Slice of Life: Play and Grammar

Thanks to Stacey, Dana, Tara, Betsy, Anna, and Beth, the amazing writers and thinkers who host the Slice of Life community every Tuesday. Everyone is welcome to join with posts or comments at twowritingteachers.wordpress.com!

One of the challenges of my year is rethinking and redeveloping our grammar curriculum. I have read many great books on the subject--The Power of Grammar  and Grammar Matters remain at the top of my list for anyone looking for elementary-geared recommendations-and yesterday, with the snow storm, I started writing some of the lessons we will fold into units.

As I watched the UConn women play South Carolina (Go UConn! --they won, if anyone is interested), I perused websites for grammar games. My twelve year-old snuggled into me and coached me through a battleship game at http://www.quia.com/ba/144044.html?AP_rand=604647634. It definitely kept our attention and we had to practice our subject-verb agreement. We also went on a treasure hunt at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en30stru-game-verb-subject-treasure-hunt.   This website has many interactive games to capture the gaming spirits, and Cecily paid more attention to finding treasure than the layups and three-pointers happening on the television set. Cecily was less interested in the extensive array of lessons offered at learnzillion.com. I knew that learnzillion offered great math lessons, but I was not as aware of the resources available for writing and language. Wow! If you haven't registered, I highly recommend doing so and allotting time for exploration.

Play is such an important part of learning, and we have so many resources available during this age of access! The #caedchat was all about play last week--if you have time, read some of the tweets about the definition of play and the importance of it for learning. Also, don't miss Julieanne's post about the importance of play in lives and learning.

Happy Slicing!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

Nothing like a snow day to inspire snuggling up with a book. I know that I will be unhappy in June, but this morning, being able to stay in bed and read Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt felt pretty decadent. Mel Swider wrote about this book in her post about Growth Mindset. She was lucky enough to read an ARC copy of it a while ago. The rest of us can buy it now, as this long awaited book was released on February 5, 2015.

Ally, a sixth-grader, has moved around a lot and has managed to hide her difficulties with reading. However, her new teacher, Mr. Daniels who reminds me of Mr. Falker in Patricia Palacco's  Thank you, Mr. Falker  (these two books would make a wonderful pairing!), picks right up on Ally's struggles. He not only helps her learn to he read, but he also helps her recognize and value her strengths, educating the entire class about dyslexia. Reading this book as a class read aloud would inspire many questions and conversations about learning difficulties that could lead to greater understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of the assorted intelligences we all have. The lessons, messages, and themes in Fish in a Tree go much further, though. The text is simple, but the conversations and insights about human behavior are complex. 

Lynda Mullaly Hunt weaves in many pearls of wisdom and expressions to remember. Many of her characters are prototypical and Ally's grandfather was particularly insightful about the world. Ally remembers him telling her
"to be careful with eggs and words, because neither can ever be fixed." (p. 185, ARC copy) I can't wait to use this line, as it is not one that I've heard before!

Happy reading!

Thinking About the Five Paragraph Essay Structure and Moving Beyond...

I came away from NCTE with many lasting impressions, and one of them has been about how to teach students the structure of an essay. I work with elementary teachers. Their students are just learning how to develop an essay. Our curriculum pushed teachers in the direction of five paragraph essays--an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The structure is predictable, even formulaic, and gives young students a scaffold for their claims, reasons, ideas, and evidence. 

Over the NCTE weekend, I had many conversations about essays. Have we demolished the beauty of essay with a simplistic hamburger template? You know the one--a top bun for the introduction, the cheese, tomato and meat for the body paragraphs, and the bottom bun for the conclusion...  During a wonderful NCTE14 presentation, Embracing Complexity, Katherine Bomer reminded us that Michel de Montaigne invented this genre of writing as a way to push off depression and that essai means trials and attempts. It's more about errors and trials by fire. Have we forgotten that an essay should really be a journey of thought and an exploration of ideas?

Maybe.

But here are a couple of techniques I have found that have helped me to break out of the cheeseburger:

1. Once they have an understanding of essay structure, teach into the power of intentional paragraphing. This essay, Delaney, is an older sister's tribute to her younger sister. When I sat down with this child, I complimented her tight organization. I also complimented the parallel structure she used. How many fourth-graders understand the power of repetition? I've earned chances, because of her. I've learned how to handle struggles, because of the. I've been able to share my secrets, because of her. I've had a great and partnered life. Because of her. WOW!

