Tuesday Teaching Tip - Scholastic and Mentor Texts

You've heard me say it time and time again, but here I go again…

I love teaching writing!

One strategy I use most often is teaching through mentor texts. 

Children learn well by means of example. Whether it's teaching behavior, proper speech, problem solving, or writing students understand much better when they can see and year an example of what us expected. Mentor texts provide that good example for students in developing their writing, but in order to effectively use those mentor texts, you should choose strong and clear examples. It also helps to zone in on key areas of those texts and dissect the texts (in detail). 

Sometimes I realize that certain books lend themselves well to teaching different writing craft in the midst of reading to my class. That's why I sometimes put a sticky note inside the cover and list what kind of craft the book would be good for and even make note of what page provides strong examples. 

Although these sticky notes serve as a good reminder for me, it's not always the most convenient way of finding the mentor text I want to use for my lessons. It's a good thing that websites like www.scholastic.com have such great resources for teachers. One of those resources is a list of mentor texts!  You can find that here. 

I encourage you to take some time to explore the Scholastic website in the teacher resource section.



They've got some really useful stuff in there. You just need to know where to find it (and then remember that it's there)!  I found that bookmarking pages in my web browser helped. I'm queen of folders and sub folders. I have things bookmarked in sub folders like 

Printables 

     --> Language Arts

                --> Graphic Organizers

Makes it so much easier to go back and find!

Tuesday Teaching Tips - Take it Personal!

You know how sometimes comments are made and people say, "Don't take it personal!"  Think about that . . . why would someone say that?  Because if you take something personal, it hits close to home and stirs up emotions.  Once emotions are stirred up you open up the floodgates!

Well this time I'm telling you to TAKE IT PERSONAL! 

In writing, that is.  =)

I'm encouraging you to encourage your students to take their writing to a personal place as often as possible. 

Writing prompts are great.  Some can even push students into a personal direction and tap into some great creative juices, but sometimes writing prompts can make your students feel limited.

One of my favorite subjects to teach is writing (because I LOVE writing so much).  I actually incorporate a variety of ways to teach writing so that my students are exposed to different writing styles and techniques.  They need to be able to write on a given topic, but they also need to know how to self start.  I often reserve writing prompts for writing centers or writing benchmarks (to keep writing uniform, comparing apples to apples at the beginning, middle, and end of the year between students).  When I do Writing Workshop, however, I try to lead with a genre or style of writing but then let students choose their own topics.  Some kids have difficulty doing this, so when I confer with them I try question and lead students in finding something that is meaningful to them.

Personal writing (experiences, likes, dislikes, wishes, and opinions) get people excited.  When you're excited you take interest and often get wrapped up in the task at hand. You can get worked up and then . . . the floodgates open!  Now imagine that in a student's writing.  Imagine the floodgates opening up right inside their notebooks on what was once a blank piece of paper.  I can't even describe to you my joy and satisfaction when I see that happen, or even better - when I ask students to stop to clean up because writing time is over and I hear the disappointment vocalized simply because they truly wanted to keep writing!  (Oh, how that touches my heart!)

Anyways . . . you get the point.

When it comes to writing remember to . . . 

Take It Personal.

Get Your Writing On!

Oh my goodness!  Can you say "busy"?  Of course you can . . . you've been in the same back to school boat, haven't you?  I am SO exhausted with back to school, deadlines, new curriculum, AND new software.  All this to explain why I've been MIA (again).

I've had ideas of things I want to make and do but haven't been able to get to them, so I'm glad to say that my 1st time back in a month brings you something good!  =)

I've just created a Writing Prompts package that includes 50 creative and challenging writing prompts for your students.  I use these in Writing Center during Guided Reading.  I generally let my students choose their on topics during Writing Workshop but then give them prompts during centers (giving them practice at both self-chosen writing and writing to a topic).

If you remember my Math Journal Prompts that came out last year, these work the same way.  You just print out enough of the writing prompts for each of your students, and the students cut out a prompt to put in their journals.  (Saves you paper that way.)

