Amy Buckner Weighs In on Writer's Notebooks and NonFiction text

The way out of a slump for some young writers begins with trying different genres. In a new podcast, Aimee Buckner talks about the value of integrating more nonfiction reading and writing into student notebooks:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1668.cfm

Aimee Buckner chats with Franki Sibberson about her new work on integrating nonfiction into reading and writing notebooks with students. Aimee's latest book is Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader's Notebook. A full transcript is available below the player.


Check out the podcast and then talk with your colleagues about how your your students are using their writer's notebooks to grow as writer.
Be sure to add your comments below. 

Family Journals- Setting the Expectation

K in May

 Family Journals provide one of the the most authentic ways for our students to reflect on their learning and deepening understandings and from the past week. They can put to practice all of the purpose and audience, word choice, and organizational patterns they know about. In this very real venue, even our youngest writers can transfer their learning about conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.) so that their message is clear to their reader.

While we must set our expectations high for our students, it's equally important to set expectations for our parents. How do we do this? Simply inform them. Send home an example letter and some guidance about how you want them to respond to their child. Let families know that these journals are a conversation on paper with their child and model of real world writing.

Looking to set the bar a little higher? Consider writing a new model letter for parents to use as their model this year. If you find yourself stumped in this area, simply search the /S/ drive under my folder and check out the model I would have written in Keaton's this week (had he brought it home.) It's not too long, not too short, but just right for responding to a child's week of learning and sharing.        Good Luck!!

5th - Notice Paragraphing

5th

Examples, Examples, Examples

Podcast Clip about Reading Like a Writer with Lester Laminack

In this podcast, Franki Sibberson chats with Lester Laminack about how he reads as a writer, and what teachers might do to develop this skill in their students. Lester is the author of beloved books for children and teachers, including Saturdays and Teacakes and Unwrapping the Read Aloud.*

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1545.cfm
Just push the play arrow on the bar before the transcript.

Whether you're just starting out, or have been teaching for many moons, it's worth your time and  you can even segment parts to share with students (after they have heard a book and establish a relationship with/context for him.) 


Lester talks about:

• connecting to text
• themes and messages
• the importance of setting
• detail diarrhea :) (the sister sickness of what I call "dialog-arrhea")
• reading like a writer

*I've got both books (and one more!) in my room for you to check out! Great memoir and teaching texts.

What's a Workshop?

It’s that time of year again! The time when we ask our students to think about the very important question, “So, what is a workshop?” We know most of them have experienced it and have plenty of schema to share with their classmates, so why don’t we find a new avenue for tapping into their background knowledge? Skip the 3 column “How does it feel, look and sound like?” chart this year and let them author their own book- The Important Workshop Book.

This year, as you read Margaret Wise Brown’s The Important Book, pose the question, “What do you think is important about a workshop? And WHY do you think that? By partaking in this meaning making experience, your students will be:


• engaging their brains a thinkers


• participating in a shared reading experience


• sharing their schema


• building community


• determining importance (key ideas)


• inferring readers’ needs


• connecting previous understandings with new understandings (making meaning)


• participating in the writing process


       o writing descriptively (vocabulary & details)


       o crafting complete sentences


       o considering words, conventions, and print features


       o practicing punctuation


       o publishing a class book


• illustrating to match pictures to written text


• exercising comprehension and collaboration through teamwork and presenting


• integrating the curriculum


• unleashing their creativity for a purposeful product


• …and the list goes on.


So this year, when you’re looking for a new way to tap into your students’ schema and set the expectations for your workshops, consider crafting a class book. You can refer to this text throughout the year when things are “not quite what they used to be”, or send mini-copies home to parents to inform them about how their child learns at school. Rest assured this is learning event is more than “cute”—it “counts” by getting at the understanding and meets our building code. * What more can you ask for? Oh yeah, it will be fun. ;)

Please let me know if you are interested in me modeling this lesson or coteaching it with you!


*ELA standards- RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL.5, RL.6, RL.7, RL.9; W.1, W.4, W.5, SL.1, SL.2, SL.3, SL.6; L.1, L.2, L.3, (L.4, L.5) L.6

Secrets to Successful Student Writing

Working hard on an Early Release… Last of school Early Release, that is



This afternoon our UP and 4th PLCs met to analyze their District On-Demand results for the 2010-2011 school year. After scoring and analyzing the data collected on their class and their grade levels, teachers spent some time reflecting on what contributed to their students' successes for the year. Here is what they had to say about their Secrets to Successful Student Writing.