This child understands the power of repetition, commas, fragments...I took it one step further and showed her a mentor text that had just a one sentence paragraph.

"You can do that?" she asked.

"Why couldn't you?" I asked.

"Because paragraphs are supposed to have more than one sentence."

Exactly. And because she knew the rule, I was comfortable teaching her to break the rule.

"If you wanted one part of this paragraph to really jump of the page and stop your reader, what would it be?" I asked her.

"Because of her." She didn't even have to think about her answer.

She made those three words their own paragraph, and read the difference for yourself.

Version 1, without the new paragraphing

Version 2 with Because of her highlighted in its own paragraph

2. Encourage students to use exploration phrases in their paragraphs. By these, I mean: 

I wonder

Perhaps

Maybe

Could it be?

What if?

These phrases lead to deeper thinking that sometimes, the organizational structure of the five paragraph essay restricts. If an essay is really an exploration of an idea, these thinking stems may lead to a-ha moments for students. If an essayist gets to say, "Wow, I didn't think of that before!" that's exciting!

Some of the difficult decisions that teachers must make involve when to remove rules. These decisions cut across subjects. When do we know that students understand the mathematical rationale behind a problem so that they no longer have to explain every step of their thinking? When do they understand sentence structure enough so that we can teach them the power of sentence fragments or run-ons? When do they automatically make inferences, develop theories, and visualize what they read so that they no longer need to jot and track their thinking while they read?

As with so much new learning, we have to master rules before we break them, but be on the hunt for the students who have mastered the structure enough to digress. Then, their writing can really gain power!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Revisiting Five Minutes

Thanks to Stacey, Dana, Tara, Betsy, Anna, and Beth, the amazing writers and thinkers who host the Slice of Life community every Tuesday. Everyone is welcome to join with posts or comments at twowritingteachers.wordpress.com!

Two months ago, coming home from the headiness of NCTE, I initiated Five Minute Writes at our dinner table, writing about it here. Basketball season and the other pressures of life with a seven-person household definitely get in the way of this becoming a daily practice. However, whenever we can, we write.

Last night, I reflected on the impact writing in short spurts has had on my family members:

• My husband has learned the value of a slice of life. He doesn't always try to solve world problems and over-analyze a life mystery. He picks a moment from the day. Last night, he made us all laugh describing our youngest daughter slipping in the snow. (She was fine, so it's okay to laugh!)
• My high school junior doesn't stare at the blank page as much. She still rolls her eyes and she still complains about needing to do her homework, but she gets started much more quickly. Even though she rarely shares her work, she leaves her notebook on the table with the pen still marking her spot. I think she knows (wants?) that I read her pieces, and she has a definite theme that has emerged.
• My high school sophomore writes in all different voices for all different reasons. Songs, poems, arguments, lists, narratives...she has written them. 
• My seventh-grader has used her 5 minute writes as launching pads for bigger pieces of work. I LOVE that!
• My mom has begin to share some of her pieces. She used one piece to make sure that we would all try a new recipe, describing a futuristic event of people really liking her beef brisket. She also used one to express her hope that we can all leave our shoes in the mudroom. (We're working on this...)
• And my dad? That's another story for another slice. Maybe a really thick slice...

At school, I have a sixth-grade student I have taken on and whenever I can, I have him come into my office in the mornings and just write. I don't try to teach him much. I just want him to discover that he has important ideas and thoughts to share with the world, so I just give him my iPad and five minutes. Within the first month, he began to write more. When I first started working with him, he would only write a sentence or two. Just before Christmas, he wrote his homeroom teacher a letter of thanks: 

Dear,Mrs._____ .Thank you for being a good teacher to me and having my back and helping me on my work,trying to challenge me on a lot of things so i can go to the next level.When i was in 5 grade we got along with each other and we used to make jokes. but when it was time to start 6th grade i wanted you because i knew you could help me on my work.

Not perfect, but I'm not letting perfect get in the way of good... On January 16th, just a few weeks later, he wrote about his dad, a person we never hear about:

Last Sunday my Father called my mom and said he wanted to talk to me. When my mom gave me the phone he said that he got new car.Also he said he has two jobs now to support me when i see him at his new house.My father got the 2015 cadillac,and a new pet.He got a lizard that has spikes on the side of his body all the way to his tail.I told my dad congrats on his car and pet i also said i love him and that i like how he is approving a lot of goals that he told me.So now im proud of my Father.

