal!
Exceptional words!
/Users/priscillaing/Desktop/RRRALPH! .docx/
Users/priscillaing/Desktop/Alexander and the Very Bad, No Good Day .docx
/Users/priscillaing/Desktop/The Baby Uggs Are Hatching .docx/
Users/priscillaing/Desktop/A Picture Book of Anne Frank .docx
/Users/priscillaing/Desktop/RRRALPH! .docx
Picture Book Activities
By Mitzi Shirk
Trait: Ideas/Content
Focus: Focused writing with well-chosen details
Book/Author: The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0064432270
Summary: This classic book takes familiar items from life and notes their basic characteristics, beginning with what Margaret Wise Brown chooses as the most important. Once several details are noted, she concludes by repeating the ‘most important’ characteristic.
What you need: Student paper template (see below), pencils, colored pencils (Optional: cover page template)
What you do: During the first week or two of September, Read Margaret Wise Brown’s The Important Book. Explain that you are going to make a class book, sharing with classmates what you think is important about yourself. In their writing notebooks, ask each student to make a list of 4 things that they want their classmates to know about them and to star which one they think is the most important. The teacher can model by making a list and then personally completing the student template. Referring to the completed template, note the use of repetition (concerning the most important aspect) and then note the use of pattern of 3 using three additional characteristics. Also make mention of how each person is focusing on the details of something very familiar—themselves! Once they have completed the writing, students can use their colored pencils to draw their self-portrait at the top of the student template and then it can be bound into a class book. I envision using the attached cover page and students drawing miniature self-portraits on the outside and inside front cover and perhaps the inside back cover, depending on the class size.
The important thing about _____________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
but the important thing about _____________
____________________________________
Our Important Book
By Edgewood B2 Second Graders
September 2013
Trait: Voice
Focus: Engaging an audience with strong feeling, and possibly humor, for persuasive writing
Book/Author: Earrings! by Judith Viorst
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1442412811
Summary: A young girl, who remains nameless, is PASSIONATE about getting pierced earrings. She tries to persuade her parents by being honest and frank (and a little annoying), and by begging, making exaggerated promises and offering deals. One thing is certain—she is persistent!
What you need: Paper and pencils (Optional: Cover page for class book—see below, and 3×3 inch pieces of paper)
What you do: Read Earrings! by Judith Viorst. Discuss what students enjoyed about the book and how they felt about the main character. Speak to the trait of voice and how the book engaged the reader. Encourage students to share times when they have wanted something very badly. What did they do? What were the results? Tell the students that they will be writing a letter to you, the teacher, trying to persuade you to do something during the school year. Ask them to think about something they would like to read, do, make, see, etc. over the course of the school year. Ask for feedback regarding what you as a teacher might appreciate about the letter and that may influence you in a positive way. Neatness? More than one idea? Humor? Realistic expectations and reasons? Offering to help in some way? It’s free? Using their word books to ensure good spelling? What might increase their chances for their wish to come true? I foresee some great writing and would likely collate the letters into a class book, using the cover page template below. As students finish their writing piece, I would have 3×3 pieces of blank paper available for them to draw their ‘wish’ on and I would use those to illustrate the front and back covers of the class book.
Please, Mitzi,
may we . . .
Persuasive Writing Pieces by
B2 Second Graders
Trait: Word Choice
Secondary Trait: Conventions/Text Features
Focus: Accurate words that paint a picture
Book/Author: Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN: 978-0763627423
Summary: This captivating book takes informative and surprising information about sharks and shares it through humorous illustrations and a variety of creative text features.
