Week 1:
Practice the alphabet song using the abc chart throughout the week so that they will be familiar with it for the lesson Tues.
*Remind S's about how last week we learned that when writer's get to a tricky part in their drawing, they draw the best they can and keep going. "Today I want to remind you that when we write words, we need to say, 'That might not be perfect yet, but I'll just spell the best I can and keep goiing so I can say more.' You can get a lot of writing done when you write your words the best you can and keep going." Model going back to an old piece of writing and adding another sentence or two. Demonstrate to them that when you get to a word the is tricky to spell, you just spell it the best you can and move on so that you can get lots of words down. You may want to pass out dry erase boards and have them write the sentence with you. Practice rereading the sentence you have just written together, admiring how quickly you got it done.
*Use the alphabet chart to sing the abc song. Show S's how they can use this song to help them with their writing. The alphabet chart is a tool that can be put in the braded part of their writinig folders to help those who may forget a letter/sound while writing. Not all S's will need this, but go ahead and put it in their folders anyway. Model to S's how you use the chart to help you figure out a sound that you're unsure of. We can also put a phonogram chart in their folder to help them with the trickier phonograms. Ask S's what they saw you do when you modeled for them. How did you use the charts to help you while you were writing?
*Read aloud earlier in the day: The Paperboy
"When we read stories in books, there is almost always more than one page. Today, you are going to start to write your stories in books that are like those that other authors write! Remember the book we read today called 'The Paperboy'?" Write this summary on the dry erase board: The paperboy wakes up and he delivers his paper and then comes home. "Dav Pilkey could have written his whole story on one page like this. But he decided to make a whole book out of his story. So, on the first page he showed the boy sleeping. On the next page he could have said 'and then he delivered his papers and came home' but he didn't. He showed us how he got out of bed and went downstairs..." Talk through a story orally that has happened to the whole class. How could we tell our story across the pages of a book? Before sending them off to write say, "So writers, if you are starting a new story today- would you get a book with lots of pages? And will you think out how the story will go? Try different beginnings in your mind because you'll want a beginning that doesn't give everything away." Have small books (3-4 pages) ready for them to take when they are ready. Today during your sharing time, allow S's who have begun writing their stories across the pages of a book.
*Model how you touch each page of your new book and tell the story orally across the pages before sketching any of the pictures or writing any of the words. Send S's out to write, reminding them to touch each page and tell the story to themselves or quietly to their partner before sketching.
*Show S's how to add page numbers to the bottoms of their book pages. Remind them not to number the cover page.
Week 2:
*"Writers, so far this year you've been writing true stories. But of course there are lots of kinds of writing in the world. When I care about a topic, I sometimes write more than one kind of writing about that topic, and you can do that, too." Show your writing folder and pull out a list and a note that you wrote ahead of time. Relate these 2 pieces to a subject that you write a lot about. Example: If you write about your dog a lot, you could show the S's how you made a list of supplies you need in order to take care of your dog. You could also write a note to your dog or to someone asking them if they would like to help you walk your dog this evening. "Do you see how I took a topic I care about and made a list and a letter out of my topic? I'm telling you that because you can do the same thing! You can take topics that you have already written about and write lists or letters or anything else about those same topics." Have S's think of a topic that is important to them and think "What else could I write on my topic?" Have them share with their writing partner.
After writing, save time for S's to share something they wrote today.
*"Writers, yesterday we talked about how a really good topic for writing often gets us going on a lot of pieces of writing. Today I want to tell you about another kid of thinking that makes me really want to write. What I do is I think about the things I'm already doing today and I think, 'Could writing help me do any of those better?'" Share an example of how you jotted down your plan for what you were going to teach today. You could also show how you made a list for Ms. Bergstrom about what books you need to check out from the library. Also, share how today is your cousin's b-day and you wanted to make them a little book of memories. (These are 3 pieces that you are going to want to have written down before this lesson. Don't use this time to write all of them in front of them.)
Give an example of something a student in your room has been interested in or has been doing for fun. (ex: yo-yos, or going to a baseball game) Have S's help give ideas about kinds of writing those particular S's could do. (ex: how to yo-yo book, letter to dad about going to the game) Have S's get an idea of something they could write today and give thumbs up before going out to write.
*"After we've been writing for a while, writers choose a piece we love, one we are absolutely crazy about, and we publish it. We put it in the library or read it aloud to our friends. So today, we're going to reread everything we've written and choose one piece we especially love, and then fix it up for publication."
Model how you go through your writing folder to find a piece you know readers would love to read. Once you've chosen your piece, tell S's how writers get there piece ready for publication by fancying it up, just like when you get ready for a party, you fancy yourself up.
Read your chosen piece to the class and ask them to tell their partner how you can fix up your story for publication. Tell S's how you plan to fix your piece today and send them out to choose one piece for publication. Once their piece is chosen, they need to begin fancying it up for publication.
*You will need to clean out their writing folders today. They can either take all the pieces home (except the one they're publishing) OR you can choose a couple piece to keep in a portfolio and send the rest home. I plan to only keep their published piece for their writing portfolio.
*"Writers, today we're going to fix up our writing in another way. Today we will edit our writing (that's what writer's call it). Can you say that word: edit? When we edit our writing, we check everything to make sure people can read it."
Model how you will put your finger right under each word and read carefully to be sure each sound is written down. Fix any words you may have missed, showing S's how to cross one line through the mistake and rewrite or add a letter with a caret. Also, allow them to color their pieces today, as this will be their last day to work on this piece before the Author's Celebration on Monday!