Okay, I got a little teary here. We have so much power when we write. I love sharing it with the people around me.

Happy slicing,

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

I love all of Patricia Polacco's books so I was excited to read Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece.  This book reminded me of Thank You, Mr. Falker as it is also a true story about Patricia Polacco's experience as a student.  In this book, she is trying to overcome her fear of public speaking and Mr. Wayne, a teacher, discovers a way to help her just like Mr. Falker helped her with reading. It is a touching story that so many students will be able to relate to because public speaking is a common fear, especially as a child.  I love how Patricia Polacco shares positive school memories through her books of how teachers helped her overcome challenges as a learner. This story will lead to great conversations about overcoming fears, encouraging others, having empathy, and also having a growth mindset.  This is a great story to share with students of all ages!

I loved reading Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook and  Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader's Notebook by Aimee Buckner so I was excited to read Nonfiction Notebooks: Strategies for Informational Writing.  This professional book was a very helpful tool to use when planning my informational writing lessons this year.  It is full of strategies and student examples.  If you are teaching informational writing, I would definitely check this professional resource out!






Happy Reading!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

If Rain Reign by Ann Martin is not on your TBR or ABR (already been read) pile, then it should be. Melanie Swider reviewed it before it was published here--it was one of those books that I've been meaning to read for a while. I miss Rose, the main character. I miss her rule-bound way of seeing the world and her obsession with homonyms. I have even found myself looking for words that sound the same and thinking about the lists I could make. Ann Martin weaves social issues, ethical dilemmas, and natural disasters to create a book that leaves readers debating the decisions that many of the characters make. There are complex issues with complex background stories that would lend themselves to an amazing read-aloud for an upper elementary class.

Quest by Aaron Becker is a wordless picture book that inspires lots of conversation and story telling. I love using wordless picture books to spark children's imagination and inspire them to study art. My twelve year-old and I had a wonderful time examining the pictures and formulating the story line. It would be fun to contrast the stories that younger children would concoct to the stories that older children would develop around the beautiful pictures.

Odd Duck by Cecil Castellucci was front and center on one of our library shelves, so I picked it up. Right from the first page, I enjoyed several chuckles. Theodora is a rigid duck who meets Chad, a duck prototype of a hippie. Through humor, speech bubbles, subtle pictures, and understatement, readers watch the two ducks become friends but struggle with misinterpretations and miscommunications. This is a wonderful book to begin conversations about perceptions and realities, acceptance and forgiveness, and self-awareness and empathy. It's funny, but full of important messages about life.

Seeds of Freedom by Hester Bass covers some of the events in the Civil Rights movement. Even though it's a long picture book, it will inspire a lot of wondering and researchable questions. Because of the references to segregation, school integration, and peaceful protests, this book could also be a springboard to conversations about empathy, dignity, civic responsibility, and individual power.

Happy Reading!

In Awe of My Co-Writer!

Thanks to Stacey, Dana, Tara, Betsy, Anna, and Beth, the amazing writers and thinkers who host the Slice of Life community every Tuesday. Everyone is welcome to join with posts or comments at twowritingteachers.wordpress.com!

I have shared with many of you that I have been working on a middle grade novel over the last few months. I have been inspired and cheered on by the wonderful writing group that I met through Two Writing Teachers. I feel so lucky to have Stacey, Margaret, Catherine, and Julie in my writing life and beyond!

The person who originally inspired my book, though, is a girl who lives in our town. When she was

ten, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Since then, she has undergone several surgeries, including the amputation of her left leg, as well as many rounds of chemotherapy. My book is loosely about Kelly, so when I completed the first draft of it, I shared it with her and her family. I wasn't sure how they would feel about their story being potentially out there in the world. 

They loved it. 

Our work over the last couple of months has been how to give Kelly a voice within the novel. Her mother came up with the idea of Kelly writing journal entries throughout the story. Kelly and I have been trying to find time to sit down together and map out places for entries, and today was a wonderful opportunity for us because of the snow day. We met for over two hours, reviewing the chapter sequences, the story lines, the inconsistencies of some of the medical treatments. I walked away with a few new chapters that I need to write (I thought I was done...), and Kelly has several journal entries to work on.

