Primary Sentence Fluency & Reader's Theater

Class comments from Kathy:

I was excited to see the example in the book that described a good way to begin teaching varying sentences was to model. That is exactly what I did with my class last year when I dabbled in teaching sentence fluency. I wrote a story similar to the boring beach story in the book. Mine was about playing at the park. I started every sentence with we and the sentences were short and simple. Then next to it I had a story with descriptive words, varied sentence lengths and different words starting the sentences. I started by asking which one was more enjoyable to listen to. They were able to respond correctly and talk about what made it more interesting to listen to. We then focused on the poorly written park story and how we could rewrite it to make it have more sentence fluency. We never got past the modeling and shared writing portion of this because the school year ended. I am excited to try some more of the ideas in Spandels's book this year.

Three times a week we work on fluency in our reading. A lot of this is done with reader's theater. This is a great way for students to work on their fluency and expression. Tying some of these writing ideas to their reading fluency will truly help them make the connection between reading and writing. Might be fun to give them a reader's theater written simply with no sentence fluency. Then with their partners or groups, have them rewrite their parts with sentence fluency. Then they can present the revised reader's theater to the class.

I think I will bundle this trait with word choice. Part of what makes a sentence fluent is choosing the right words.

Internet Resources for Conducting Readers Theater
(From the International Reading Association.)
http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=carrick/index.html

Reader’s Theater from the ProTeacher’s Archive
Lots of lesson plans and links to materials.
http://www.proteacher.com/070173.shtml

Reader's Theater Lesson Plans (Grades 3-5)
4 60 minute lessons by Laurie A. Henry, Ph.D.

Lexington, Kentucky

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/readers-theatre-172.html

Reader's Theater Scripts
http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm

Teaching Voice to Primary Students by Margaret McKanna

Guest Post by  Margaret McKanna

When it comes to effective teaching and learning, my inclination is to keep it whole. This is especially true in areas of literacy for students whose skills are still developing. Vicki Spandel asks the question:"So why do we study the traits if they're all part of a whole?' and then she answers: "Concentrating on a particular trait helps us see writing through a certain window...helps us appreciate how that trait connects us to others."

I'm all for celebrating voice in writing. Primary students understand this trait in a visceral way. Naming the trait of voice and celebrating it is critical to the development of young writers. Supporting voice while "opening windows" to other traits is also essential. It seems to me that voice has a unique relationship to the other writing traits. While ideas, sentence fluency, organization, word choice, and conventions are definitely where the rubber meets the road, I think voice is the fuel that sparks the engine and moves the writing forward.

Here's an analogy I find useful. As children learn to ride bikes, we support them as they practice the essential skills for bike riding: pedaling, braking, steering, and balancing on two wheels. We support these emerging bike riders by holding on to the seats of their bikes as they sharpen these skills and consolidate them to achieve proficiency. We coach on the side, offer tips for one skill or the other. The learners are completely engaged in the act of riding and I wonder how much our words contribute to their success. We hang onto the bike seats knowing there is so much more to learn. Meanwhile, the young riders are pleading for more independence, a chance to test their own measure. At some point, we need to get out of the way; we need to let go.

In Chapter 8, Teaching Voice within Writing Process*, Vicki Spandel has an excellent collection of lessons and strategies for teaching voice. My hope is to use this resource sparingly; a little will go a long way. Our instruction in writing ought to be slow, deep, and wide with one strategy. Then we must let go. Young writers need the time to experience writing, the pure satisfaction of it. They need time to share writing, the pure joy of it. They also need time to assess their own writing, the undeniable challenge of it!

Margaret McKanna is an experienced teacher participating in the online professional development class, Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits.

Text:

Text:

Primary Conventions:

In answer to the quesiton: Is correcting a student's conventions errors effective teaching? Primary teacher Mary had this to say:

I absolutely agree that correcting is not teaching. Before I began to learn about the 6 Traits, I didn't realize that one of the only things that I evaluated in a child's writing was conventions. When a student would come up to me with a writing piece, I would automatically correct their grammar and spelling.

Little did I know that I was turning them off writing. I was focusing on what was wrong and not celebrating what was right (like great voice!). I didn't know any better. It was no wonder I would hear the grumbles as I would ask them to take our their writing notebooks.

It actually was very difficult for me to NOT focus on conventions at first. I had to get used to asking a child if they could read me their piece so that I would not be tempted to correct their mistakes.