Here's a free sample from the pack . . .

Click the preview above to get your freebie!

Click the preview below to get your copy of my 50 Writing Prompts to Get Them Thinking!

*Click here to get it from Teachers Notebook.
 
Oh . . . and if you missed the Math Writing Prompts to last you through the 1st grade year, you can get them here.

End of the Year "Memory" Book

This is the time of the year when we pull out those good ol' memory books!  You know . . . the ones that are fun for the kids and keep them occupied for a while so that you can check off a few of the seemingly endless items on your end of the year list.  Well, here's another memory book for . . . but with a twist!

This "memory" book is for both fact and fiction!  There are 8 topics for each student to record his/her favorite memory, but then your students can try to trump their best memory with a memory that never happened (but perhaps they wish had happened)! 

Click the preview to get your copy from Teachers Notebook.  I will get it onto TPT as soon as they let me upload again!

Enjoy!

Mrs. Wilcox Is Missing! (again!)

Do you remember last year when I posted my "My Teacher Is Missing" writing assignment to leave with your substitute?  You know . . . the one where you know you're going to be absent, but the you don't tell the kids.  Your substitute tells them they don't know why you're absent that day, but you leave the writing assignment where they make a missing poster and write what they think happened to you?  Yeah, the one you can pair up with "Miss Nelson Is Missing" by Harry Allard and James Marshall.  Well it was finally time to bring it back for my class this year! 

I was a little nervous as to what the results might be after last year's stories, but I must have made a better impression this year.  (Haha!)  Last year I had several reports of my being in jail and violent endings with wild animals.  This year, most of my students said I was probably at home with my sick baby, taking the baby to the doctor, or in a meeting (since I've had SO many this year with all my students going through RTI)!  A few said what I really wished was the reason I was absent - vacation!  I did have one student say I was arrested and in jail.  One had me kidnapped by aliens who turned me into a monkey.    Great stories and cute, cute posters (which I forgot to bring home to scan).  If you want your free copy the assignment, click the sample to get it.

A Good Friend Can Persuade

One of my teammates shared this really awesome graphic organizer for persuasive writing.  It came from Our Cool School.  She uses the idea and acronym of OREO to remind students how to do a persuasive writing!

                            O-Opinion

                            R-Reason

                            E-Example

                            O-Opinion (restate)

I wish I could claim this as my own, but I can't!  It's totally Tracey from Our Cool School. (Click to go to her blog and get your copy!)

How awesome is that?  I decided to use this graphic organizer to build morale with my students.  I'm really big on teaching my students more than just academic skills.  When my students leave my class, I want them to be better people - caring and with stronger character!  That's why I paired this organizer with the story Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Spoon is the cutest little story about a little spoon who gets down on himself because he doesn't think he's as cool as his friends knife, fork, or chopstick.  They seem to be able to do so many things that he can't!  By the end of the story, however, his mother is able to remind him of all the things he is able to do that make him so special.

I start this lesson by reading the story and asking the students to help me complete the graphic organizer.  (This actually takes several days, done in baby steps with my class.)  We take his mom's perspective and state her opinion that everyone is special, including Spoon! Together we complete the graphic organizer stating our reasons, correlating examples, and finally restating mother spoon's opinion in a different way.

This is when we make our text-to-self connections.  I take a survey to see if anyone in the class has ever felt down on themselves about anything.  We share a few examples and share how that makes us feel.  Then I explain that this is why for our writing assignment we are going to choose a friend to whom we are writing a persuasive letter.  We choose a positive descriptor or adjective of that friend which we turn into our opinion.  Our goal in this letter is to convince our friend that he/she is in fact cool, awesome, lucky, funny, nice, etc.  When we finally complete our project, the final product is published on cute stationary for the students to deliver to their friends.  I tell them that if one day their friends ever get down on themselves, they can read their letters and feel good about themselves again.

I walked my class through several examples, completing 3 graphic organizers in mini-lessons to better help them understand how to utilize the graphic organizer.  I also conducted a separate mini-lesson on a different day showing them how to use their graphic organizers to write a rough draft in letter format.  When students write their own, they complete the publishing process by revising, editing, and publishing on that cute stationary!

