Poetry

In January we did a Unit of Study on Small Moment writing in Writing Workshop. After that we took a couple of weeks during which I let children work on whatever pieces inspired them.

Our most recent Unit of Study has been poetry. For my lessons I draw from resources such as Regie Routman's Kids' Poems: Teaching First Graders to Love Writing Poetry, Lucy Calkins and Stephanie Parson's Poetry: Powerful Thought in Tiny Packages, which is part of Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong Curriculum, and my frequent source of inspiration, About the Authors: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray with Lisa B. Cleaveland. When I read Regie Routman’s book some years ago, it inspired me to begin saving poetry from my students each year. Now I have a sizable collection of poetry by kids that we can study together to inspire our own poetry. I also draw on books such as Little Dog Poems by Kristine O’Connell George and Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman.

At the end of our unit each student will choose one poem to put in our group’s poetry collection. I also get to choose one poem written by each student for the collection. We will edit and revise the poems using peer conferences and student/teacher conferences. I hope the booklet of poems will be ready in time to share on the upcoming Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day with our visitors.

Word Study

I have fine-tuned my Word Study program this year. For a number of years, the Word Wall and Word Study 5 Ways (from Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleaveland’s About the Authors: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers) have been at the heart of our practice of frequently used words. I am continuing that while drawing the words I use from Patricia M. Cunningham’s What Really Matters in Spelling: Research-Based Strategies and Activities. Many of the words are the same ones I have used before, but she makes some choices in order to be sure a range of consonants, blends, and vowel patterns are represented.

In addition she incorporates the study of word families (rhyming words, chunks) into the Word Wall work. While I have done this kind of work with my students, I have not connected it directly to the Word Wall before. This past week we took a break from adding five words per week to our wall (25 words so far). Instead we explored word families based on words we have added to the Word Wall so far.

Illustration Study

We began Writing Workshop as a whole class during the first couple of weeks of school. In those sessions we worked on the basic idea of writing workshop and the kind of work we would do at this time. We covered what conferences are, talked some about how to get ideas for our writing, and looked at ways to stretch our ideas and add details. Then the workshop moved into our language group time.


For the first week in language group I have focused on some of the "nuts and bolts" of the workshop (drawing on a title from Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Primary Writing.) For example, we had a lesson on stretching out words and recording the sounds we hear to generate spellings for words we do not know how to spell conventionally. (For more on this see an earlier post on generated spelling.)

Now we have begun focusing on an illustration study, looking at the illustration decisions that different authors and illustrators make and how those decisions can enhance the writing in the books. This study was inspired by Katie Wood Ray’s book, In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study. We have begun a chart of our "noticings" as we study different books. I love how the children often point out things that I had not noticed. They are sharp observers!

 

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've blogged here, so I wanted to go over recent Units of Study that we have done. In November we looked at the questions of how authors and illustrators use pictures to support and enhance their texts. This study was inspired by Katie Wood Ray’s  book, In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study. The students were great "noticers" as we studied books. Then they worked to include some of the techniques we explored in their own books.

In December we studied  “Small Moments."  We looked at how authors zoomed in on particular moments in time. Then students choose their moments to zoom in on and worked to remember details to include in their books. Students wrote about moments such as losing a tooth, scary happenings on Halloween, touching a python, and a Thanksgiving party.

Word Study 5 Ways

In Language Group we work on studying how words are put together. We cover common spelling patterns. And we practice reading and writing frequently used words. The goal is that these words become part of the children's reading and writing vocabularies, part of the words that the children can read and write without having to break them down.

I have used various approaches to studying frequently used words over the years. The one I like best is from About the Author: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers by Katie Ray Wood with Lisa B. Cleaveland. Each student is given a sheet each week with five words from our Word Wall along with a checklist of ways to practice those words. Students are to choose five ways to practice from the checklist. Choosing how to practice the words adds to the students' investment. The list includes everything from rainbow words (writing the words using rainbow colors) to making the words with Unifix letter cubes to back writing to stamping them with letter stamps. A couple of years ago one of the students came up with the idea of finding and pointing out the words on the Word Wall. That way was taken up by the other students and now is on the list each week. This year’s students enjoy exploring the different ways, and each is developing favorites.

Teach the Writer

"Teach the writer, not the writing." This is a phrase that I have heard from leaders of Writing Workshop, including Lucy Calkins and Katie Wood Ray. It is a point that Katie made in her workshop with us in August. I knew what she was talking about. I could picture myself last year conferencing with one of my six year old students. She had a nearly completed book that I felt had serious problems. Yet she was so proud of it. As I looked at her beaming over her book, I looked at it again. I focused first on what she was doing well. She was telling a story that she was excited about. Her book consistently focused on that story, and she had an interesting structure with a repeated pattern that added to her story. My concern was that she had rushed through her pages and had left out a number of words. She also had not put spaces between her words. Her spelling was semi-phonetic, so the leaving out of words and lack of spacing added to the difficulty of reading her piece, even for her. Yet what a lot of work it would take for her to go back and fix this piece of writing. I needed to focus on what she needed as a writer rather than what this particular piece needed.