I think that having a student edit their own piece it is not as discouraging to a child. Now, I might ask if they could read their piece and show me where there might be a good place to add some punctuation rather than me marking all over their paper.

(For more on editing vs. correcting check out this online lecture.

Primary Sentence Fluency Whales Passing

• Teaching the trait of sentence fluency using Whales Passing | Scholastic.com
  
  
  
  • Teaching Sentence Fluency Using Whales Passing by Eve Bunting
  • Sentence Fluency: A Definition for Primary Students
    The sentence fluency trait has two important dimensions: the grammar that makes a group of words a sentence and the way sentences sound.Indeed, this is the auditory trait, where we learn to read with our ears right along with our eyes.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Twitter for K-3? Think about it!

• K-3 Teachers Guide to Twitter
  tags: writing technology web2.0 6-traits
  
  
  • 

    I have been itching to write this Teachers Guide to Twitter for a while now - hoping to encourage K-3 Teachers and others, to give Twitter a try. Many of our visitors have expressed that it is all too confusing - so - I will do my best to unravel the 'mystery' behind Twitter - it is worth it...so hang in there with me...

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

WritingFix Writing Traits for Primary Writers

By now I'm sure you're all familiar with the WritingFix website. It is a treasure trove.  I encourage you all to bookmark the site as your Primary Resource! 

Here is a link to WritingFix's  Writing Traits: Traits for Primary Writers.

This is a Nevada Print Guide and Teacher Workshops sharing materials from Northern Nevada's teacher inservices and print guide.

There are many lessons and resources for Primary Writers on this page.  I also want to direct your attention to: Six By Six: Traits Writing for Little Writers.   This inexpensive book offers thirty-six writing lessons (six lessons for each of the six traits...six by six).

Also consider joining the Primary Teacher's Group on the Writing Lesson of the Month Ning. (There are 12,000+ Teachers on this network!)

In our online class, Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits,  we quickly develop a community of practice dedicated to sharing ideas, resources and methods about the 6-Traits.  By the end of the course teachers know how powerful a like minded community can be.

WritingFix and their online groups will help any teacher seeking to improve their writing instruction find a supportive online community.

Join and online community of writing teachers! It's free and who knows where it will lead?  8-)

Teaching Traits in the Second Grade by Cathy Rencavage

 "I think kids know when something is off in a story." Children are very savvy even at the earliest of ages.

This reminds me of a humorous story involving my second grade students a few years back. After being immersed in craft/trait instruction and investigating the qualities of effective writing, I introduced the students to our new Social Studies Program titled Social Studies Alive. It wasn't long into the first chapter when  one little boy raised his hand and stated, "This author does NOT know how to write!"

Another raised her hand and stated, "I agree, this book should be called Social Studies Dead because there is no voice behind the writing whatsoever!"

Little by little, before I knew it, chaos erupted in my classroom. Hands were shooting up here and there as students angrily shouted out..."There are no sensory details, not one!"

"Talk about redundancy, the rivers this and the rivers that..." Etc..., Etc... Etc... LOL.

As happy as I was that the students realized quality writing when they saw it, (Believe me, my heart was singing a very happy song!) I also realized that we were married to this text for the second half of the semester. Every time I asked the students to pull the book out of their desk I was met with moans and groans and chants about Social Studies Dead!

The moral of this long thread is... students know when something is off in a story. When students are immersed in trait instruction, they gradually begin to read through the lens of a writer and emulate the craft of authentic authors.

Cathy_Pennsylvania

Crafting Writers, K–6 (Full text online)

Crafting Writers K-6
Elizabeth Hale
Year: 2008
Media: 272 pp/paper
ISBN: 978-157110-739-8
Grade Range: K-6

Here's another online full text preview from Stenhouse Publishing.

The book is available via PDF download, a chapter at a time.

Here is the table of contents:

Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Specific Craft
Chapter 3: Gathering Craft
Chapter 4: Categories of Specific Craft
Chapter 5: Crafting with Punctuation
Chapter 6: Primary Writing
Chapter 7: Teaching Craft Lessons
Chapter 8: Researching Strengths in a Conference
Chapter 9: Researching Next Steps in a Conference
Chapter 10: Teaching the Conference
Chapter 11: Group Conferring and Other Management Techniques
Chapter 12: Assessment
Final Thoughts
Appendix A: Additional Mini-Lessons on Craft
Appendix B: Mini-Lessons for Independence in Memoir Writing
Appendix C: Mini-Lessons for Independence in Nonfiction Writing
Appendix D: Mini-Lessons for Independence in Poetry Writing
Appendix E: Forms for Researching Craft
Appendix F: Guided Practice in Researching Craft
Appendix G: List of Specific Craft Presented in Chapters 4, 5, and 6
References
Index

If you use it, buy it! Reward a writer and teacher's hard work!