I don't have pictures of the finished products yet, but I'll post some later!  You'd be pleasantly surprised at how very sweet and heart warming these letters to friends can be.

BME Burger Stories continued…

I promised to follow up my last post featuring my lesson on hamburger Beginning-Middle-End stories with some student samples. I'm so excited to show you a couple of my students' awesome work! Here they are:

Student Story 1

"I went to the mall last week and there were no American Girl dolls."

"I went to the other side [of the mall]."

"I tried another store to find it.  It wasn't there!"

"One of them had yellow hair and one of them had brown hair.  How I found my American Girl doll I wanted is I went to a third store."

 

 

 Student Story 2

On Monday Pastor Ralf picked me up.  We went to the park with my friends."

"All the water fountains were broken."

"We walked to find more water fountains."

"We found 1 more.  It was broken too!"

"Pastor Ralf drove Charlie, Helen, Sally, Kaitlyn, and me to Wendy's so we can get ice cream and water.  After Wendy's we went back to church."

Tasty Beginning/Middle/End

I LOVE teaching Writing.  Love it!  It is so exciting to see a young writer develop into a budding author with great potential and promise. That's why when I figure out an effective lesson, I bring it back every year.

I know that you, like me, have found that giving students a good parallel to which they can compare a skill can be highly effective.  This is how the hamburger story evolved in my classroom.  I know the hamburger has been used as a graphic organizer for many different things in the classroom like main idea and various other areas, but here's how I explain it to my kids:

When you eat a burger, what is the most important part to the burger.  The best part?  The middle, right?  A nice, big, juicy burger patty in the middle.  If you don't eat meat, think about that yummy veggie burger patty in the middle.  That's what makes it so tasty.  Otherwise it's just bread, right?  Well, a good burger is like a good story. 

The first part of your burger is the top bun.  This is like the beginning of your story.  This is where you are introduced to your characters and setting.  This is where the story starts.  A good burger is kind of incomplete without a good beginning . . . without the top bun. 

Then you come to the middle.  This is the best part.  It's exciting . . . it's what the burger is all about.  What you want is a juicy middle.  For me, the best burgers have lots of other things packed into the middle too.  I like lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cheese, ketchup, and mustard.  When you go to Chili's you can build your own burger and add things like onions, barbecue sauce, or my favorite - avocado!  Whatever you want!  Now that is what makes it so special - the details.  No one wants to go to a restaurant and get a skinny dried out burger!  You want it to be tasty and fresh!  So when you write your story, your middle is the part with all the excitement!  This is where most of your events happen.  This is where you find out the problem and you try to solve the problem, but you don't always solve the problem right away.  If you did then your story would end very quickly.  (This is where I insert my Spongebob or Batman or whatever cartoon plot comparison lesson which I'll share in a later post.)  If you want to make your story more interesting, you'll probably try many times to solve the problem but your attempts may not work.

The end of the story is like when you hit the bottom bun of your burger.  It holds everything together and keeps stuff from falling out.  This is where you solve the problem in your story.  Without the end (bottom bun) your story (or burger) feels incomplete.

Now, inevitably as you're listing out all the different things you love to put in your burger, somone's going to yell out things they like in their burger.  Or someone will yell out, "Eeeeewww!  I don't like _____!"  That's when you say, "That's ok!  You don't have to like that!  It's my burger . . . my story!  That's what makes it special and unique.  Someone may not like my story, but to another person it will be the best story ever!  You put what you like and that is what is going to make someone else really like it.  It's ok to like or to not like a story.  Everyone has different taste.  Write what you know."

Well, this year I've got an amazing gift in my classroom.  I've got my first student teacher.  She's amazing, and I am so blessed to have her.  It just so happened that after I did my introductory Burger Beginning/Middle/End lesson, it was her turn to start taking over the classroom.  This year we worked together to take the burger story to the next level. 

