Celebrating Our Writing Work

We have wrapped up our Unit of Study on Where do writers get ideas? Each student chose one of the books he/she had been working on to publish. The students read over their choices carefully, checking to be sure they had not left out any words and that Word Wall words had the Word Wall spelling. Then each read the book to a classmate to be sure it was "reader friendly." Last week we had a celebration. Each student showed the published book and either read a selection or told about it. Each also told where he/she got the idea for the book and why he/she wrote it. We “toasted” our efforts with apple slices to finish up our celebration.

Just Right Books

I most often use this blog to write about our work in Writing Workshop. We also do a lot of reading work in our group. Just as in Writing Workshop, I do mini-lessons that focus on different aspects of reading. One of the first lessons I do is on choosing “Just Right” books, the kinds of books that will help the students’ development as readers the most. A Just Right book is one in which a student is interested. It is also a book that the student can read almost all of easily, figuring out the few words that he/she does not already know. And it is one that the student can understand. It doesn’t leave the child wondering what it was about.

This doesn’t mean that it isn’t helpful at times for children to read, and re-read, and easy book. Easy books support the child’s ability to read smoothly and with expression. Re-reading also allows a child to notice details that may have been missed the first time through. And, of course, children will often be attracted to hard books, especially if the topic is one that is compelling or of particular interest. Those are great books to read with a parent, teacher, or partner to help.

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.

Book Study

In our writing workshop mini-lesson time, we have been busy reading books and then studying them. Since we have been focusing on where writers get ideas, the first question I ask after I read a book to the group is "Where do you think the writer got the idea for this book?" After we discuss that, I ask what they noticed the writer doing in the book and what they especially liked that the writer did. We talk familiarly about what Bob (Graham) does or what we like about what Ruth (Horowitz) does in her book. I record student's observations on a chart that we can refer to later.

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.)

Fred and Lee Slideshow

Toward the end of the school year we did a digital storytelling project in my language group. I asked the children to think of what adventures our frog stuffie, Fred, and our Lemur stuffie, Lee, might have on our playground. The children had been taking Fred and Lee home for months and writing in a journal about what they did together there.

Each child planned out a picture of Fred and Lee at some spot on the playground. After taking the pictures, each child looked it over and wrote about what Fred and Lee were doing. Then we looked at the pictures and writing together. A couple of the children suggested we should make the pieces more connected so it seemed like one story. One suggested we use the picture of Fred and Lee on the playground "car" to link the individual pictures. We worked together to smooth out the story. Someone suggested they come back to the class and tell the other stuffies what they did, and I took a picture to go with that. Here's the final product (minus the music- I'm still trying to figure that out!):

Fred and Lee

View more presentations from joandwalker.

Summer Reading, Shared Reading

Summer is a chance for all sorts of reading. I have several different piles of books to work on. Some are related to my teaching (a couple on writing workshop, a couple on teaching math, one on teaching reading, one on science and wonder, a few journals to catch up on.)

Other books are for pleasure, exploration, and sharing. Sharing books makes them special. Some are books I share with my granddaughters. When I go to visit, I like to stick one or two books for them in my suitcase. The picture shows the three of us sharing a book by Oliver Dunrea that I took to them in April. I discovered his Gossie book series several years ago when looking through the children's section of my favorite independent bookstore, The Regulator Bookshop, in Durham. Rachel was a toddler at the time, and we both enjoyed reading these book together. My daughter-in-law Liz told me last winter that Rachel's younger sister, Isabel, had discovered them and was carrying them around the house, asking others to read them to her. So I was excited to discover one I had not given them yet.

I also enjoy reading books that others have recommended. One of the books I am currently reading, The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, is one I got from a cousin when we gathered with a group of cousins at the beach in May. Another, The Case for God by Karen Armstrong, was recommended by a cousin-in-law that was part of the same group. So many books, so little time! It's great to have family and friends who can help one find some of the gems out there.