Six Traits Search Engine

Try this Six Traits Search Engine I built using a social search system called Swicky. You can vote for your favorite materials and suggest sites you'd like included in the search results. Go to the site and click on the keywords in the tag cloud. See what you think! ~ Dennis

Recommended books for Organization

During the Organization Module in the Fall 07 online 6-Traits class, we discussed the importance of leads, titles. One of the best ways to build traits concepts is with examples from great books.

Jeanette, a primary teacher from Alaska posted the following.

On page 8 of Creating Young Writers (Spandel, 2004) it states "A good lead (beginning) is vital." On page 9, Spandel goes on to say, "Skilled writers know that the way you wrap up a piece of writing determines the final impression you make on a reader and often determines whether the piece as a whole has believability." I decided to look at the recommended books for organization on 180 and see how the authors decided to begin and end their stories. If you haven't read some of the recommended books I really suggest you do. They are great. After reading some of them I understood better what makes a great beginning and end. And middle, too.

Brown, Margaret Wise. 1949. The important book. New York: Harper Trophy.

Every year in the halls of the school I taught at there would be "The Most Important Thing" poem display. I always read the poems written by the students, but I never read the book until yesterday. The book is a collection of poems that begin and end with the same statement, "The important thing about a _________ is _________________."


Fleming, Denise. (1997). Time to sleep. New York. Henry Holt and Company.

The story begins with "Bear sniffed once. She sniffed twice. "I smell winter in the air," said bear." What a great statement. I can't wait to ask my students what winter smells like. I'm sure the answers I get from my students in Alaska will be way different than the answers from students in Florida. The ending reminded my of the old tv series The Waltons with all the animals saying "good night" to each other.


French, Vivian. (2003) Growing Frogs. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

What a lovely book! The first sentence is definitely an eye catcher, "Once, when I was little, my mom read me a story about a frog that grew bigger, and bigger and bigger. The story ends with a similar sentence, "I like having frogs jumping around getting bigger, and bigger and bigger!"

St. George, Judith. (2002). So you want to be an inventor? New York: Philomel Books.

This story begins with a question. The story goes on to tell about different people and what they invented. The story is both entertaining and educational.

Wallace, Karen. (1993) Think of an eel. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

The story begins with "Think of an eel. He swims like a fish. He slides like a snake." I like the way the author engages the reader with the first sentence.

After reading these books I decided I am definitely going to use them in my classroom. The suggested writing activities are very good.

I am now very aware of the beginning and ending of a story. I know organization is all about the middle too. But what really struck was how you can engage a reader with just one or two lines. Here are a few more books that I particularly liked the opening sentence.


Knowlton, Laurie. (2006). A young man's dance. Pennsylvania: Boyd Mills Press.

This book begins with "Grandma Ronnie isn't home anymore." That is the only sentence on the page. The next page goes on to say, "There's no smell of baked cookies, no music jitterbugging through the rooms. " The story is about a young boy that is having a difficult time adjusting to his grandmother living in a nursing home. My eyes were watering by the time I finished this book – guess that's a sign of good Voice.

Brown, Margaret Wise. (1938). On Christmas Eve. Harper Collins.

How someone would be able to put down a book and not finish it when it begins, " It was the middle of the night. And night of all nights it was Christmas." is beyond me.


Sendak, Marice. (1970) In the night kitchen. USA: Harper and Row.

Okay. This was one of my favorite books when I was little. It begins, "Did you ever her of Mickey, how he heard a racket in the night and shouted QUIET DOWN THERE!"

I May Have Found My Voice

Maria reports from Summer School:

One thing I learned from the class readings, which was reinforced oddly enough in my summer school Kindergarten job today, is that the best way to engage students is to share your own writing with them. Show them your own struggles/process/evolution as a writer. Invite their input.

I tried it with Kindergarteners today, with phenomenal success.