Regardless of what happens with this project, her sense of purpose and commitment to our writing blows me away, and I am honored to share the writing of this novel with her. I would not wish the experiences that Kelly has endured on anyone, but she has a story that she wants to tell and people whom she wants to honor. I hope that many people get to read it one day.

Happy writing,

It's Monday! Here's What I'm Reading...

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

I wish that I could remember who recommended A Place for Wonder by Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough so that I could give that person their proper credit. Sometimes, when I am reading Monday posts, I just place titles into my Amazon cart, and I know that this is how I wound up with this book in the brown box on my doorstep. Whoever suggested it, thank you!

Even though many of the descriptions are of early primary classes, all elementary teachers could use the ideas in this book. Jennifer McDonough, the kindergarten teacher who writes reflections throughout this book, created a "What Do You Wonder" center in her classroom. The result was teaching students to ask meaningful questions. I loved the concept of teaching students about different types of wonders. There are "heart wonders"--what makes a good friend? But there are also "research wonders" that we can find answers to in books or in other sources of information. Additionally, there are combination wonders, and there are no-answer wonders. What a cool way to sort wonders and keep discussions going! 

A Place for Wonder has some important messages for classrooms. Encourage curiosity, tap into students' passions, teach how to ask and answer questions, create reasons for authentic research, and allow students to present their findings. Additionally, take the time to slow down and look closely, noticing what is around us with all of our senses. These skills can transfer to the close reading we want from students, as well as the detailed writing we want them to create.  I recommend this book as a practical reference with many lesson descriptions and templates to use, as well a resource to inspire curious, passionate learners. 

Happy reading! 

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

All the Answers by Kate Messner hits shelves on this month on January 27th! I love all of Kate Messner's books so I was very excited to get an advanced copy via Netgalley.  Like all of her books, this one did not disappoint! Twelve year old, Ava, discovers that the pencil she grabbed from the drawer for her math quiz is no ordinary pencil! This pencil tells her the answers when she writes down questions.  Each time she writes down a question, a small voice tells her the answer.  She immediately reveals this exciting secret to her friend, Sophia, and together they figure out that the "pencil" will only answer factual questions.  The reader goes along a journey with Ava and Sophi as they try to figure out who the voice is within the pencil and why this pencil has secret powers.  It is a fun book that kids will definitely enjoy reading! 



 
The Contract by Derek Jeter and Paul Mantell is the first book in Jeter's middle grade series.  As a dedicated Yankee fan, I was excited to hear about this book when it came out in the fall.  Derek Jeter was not only a legendary baseball player, but a great person and role model for children.  This book is about Derek Jeter's childhood and how he became inspired to become a baseball player.  Through the book, the reader learns how strong Derek's work ethic was as a child and how he persevered to make his dreams come true.  Any baseball fan, especially Yankee fans :), will enjoy reading this book about Derek Jeter as a young boy and learning how he became the great baseball legend! 

 

Colleagues and students who know me as a reader, know I am not a fan of fantasy or scary ghost books! One of my students last year tried to get me to read Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Dowing Hahn, but I unfortunalely kept refusing.  This is not like me because I usually always read books my students recommend.  However, the title along with the scary cover caused me to continue to say, "no." This year, she continued to recommend it every time she saw me in the hall and was relentless in getting me to read it.  She eventually came to my classroom and just handed me a copy of the book.  I suddenly realized that this student, just like all my students,  knows me as a reader and if she was this determined to get me to read it, it must be a good book! 

I read this book in one sitting and could NOT put it down! It is a suspenseful page-turner that keeps the reader wanting to read on and try to solve the mystery! It all begins when 13 year old Ali finds a photo that has a mysterious third girl in it with her mom and aunt at their lake house when they were kids.  However the third girl has been cut out and when she asks her mom and aunt about it, they both deny that they even knew a girl at the lake and their reactions tell Ali that there is more to the story.  She finds more clues and is determined to find out who the third girl is and why her mom reacts the way she does.  Ali jumps at the opportunity to spend the summer at the lake house with her aunt for the first time to uncover the mystery…Read the book to find out what happens! Thank you Isabel for recommending this book to me and not giving up! 

Happy Reading! 

Using Technology for a Kindergarten Student's Planning Process

Sometimes, our kindergarten students can say so much more than they can write. Sometimes, they can think of such great ideas, but they just can't remember those ideas when they get to the third or fourth page. (Sometimes, maybe even the second page. Okay, sometimes, maybe even the first page...)