We started with the burger graphic organizer I usually use.  (It's actually one I found online, but I edit it to suit my purposes.  Since I can't post that one, I took some time to create my own.)  Click on the previews below to get the color or black & white versions of the Beginning/Middle/End Hamburger graphic organizer.  This is where the students start to map out their stories.

Color B/M/E Graphic Organizer

B&W B/M/E Graphic Organizer

My fabulous student teacher took ever, walking the kids through a story of her own, modelling how to use the organizer.

When students were finished we had them rewrite their stories in their Writing Notebooks, drawing a line after each section to keep them separated.  As they rewrote this was their chance to revise.  They were told to reread each section as they copied it into their notebooks to see if there was anything they wanted to change or add.  This is also when they checked to see if the story made sense. 

 We followed the revision with our editing checklists (return sweep, finger spacing, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling).  Once this was finished it was time to . . . .

BUILD THE BURGER! (Publish)

We made lined circles for students to publish each section of their story.  The more details students added to their story, the more circles they would need which means the fatter the burgers would become!

Click to download burger circles.

I cut a bunch of construction paper slightly larger than the circles.  

When the burger circles were completed, students would then glue their circles to a piece of construction paper and cut the paper as they liked to create the pieces of the burger.  I used yellow (didn't have manilla), brown, orange, green, red, and yellow construction paper.  Here's my student teachers sample she used to show the students how their burger stories would look at the end.

She added sesame seeds to the top bun.

Then she glued the beginning circle underneath so you could read it when flipped open.  She also cut the lettuce paper with a wavy edge and added squiggles to make it look more like lettuce.

Staple the top edge to keep the pages together and VIOLA!

Beginning/Middle/End Hamburger story complete!

Student samples soon to come . . . they're almost done!

Grow yourself!

As teachers we're in the business of growing young minds.  The question is: are we growing our own?

It's true that there are some tried and true styles and techniques for teaching, but the education world is ever changing.  One thing we can do to be the best teachers we can be for our kids and keep up with the changing face of education is to read.  While you may not have tons of spare time (and would really like some time to relax with that little spare time that you do have), it's a great goal to try to pick up some professional reading from time to time.

Hop on over to the Teacher2Teacher blog to check out my book review on "No More I'm Done" to see if this professional read is right for you.

Winter Gift to Warm the Parent Heart

Every year I try to work with the kids to make a gift for their parents. This year I intended to take this last week of school before vacation to have the kids work on them. Unfortunately my daughter got sick and I missed a couple of days with them so that combined with other programs scheduled during writing meant I had to rush to finish the gifts last minute on the last day!!! Regardless-I love the results!

We started by reading Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. Then we watched the Brainpop video about snowflakes. I asked them to think hard and find something these 2 things had in common. How were Molly Lou Melon and snowflakes alike? Of course what I was getting at is that Molly Lou Melon wasn't like anyone else. She was different and unique. It's what made her special. So we, like Molly Lou Melon and snowflakes are (in the kids' words) different, special and unique.

This was their gift to their parents. They would write and tell their parents what they loved about them that made them so special...like no one else. It took some coaching but once they understood that this was essentially "complimenting" their parents, the students wrote done truly heart-warming and touching things.

Here are the results along with some of my favorites!

Facebook In Your Classroom?

About a month ago I got this idea to bring Facebook into my classroom.  Is that weird?

Actually . . . it's just the idea of Facebook status updates that I wanted to bring in.  I would have had this up sooner but the poster maker was out of paper at one point and then I got really busy with grades and all sorts of other deadlines!

Anyhow, I decided to create "classbook"!  I got so excited about the idea that I launched right into creating a logo for it before I realized that I wouldn't even need a logo for the format of the page I was setting out to create!

I know 1st graders are pretty young, and if any of my kids were actually on Facebook I'd probably think it was a bad idea.  However, I figured most of my kids would already know what Facebook was through either their parents or older siblings.  A quick survey before launching into the lesson proved I was right!

What I did was create a template that looks like a status update page so that I could make it into poster size for the hallway.  I took a picture of each student and let them smile, pose, or act goofy.  They were hilarious!