As I relayed a description of my backyard, using simple drawings on a whiteboard and labeling the pictures, the students enthusiastically chimed in with suggestions of what to add ("How about a cat who wants to eat the goldfish in your pond?"); comments about their own backyards ("My dad built a waterfall in ours."); and helpful hints on spelling ("Sun" is spelled s-u-n.). Then, when I had the students develop their own stories in their journals, I found myself absorbed in the details of their lives. In the past, I have insisted that they write something first, then illustrate it. I learned today how unnatural that is for young writers. I also learned how much fun it is to hear other people's stories, even 6-year-olds!

Tomorrow, I am going to revisit the description of my backyard with my young charges. I am going to muse out loud about whether there is anything I could add to my story, either in the form of more pictures, or more words. Perhaps I will even venture to write a sentence about it. I will teach them, subtly, that you can go back to a piece anytime you want, planting the seeds of "revision". I will ask them to revisit their stories from yesterday, and decide if there is anything they wish to add.

(You may or may not recognize that I got the Kindergarten ideas from author Lucy Caulkins and her books on writer's workshop. Her work reinforces my conviction that sharing my writing with students is a sure way to prime their creative pump.)

First Grade Word Choice Methods

Terese shared these word choice methods...

In first grade, word choice is continuous since their vocabulary is so limited. In the beginning of the year, we use our five senses to brainstorm adjectives for each sense. I make a chart and add to it throughout the year. That way, the words are always available to them when they write.

As the year progresses, I do a lot of modeling.

I write sentences on the overhead with "overused" words. We begin with the verbs, and try to replace the existing verbs with action verbs. We always try to change forms of the verb "to be" to action verbs.

We then try to add exciting adjectives. Again, this has to be modeled again and again.

We are now at the point of the year where we are progressing to short paragraphs on the overhead and revising them. For first grade, we emphasize strong verbs and adjectives.

We draw pictures of the sentences before we revise and after to emphasize the difference. We are always trying to form a picture in our readers' minds. If my first graders don't learn anything else, all of them will be able to tell you that!

Towards the end of the year, we do a beach unit. (As I live in Delaware, that is where the children's minds are by the end of the year anyway.) In pairs, the students pick an ocean-related animal or object and research it. One of our activities is to write a simile for our topic. Of course, we read many books first for examples. Then, the children make a page for a class book of similes. They draw their topic on the left and the object they are comparing it to on the right. They write the simile below.

In first grade, this project is better towards the end of the year when the children are more comfortable experimenting with writing.

PreK - 1st Grade Traits: Using "Wee Can Write" Workshop

Folks, I'm not affiliated in any way with NWREL. I just admire the great materials and training they offer. Wee Can Write is available online from NWREL.

If you're going to be in the North West, don't miss this training:

Carolyn McMahon, co-author of the bestselling book, Wee Can Write: Using
6+1 Trait® Writing Strategies With Renowned Children's Literature, will be
in Portland, Oregon, on April 5–6, 2007, to facilitate this "learn it
today…use it tomorrow" hands-on workshop. Participants will explore a
variety of activities for teaching and assessing the traits of effective
writing using familiar classic literature titles that young students love.

Teachers, instructional assistants, special education staff, and
administrators of "wee" (beginning) writers—preschool, pre-kindergarten,
kindergarten, Head Start, and first grade students—are encouraged to
attend.

Attendance is limited to maximize the focused, interactive nature of this
workshop so register soon. As an added incentive, register by March 15 and
save $20 on the already low registration rate.

Visit http://www.nwrel.org/events/see/85 for complete information or call
(800) 547-6339, ext. 187.

Learn about other NWREL workshops at http://www.nwrel.org/events/ .

See the new http://www.thetraits.org ...your one-stop resource for all
your 6+1 Trait® Writing needs, including information on trainings,
instruction assistance, and products.

Primary Ideas: Teach 'em to pick their own topics!

Jennifer shares these great ideas from her 1st Grade Classroom:

I believe that "Good writing" begins with meaningful topic selection. Writers take more ownership when they are in control of their writing topic. It is my responsibility to encourage, model and teach my first graders how to do this. In my classroom, we learn very early what good writers do.

What Good Writers Do:

• Good Writers write about Small Moments from our everyday lives (losing a tooth, dropping our lunch tray, losing a gym shoe, etc.)


• Good writers write about Memories (weddings, injuries, getting a new pet, etc.).


• Good Writers write about things that we are an Expert on (fishing, jumping rope, walking a dog, etc.).


• Good Writers write about things that they have a big feeling about.


• Good Writers write about things that they know a lot of specific information about.


• Good Writers write about things that are real in their lives.