I took a breath and considered my next words carefully. Then I pointed out the things she was doing well in her book. As the conference wound up, I told her that I admired her skill as story teller. But I added a request. I said, “I love your stories, and I can tell you’re excited about them. I think because you are excited you rush, and then you leave words out. That makes it harder for me to read your wonderful stories. The next time you start a book, I want you to stop after each page and read it over carefully. Be sure all the words of your story are there.” I made a note in my record book to check in with her early in her next book project to remind her of this. I also made a note to include her in a group with others who would benefit from a mini-lesson on spacing words later. Her development as a writer and her developing confidence as a writer were far more important than how that particular piece turned out.

A Day with Katie Wood Ray

On August 11, 2011, Katie Wood Ray came to our school and spent the day working with a group of teachers from Early School, Lower School, and Middle School on writing workshop. The morning focused on preschool through lower elementary and the afternoon on upper elementary/early middle school. Many of us stayed for the whole day, as the presentations and discussions were relevant to the work all of us do with our students.

Those who have read my blog before know that I regularly draw ideas and inspiration from the work of Katie Wood Ray. The past two summers I have attended two-day institutes sponsored by Heinemann featuring Katie and Lisa B. Cleaveland, with whom she wrote my favorite writing workshop book, About the Authors: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers.

Highlights on the 11th included exploring ideas and routines for Units of Study, working on strategies to use when conferencing with students, and expanding our understanding of the idea of approximation, which helps us have appropriate expectations for our students. We loved seeing video of conferences, especially seeing Katie tackle a particularly difficult one with a reluctant writer. All of us have been challenged by this kind of student and admired the patience, care, and tenacity that Katie brought to this conference.

The day did not disappoint. It was a perfect way to feed my excitement about the coming school year. Oh the many possibilities that await my students and me in Writing Workshop!

Poetry Study

Our most recent Unit of Study has been poetry. For my lessons I draw from resources such as Regie Routman's Kids' Poems: Teaching First Graders to Love Writing Poetry, Lucy Calkins and Stephanie Parson's Poetry: Powerful Thought in Tiny Packages, which is part of Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong Curriculum, and my frequent source of inspiration, About the Authors: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray with Lisa B. Cleaveland. I love Regie Routman’s emphasis on reading and talking about poetry by children. From Lucy Calkins and Stephanie Parsons I draw mini-lessons that help the children focus on specific aspects of poetry such as how to decide on line breaks. From Katie Wood Ray I get the basic structure I use in our study as we read various examples of poetry by both children and adults and discuss what we notice the authors doing in their poems. I also incorporate lessons of my own that I have developed over the years.

As always, some students “catch on” to poetry more quickly than others. Often some of the students who are most prolific with prose writing can be hesitant about poetry. Working together we help each other learn some of the ins and outs of this kind of writing. We talk about how important it is to read our poems out loud as we write them to get a feel for how they sound. As one students said, “I read it and it sounded more like a story so I changed it to make it sound more like a poem.” Another student talked about making her poem sound more “poety.”

At the end of our unit each student chose one poem to put in our group’s poetry collection. I also got to choose one poem written by each student for the collection. We then edited and revised the poems using peer conferences and student/teacher conferences. The booklet of poems was ready in time to share on Grandparents’ Day with our visitors, which made it extra special.

Illustrations that Enhance Our Writing

Our latest Unit of Study has been focused on the question: What smart illustration decisions do author/illustrators make in their books? This study was inspired by Katie Wood Ray’s latest book, In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study. The children have been wonderful at looking at books and noticing the smart things being done in the illustrations to communicate information, feelings, character, storyline, mood, point of view, passage of time, and more. I have recorded a lot of their “noticings” on a chart. We are also using the chart to note when one of us tries something we’ve seen in the books. We keep the books we are using for the study in a basket where students can refer to them as needed. After Thanksgiving break, students will be asked to choose books they have written to publish. Each choice should be a book that can go into the basket with our study books, because of interesting illustration choices.

Word Study

Word Study is work that we do to support both our writing and our reading. One focus in word study is finding the patterns in words. We can identify "chunks" or rimes that a group of words have in common. For example, the chunk -an is in many simple consonant-vowel-consonant words. The word "can" is on our Word Wall and knowing it can help students recognize others words, such as man and van.