What you need: Student writing paper that is blank at the top for illustrations, pencils, colored pencils, and in this particular case, experience with the 4J science unit on ‘Organisms’
What you do: Read Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies. Discuss new facts that students learned about sharks. Talk about what the author and illustrator did to excite them—interesting facts, humorous and colorful pictures, different size type, labeled drawings . . . Refer to the ‘Organisms’ science unit. Brainstorm ways to summarize what we have learned about the various woodland and aquatic plants and animals and how we could make a class book that would be exciting for others to read, using some of Nicola Davies’ techniques. (In order to have a fairly equal number of pages devoted to the various animals, determine how to divide up the class so that all the organisms will be covered. Organisms to be covered are: pine trees, moss, elodea, cabomba, snails, guppies, bess beetles and pill bugs.) After students have chosen their organism, have them draft at least 2 interesting facts about it. Remind them to be accurate and colorful in their word choice. Share their writing with a neighbor to check for accuracy. (Students who need an extra challenge should be encouraged to research some additional facts that were not covered in the science unit.) Once they have drafted at least two interesting facts, remind them to add illustrations and revise to add something creative in terms of text features. Combine them into a class book.
Sea Lion Roars
Trait: Conventions
Focus: Arranging conventions to the author’s voice within a book, and observing what it looks like when the conventions are mixed around.
Author: C. Drew Lamm
Illustrator: Joel Snyder
Publisher: Trudy Corporation and the Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1-56899-400-1
Summary: It is Sea Lion’s first birthday, and he leaves San Miguel Island when he learns that his mother is now preoccupied with her new pup. He swims out to sea with other male pups and heads for the San Francisco Harbor. There are dangers along the way. One of them was when Sea Lion became caught in a net. He is rescued and released into the Harbor and can be his playful self once again.
Materials: *Markers
*Sentence strips for each page in the book
*Punctuation marks isolated and put with the sentence strips
*Sea Lion Roars book for every student in the class
*Writing journals
*Pencils
Activity: *Teacher reads the book, Sea Lion Roars while students follow along in their books.
*Teacher performs a K-W-L and asks the students if they remember the functions of a comma, period, exclamation mark, and hypen.
*On the first page, the teacher reads various sentences mixing up the hyphens, exclamation marks, commas, and periods. Then the teacher has student volunteers do the same.
*Students break into groups with sentence strips and repeat this exercise for different pages. Each group should have about 3-4 members.
*Each group comes in front of the class. They will present a mixed up version of the page they worked on. They will read the mixed up version out loud. Students will discuss how this is different from the original page.
*Students will form a journal entry at the close of this exercise. They will talk about the difference they observed between the original pages and the mixed up pages and how this changed the flavor of the book. There will be a journal sharing time where students can hear different observations than their own.
Good review activity, Nancy!
Corduroy’s Voice
Trait: Voice
Focus: Demonstrate how voice can drastically
influence writing.
Book: Corduroy
Author: Don Freeman; author and illustrator
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN# 0-590-30907-2
Grade Level: 3
Summary: This is a story of a girl who goes shopping with her mother, and spots a teddy bear for sale on the ground floor of a department store. Her mother says the bear is too expensive, and that the bear is missing a button, anyway. When the shoppers are gone at night, Corduroy (the bear) roams around the department store trying to find his button. He thinks he has found it and is quickly returned to his section in the store by a security guard. The girl comes the next day and buys the bear, happily taking it home.
Materials:
*color markers, thin and thick
*sentence strips
*16 quotes from the Corduroy book, written on
one side of the sentence strips (double for each one)
*writing directions on the back of each quote, telling the students
how to change the voice for NEW sentence strip
*student journals
*thumb tacks
What You Do:
You will write down all 16 quotes on the 16 sentence strips, then you will double these depending on the class size. On the back of each sentence strip, there will be a “direction” on how to form a new sentence. For example, one of the sentences read, “This must be a palace!” Coduroy gasped. I guess I’ve always wanted to live in a palace.” The direction on the back of the sentence strip says that the bear views the store as a haunted house. He is fearful and scared. The students will then form a new sentence based on that information. They will practice a new sentence in their journal and hopefully match up with the partner who received the same sentence strip. They will then practice together. I plan to have the reading buddies from the 5th grade turn into writing buddies for a session or two until all the sentences are done. When they are done editing, they will fill in a new sentence strip. The class will read the new Corduroy version when everyone is done. We will talk about voice and how it can change the content and other dynamics of the book. We will talk about which version they like the best! The directions on the back of the sentence strips are fairly uniform to create more of haunted house book. For supplies you can have the sentence strips arranged like an escalator which goes along with the book illustration. The kids will come up and take the quote that they like.