Next came the part I was a little worried about . . . would they be able to understand what a status update is?

I took a screen shot of my facebook page using some "safe" examples of status updates and projected it onto my mimio board.  On one status a friend posted a quote which I explained was just something the person read somewhere and liked so they decided to share it.  The next status was of a friend's thoughts regarding how the sound of a baby's giggle makes her smile.  The last status was a message a friend posted thanking her friends for all the birthday wishes on her facebook page.

Then I gave them a sentence strip cut to the width of the poster I had made with the school poster machine and set them loose to write their "classbook" status updates.  I was pleasantly surprised!

You would not believe how excited and into this "status update" thing my 1st grades are!  This is great considering my condition for updating statuses - you can only update your status if you are finished with all your work including your unfinished work!  I'm not sure about your kids, but a handful of mine have a hard time getting all their work done in time and begin to accumulate unfinished work.  This has turned into a great motivator for my kids since they all want to update their statuses.  I leave a stack of sentence strips trimmed to our poster size clipped with magnetic clips next to my door.  They are free to take one to change their statuses when they have satisfied my requirements.

I have had a lot of teachers stop by (including one of my APs) to tell me how they enjoy the classbook page.  We also notice how not only our class, but every other class passing by wants to stop and read the statuses . . . even if they are rushing off to lunch or specials!  When we came back from recess, a new mystery post appeared . . .

One student's status declared her Kindergarten the best teacher.  So what would any good Kindergarten teacher reading this about herself do?  Why she'd create a like, button of course!

It's so fun and gets the kids engaged in writing and expressing themselves!  AND it's a FREEBIE!

I'm posting the files here for you to download if you'd like to give it a try.  I went ahead and typed my students names in while it was still in a Publisher format, but I also have the PDF file available to preserve the font if you'd like to enter student names another way.  The font used was Franklin Gothic Medium.

I think this ongoing activity would be great for any grade level.  I actually originally thought it'd be great for 5th graders since some of them are actually already on Facebook, but my kids really love it.  I plan to keep it up all year and let them change their statuses as they choose.  My 2nd grade teacher friend shared the idea at a teacher leader meeting in our county and the Kindergarten teachers were the ones going wild over it.  Whatever your grade, give it a try . . . hope you and your kids enjoy!

Click here to snag the PDF version

Click here to snag the Publisher version

What must they think of me?!?!

Last month I had to take a few personal days to attend a family event.  I didn't tell my students where I was going or why.  We had just come back from Spring Break and I didn't really want to get them riled up with the thought of me being out of the classroom again.  While I was out I left a fun little writing assignment for the kids.  Since they had no clue why I was out, the writing assignment said that I was missing!  It asked them to make a Missing Poster of me and to write about what happened to me. This activity would be a good pairing with the story "Miss Nelson is Missing" by Harry Allard and James Marshall. 

When I got back and read their little stories I was surprised by their creativity.  A few brought me to a violent end involving sharks or wild animals.  Some were really sweet.  And then there are the many who make me wonder what they must think of me!  Quite a few wrote stories that found me in jail at the end!  Goodness!  What impression have I given them???  The stories were all quite comical and a few had undertones of "Miss Nelson is Missing.  It's a cute little writing assignment to have on hand in your substitute folder in case you have to be out of school last minute one day.  Here are some of the stories my kids wrote.  Some decided to illustrate what happened to me instead of making a missing poster.

Here I turned into a monster . . .

Here I am in jail . . .

And here I lose my hand to a shark.  Thank you doctor for helping me!

Here I was put into jail because I was putting on makeup while driving

I love this one!  I went to the islands!

I am including a link in the picture below to download the Google Docs file so you can replace my name with yours.  I'd be interested in hearing what your kids write about you if you use this. You may want to change to a cute font as well. The font and picture box got messed up as I uploaded to Google Docs, and I don't know how to fix that if it can be fixed. =)

Or click here to go to my TpT store to download the Word version!

Hope you get some cute stories!  Have fun!