This morning, I stopped by one of our kindergarten classrooms and the teacher, Hayley Brown, excitedly showed me how her student was working on her writing. This student had a clear story to tell about the first day of school and the read aloud that she remembered. This young student explained to me that sometimes she forgets what she's going to say, but her recording helps her remember. Her teacher walked away as the student showed me how she could find her video, locate the place where she needed a reminder, play it a couple of times, and then write. 

Wow.  WOW!

She impressed me enough to blog about it tonight. Her teacher asked her mom if we could share this young writer's voice and finger as she plans her story. 

The pages that you will watch her plan in this video are full of words now. Enjoy the planning and process of this young writer!

Slice of Life: It's a Great Time to Start Kidblog!

Thanks to Stacey, Dana, Tara, Betsy, Anna, and Beth, the amazing writers and thinkers who host the Slice of Life community every Tuesday. Everyone is welcome to join with posts or comments at twowritingteachers.wordpress.com!

I am probably preaching to the choir to many of the people who will be reading this post, but I'm going to preach anyway. If you are thinking about getting Kidblog started in your classroom, now is the perfect time. Here are some reasons:

1. Unless your students become obsessed with posting videos, it's free.
2. It's a new year, so it's a great time to start new things. If you love it, what a great thing to start in September with a new class. (If you hate it, there's only half a year left...)
3.  It's almost March, the month that many of us associate with daily slicing. Starting Kidblog now would give you enough time to work out kinks and possibly set up some collaboration with another classroom from a different part of the country. (How cool would that be for students?!?!)
4.  Blogging gives students organic opportunities to practice their keyboarding. Any student who is proficient on the keyboard will do better on the assessments that most of us will administer in the next few months. (I didn't want to mention high stakes assessments, but they are a reality...)
5. Nothing teaches writing better than writing. We slicers know how motivating it is to have responses and comments. And, if we really think about it and analyze our posts, we know the sort of posts that generate a lot of responses. Students can learn this, too. They can learn how to write for an audience, in a way that gets people to pay attention. What an important skill for them to learn!
6. You will get to know your students better than you already do. Many students will share emotions, fears, conflicts, and passions that are jam-packed days just don't provide time for us to get to know. One of our teachers shared her students' posts with me and I have all kinds of conversations to have with some of her students. Admittedly, these students are not mine, and maybe I would have known about some of the skiing adventures or riding obsessions if I saw these children every day. But days are packed in our classrooms, so we might not know as much about our students as we think we do. 
7. You will laugh. Students are funny, even when they don' be. One student wrote that another should "check her grammer." (I didn't comment that she should "check her spelling." I just had a chuckle that I'm passing along.)

For those of you who are already blogging with students, please share reasons to start. For those of you who are thinking about it, go for it! 

Happy Slicing!

Using Writing Checklists with Pictures

The newest version of Writing Pathways by Lucy Calkins is one of my favorite new resources, at this point, mostly for the new checklists with pictures. If you have any money left for professional resources, I recommend this one. It is $47 well spent. 

So, how have we been using these checklists? 

Many teachers are still using them throughout the units to help focus their teaching points, to remind students of goals they are working on, to challenge students to reach for higher levels, and to scaffold students to learn within their zones of proximal development.

One of our first-grade teachers took my suggestion of enlarging the checklist for first grade opinion writing and she made an anchor chart for her students. How great for her students to have their personal checklists match the anchor chart! The new checklists are divided into the components: structure, development, and conventions. While she made the anchor chart with just the structure skills, you could also make a chart of "Skills Writers Use to Elaborate" or "Conventions You Must Remember!" Because ALL grades now have pictures, these anchor charts could appear in higher grades, scaffolding ELL students and struggling readers. (Truth be told: we ALL like pictures more than print at times!)

In classrooms where I am coaching, I have starting using tripods at student work stations. That way, the charts and teaching points are closer to the students. I have made cards by cutting up the checklists. That way, when I confer with a student and he/she sets a goal, I can support that student with a visual reminder and I know that it is aligned to the grade level standards and coordinates with the unit's teaching points. 

I have made grade level sets of the checklists, coding the cards with the genre (N, I, and O), the grade level, and the category (S for structure, D for development, and C for conventions).

My biggest problem is that I keep leaving my cards behind with students when I am in their classrooms. 

I'd love to hear about other ways people are using the checklists. These are such powerful tools for getting students to develop independence and responsibility for their own learning!