• Conferring in small groups: I take kids with similar needs and meet with them in small groups. “I’d be talking with one child and the others would be listening and even sharing their ideas. Then I’d address the next child’s need and the others would benefit. It was a win/win!“


• Using the “Sandwich Approach” to teaching writing: This means we talk about different situations, audiences, forms, and purposes for writing right from the start. We then write like the models, confer with students, and end our unit with an independent try-it (on-demand) for both the child and for me to see how they do writing in this way independently.


• Whole Group Discussions about Writing (Conferences): We end our writing time with a student offering to put their writing under the document camera and we all have an opportunity to confer with that writer through questions, suggestions, and compliments. It builds community. They really take their peers thoughts and ideas to heart, and become better writers in the end. To finish it off, we let the writers go back into their writing to add/ delete/ tweak their work as they seek to improve their message and further their purpose from the whole groups’ feedback.


• Using SFAP(T) throughout the writing process: It really benefits our kids to have them SFAP during their genre writing so that when it comes time to show their writing skills independently (on-demand) it’s part of what they do—not just a “thing” they do only on on-demand.


• Writing in Family Journals: Students have much more schema and practice writing effective letters and paragraphs. They are continually writing with a focus and working to organize their writing to develop it to meet their audiences’ needs.


• Emphasizing Audience Awareness throughout the day/year: We talk about audience all the time- when speaking, listening, viewing, writing, etc. They know it’s important and they understand that different audiences have different needs.


• A Context Approach to Conventions: I use my read aloud to draw their attention to particular a word an author uses instead of a boring word or one that didn’t match their message or the intended audience. We also pull our striking sentences and chop them up, talk about the punctuation- it’s effect on the meaning, and work with the grammatical aspects of words.


• Writing Partners: We had both in class partners to offer one another feedback and we had 5th grade writing partners. The 5th graders read their buddy’s work and conferred with them as they have had their teachers confer with them. Talk about a Win/Win!


As you can see, the student writers at BES are making great strides due to their teachers’ efforts to set them up for success. Take a moment to congratulate yourself for your efforts to grow our young writers and share your greatest success snippet below.

Questions 2 & 3 (Writing to Learn and Demonstrate Learing/ Collaborating)

How does writing help you to learn?

 Writing it down helps you think about it.(K)
 It helps me learn about different things like science and math (K)
 Next time you look at it, you can remember. (K)

 It helps to keep it in your brain and you can go back and look at it (1st)


NOTICE THE VALUE THEY PLACE ON WRITING TO LEARN AND DEMONSTRATE LEARNING. THEY “GET IT” AT THIS YOUNG AGE. THEY UNDERSTAND THAT IT SERVES A GREATER PURPOSE.


How does talking about your writing help you be a better writer?

 It gives you ideas. (K)

 It helps me describe more. (K)

 When you talk before you write, it helps you think about it. (K)

 When I read my writing to other people I can see mistakes and fix them. (K)

 When you talk about your writing, you can ask questions and give comments about it. (K)

 Talking about it gives you more ideas and it keeps you from missing up and wasting your time. (1st)

 If you get a little wrong you can fix it, so keep a pencil with you when you’re talking. (1st)

 Other people can tell you things that you didn’t think about before. (1st)

 It gives me better ideas and helps me to think of more ideas and details. (1St)


WOW! LOOK AT THE VALUE OF COLLABORATING! IF OUR EARLY PRIMARY KIDS CAN UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF TALKING ABOUT WRITING… WOW!

Showcase Portfolio- K/1s respond to "What do good writers do?"

Check out some of the comments our K’s and 1st graders are saying about



What do good writers do?


• Leave spaces between their words and don’t keep saying “and” over and over. They put periods at the end of sentences. (K)


• Use “juicy words”, describe and read over. (K)


• Reread things before they write more.(K)


• Sound out words or find the words in the room. (K)


• Have to practice a lot and check what they’re doing. (K)


• Think before they write and use picture clues. (K)


• They reread, ask questions, and add a title. (1st)


• They think first before they write. They have good pictures and details. (1st)


• Writers need to be polite and choose good words. They need to reread and check for mistakes. (1st)


• Good writers ask questions. They think about what they are doing to write about and stretch out words. (1st)


• Use juicy words, reread and persevere. (1st)






DID YOU NOTICE THE AMAZING CRAFTS, STRATEGIES, AND GOOD HABITS OUR YOUNGEST WRITERS ALREADY UNDERSTAND AND VALUE!