We have been adding 5 words a week to our Word Wall. These are all frequently used words or popcorn words, as some call them, because they pop up a lot. The goal is that these words become part of the children's reading and writing vocabularies, part of the words that the children can read and write without having to break them down.

For practicing our Word Wall words I use an activity from About the Author: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers by Katie Ray Wood with Lisa B. Cleaveland. Every Monday I give each student a sheet that has five of our word wall words plus a checklist of ways to practice those words. Students get to choose which 5 ways to practice the assigned words. Choosing how to practice the words adds to the students' investment. The list includes everything from rainbow words (writing the words using different colors) to making the words with manipulatives such as letter stamps, Wikki Sticks, or Unifix letter cubes to using a pointer to find the words on the Word Wall. The students enjoy exploring the different ways, and each is developing favorites. They are becoming more comfortable with the 5 Ways routine, so that we are using this time more efficiently.

Abuzz with Writing

Today was an exciting day in writing workshop. Every student was absorbed in working on a book, busy illustrating and writing. Voices were quiet as students helped each other and shared their writing with each other.

We began with a mini-lesson that focused on the book "Let's Get a Pup! said Kate" by Bob Graham. I chose this book for us to study for several reasons. First Ellie had written a book on a similar topic last week, and I thought that would be a neat connection to make. Also several students have begun using dialog in their writing, and this book has a good amount of dialog, including in the title. And finally in the About the Author section of the book, Bob Graham speaks clearly about where he got the idea for his book. Now that we have covered a lot of the basic procedures of writing workshop, we are now moving into a focus on where writers get ideas (inspired by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleaveland in About the Authors.)

Word Study 5 Ways

In Language Group we work on studying how words are put together. We cover common spelling patterns. And we practice reading and writing frequently used words. The goal is that these words become part of the children's reading and writing vocabularies, part of the words that the children can read and write without having to break them down.

I have used various approaches to studying frequently used words over the years. Last year I found an idea in About the Author: Writing Workshop with our Youngest Writers by Katie Ray Wood with Lisa B. Cleaveland. Each student is given a sheet each week that has a checklist of ways to practice five frequently used words from our word wall. Students are to choose 5 ways to practice from the checklist. Choosing how to practice the words adds to the students' investment. The list includes everything from rainbow words (writing the words using different colors) to play dough words to back writing to spelling with Unifix letter cubes. The students so far enjoy exploring the different ways, and each is developing favorites. This week we added a new way: Wikki Words, in which students form the words with Wikki Sticks.

Katie Wood Ray! Yay!

Earlier this week I attended a Katie Wood Ray conference sponsored by Heinemann in Asheville. Five other colleagues from Lower School were there as well: Natasha, Tom, Kathy, Charlie, and Lisa.

It was fantastic! Inspiring, enjoyable, and full of good ideas for us to use to deepen and broaden our students' writing experiences. Having six of us there from our school gave us a chance to discuss the ideas together and consider how they related to what we are already doing at our school. The title of the conference was Developing Curriculum for Writing Workshop. A lot of our work focused on immersing our students in books and pieces of writing from specific genres as a way for them to learn about writing in these genres. There was also work on how to study the craft of a piece of writing and learn from that.

We explored books. Each table had a collection of books from a specific genre. I was delighted that our table featured some wonderful poetry books (I have added several to my wish list.) We saw video clips of teachers working with their students using the ideas presented. We did some work on our own, studying a genre, brainstorming our own topics for that genre, and choosing a topic. And then each one of us was asked to begin writing a piece in the genre we had been studying. After all, if we ask our students to go through this process, doesn't it make sense for us to experience it ourselves? Overall a well-thought-out experience for us with an inspiring guide.

I am left with a lot to consider, study, and mull over before school begins. And a lot to look forward to in the fall.

Word Study 5 Ways

I have for many years included some version of word study in my program. Word study is a time when we focus on the way words work, including phonics, frequently used words, chunks that are elements of a variety of words (sometimes referred to as word families), and spelling patterns. I have drawn on resources such as Pinnell and Fountas's Word Matters. Over the years I have tried a variety of formats.

This year I am trying an approach from a book I have been reading this fall, About the Author by Katie Ray Wood with Lisa B. Cleaveland. She includes a sheet that has a checklist of ways for students to practice a group of frequently used words to help them add those words to their spelling (and reading) vocabulary. Students are to choose 5 ways to practice from the checklist. The list includes techniques I have used before. What I like is that students can choose from the list which gives them more investment. The list includes everything from rainbow words (writing the words using different colors for each letter) to play dough words to back writing. The students so far seem to be enjoying exploring the different ways and each is developing favorites. Back writing is a general favorite though initially it gave some of them pause, as they asked, "What should we use to write on people's backs?"