• Good Writers write about things that are important to them.


• Good Writers write about things that they think others will be interested in.
  
  We also learn that: Good Writers are inspired by other writers: An old piece of writing might inspire a new piece of writing. Someone else's writing might inspire a new piece of writing. A good book might inspire a new piece of writing.
  
  My students and I create charts with this type of writing language. These becomes my focus lessons during our Writer's Workshop.
  

Status of the Class

Another great tip to help kids select their writing topic before they actually have the paper & pencil and begin to write about the first random thing that comes to mind, is "Status of the Class."

This means, I pass out the writing journals at the carpet. The students "warm up their brains" by rereading old pieces. They decide if they will be revisiting a piece of writing to write & write or make changes or they decide if they will be moving into a new piece of writing. They have about 3 minutes to do this.

Then, I begin calling out names. As a student hears their name, they share their writing topic. ---Yes, they truly use this language. It's fantastic!

• "I'm revisiting my story about learning to trot on my horse."


• "I'm making changes to my story about my b-day party."


• "I'm writing about a Memory when I twisted my ankle ice skating."

Once a student gives me their topic, they head right to their writing space and begin writing. The entire Status of the Class experience should be quick (5 minutes max!). It feels a bit chaotic at first, but if you stick to it & train your students, it's extremely beneficial.

My first graders have truly made a connection to the importance of meaningful topic selection which directly connects to Ideas, Ideas, Ideas.

Ideas for teaching Ideas in primary grades

Kathy shared the following in my current 6-traits online class. Her ideas about ideas should spark some ideas for all of us! ~ Dennis

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"This is one area that I have done a lot of exploring with my classes over the last two years. I agree with Spandel* that writer's need the skill of finding and defining their own topics. If you provide the topic routinely, you will encourage students to depend on you for this.

We are working on learning to "spot the moments or ideas within their experience that are worthy of writing time." I agree that we must tap into their personal experience, expertise, and interests. I think students can learn to become good observers. As I have mentioned before, we make lots of lists and we record them in our writer's notebooks.

One book that I have used the last two years to introduce the concept of personal experiences and using a writer's notebook is I'm In Charge of Celebrations (by Byrd Baylor). This is a book about a woman that celebrates unique and wonderful occurrences in her life as she lives in the desert: seeing a triple rainbow, seeing dust tunnels(?) swirl all around her, a coyote, etc.

After reading the book, I send home a note asking parents to help students make a list of things that they celebrate in their life, other than holidays. Parents list 6 or 7 experiences( holding an alligator, saving two kittens, riding my first roller coaster, loosing my first tooth). This was our first entry into our writer's notebooks under the heading of celebrations.

Then students chose 1 celebration to use as our first piece of writing. We started by making a class list through interactive writing. Then they each wrote individually about the experience. Spandel states that students need modeling and practice in order to learn how to list everyday events and random thoughts in their notebooks. This is why we started with a class writer's notebook. We recorded ideas together on chart paper.

Another point that Spandel makes is that students need to talk to one another before they write - to suggest ideas for writing. I also previously mentioned that we have Lightbulb Lab almost everyday in my class. This is time to write ideas in the writer's notebooks. During this time students can chose to have idea talk time. They can sit with one or two classmates and talk.

I have talk time cards they can use to guide their conversation. For ex. Did anything different or unusual happen last night? or Did you notice anything on your way to school today?

I also have a bin of pictures I pulled from magazines that they can look at to try to come up with ideas.I found two ideas that I would like to try in my classroom. I liked the idea chart "Picturing Writing" on pg. 24. I thought it was a great way to get kids to plan out descriptions and details for their story. I also like the Snapshots idea, "Show, don't tell", in which students turn vague sentences into snapshots by piling on adjectives and creating pictures in the reader's mind. "

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*The text we use in the k-4 course is Vick Spandel's Creating Young Writers. If you've read it you know it is extraordinary. If you haven't read it... do!

~ Dennis

Free Book Preview: K-2 ESL Writers

Here's another free online preview of an interesting writing text:
Stenhouse Publishers - "The Words Came Down!": English Language Learners Read, Write, and Talk Across the Curriculum, K-2

As I've learned when working with K-3 Teachers in my UW-Stout Online class, the traits work for pre-literate kids when we're able to teach the concepts of each trait. This book should yield some good ideas for our Ell, Esl learners. (You can see the whole book in PDF format!)

(del.icio.us tags: writing reading esl)