Week 3:
*Author's Celebration: S's sit in a circle on the floor with their special piece of writing on the floor in front of them. Make a special announcement about how proud you are of the hard work they've done so far this year. Tell them it is now time for them to read one page from their published work. Also, make sure they know that we will be listening to the whole class before asking any questions or cheering for them. S's take turns going around the circle and reading one page of their story into the microphone. Tell them that once they finish their reading, they look at the next person and nod to let them know it is their turn to read.
S's gather at their seats and prepare for the toast. I will have apple juice and cups for each student to have some. T gives a toast and S's drink then share their whole book with their table.
*Read aloud for earlier in the day: "A Chair for My Mother" by Vera Williams
"Today let's notice the way Vera takes a Small Moment and stretches it across a few pages. Remember the part where the mother and her daughter are walking home and they see their buiding on fire? Vera could have told that part quickly in just one or two sentences. Her story could have gone like this, 'We got home and saw the fire. Everyone was safe.' But instead of just telling it like that, Vera decided to stretch the moment out by telling us tiny little details." Slowly read the part about the girl and her mother coming home from buying new shoes. Have partners share the details they noticed Vera Williams added to her story. "What were some of the tiny details Vera wrote to stretch out her Small Moment? What did you notice about Vera B. Williams' writing?"
"When you write today, think about taking a Small Moment from your life. Try stretching it out by writing in detail." Have S's write in 3 page books so that they can stretch their stories across the pages.
*"Yesterday, we looked at the way Vera Williams used details to stretch out her Small Moment. Today let's listen to a Small Moment story that another author wrote, and this time I'd again like you to listen for details." Read aloud "Owl Moon" or "The Snowy Day"
*"We saw that Vera Williams decided to write about what happened when she saw her apartment was on fire. We noticed that she didn't tell about the whole day. She told about one little part of the day. She told about walking home from buying shoes, then turning the corner, then seeing the fire truck. Today, I'll show you how I write about Small Moments in my life because all of you will be doing that, too." Model your thinking about how you could write about you WHOLE day yesterday, but rethink and say you're going to ZOOM IN on just one part of your day...picture it in your mind, sketch it across the pages as you think. Have partners turn and talk about what they just saw you do.
Begin this chart:
"Writing Small Moments"
~Writers think of something that happened to them.
~They picture it in their minds.
~They sketch it on the paper.
~They write words.
During sharing time today, have them discuss one student's writing (with permission) and decide if it is a small moment:
Is it a true story? Is it about a Small Moment? Does it make sense?
Week 4:
*"Let me show you what happened when I was learning to write Small Moment stories. I thought 'Hmm, what would be a great story?' and I remembered long, long, ago when I went on an airplane trip to Disneyland. But my writing teacher said to me, 'Don't write about a Huge Trip that happened long ago. Write about a little moment that happened today, or yesterday.' And I said, 'Not much happened.' And he said, 'A million Small Moments happened.' And you know what? He was right. We made a list...I woke up and the sun was shining so I put my pillow over my head. (That's one moment, one story.) I made a pile of pancakes for breakfast, but my dog climbed up in my chair and ate them! (That's another moment, another story.)"
*Show the concept of "zooming in" by looking at the book Zoom by Istvan Banyai. Discuss how when you look at the book backwards, they are zooming into a small moment. Have S's share their story idea with a partner, paying attention to how they're going to zoom in to the smallest moment.
*You will need to create writing partnerships for today's lesson. You will need to decide if you want the partnerships to be the same as their reading partnerships or if you want to change partners for writing time. Have them sit next to each other during each minilesson and also while they're writing.
Model with a student: "Let me show you how writers plan with their partners. Watch closely because this is what you are going to be doing from now on. First, we will decide who goes first. Partner one will and that's me. So I read my story to my partner. Now, I'll tell my partner what I will write today-and part of that means we'll talk about if I'm done with yesterday's story or if I'm going to continue working on it. And I'll tell my partner what I might say in today's story. Watch..." "Now I'm going to ask my partner, 'What are you ging to write today?" "How will your story go? I'm really going to listen to her answer."
Allow a partnership to model, then have all partners practice asking "What did you write yesterday? Are you done or will you add on today?"
Allow them to share with their partners at the end of writing workshop asking the same questions as above.
*Read aloud for earlier in the day: The Kissing Hand
"Today we're going to look at how Audrey Penn stretches a small moment across the pages of her book The Kissing Hand. Read aloud the last 3 pages where Chester was leaving for school for the first time and he decided to give his mom the Kissing Hand. "Audrey Penn took a tiny moment when Chester gave his mom the Kissing Hand and Audrey told her moment bit-by-bit, page-by-page, like you guys do." Model how you tell a small moment (maybe getting a shot at the drs office) across the pages of your book. As you tell the story across the pages, whisper "turn the page" to accentuate that you are writing across the pages.
Ask S's who are ready to begin a new book today, to tell the story across the pages of their book to their partner before sketching or writing.
Share: allow S's to share their small moments with the class
*"Writers, we have been writing these beautiful Small Moments from our lives and we want people to read them. We need to write words in such a way that people can read our stories. Writers say the word slowly, stretching the word out, and writing all the sounds we hear. I'll teach you now to do this, and then we can all write words that people can read." Model stretching out all the sounds as you write your own story. "Remember the strategy we just used. Say the word, then stretch the word out by saying it slowly, and then write one sound. Then reread what you've written so far and again say the rest of the wor slowly, listening for the next sound you hear."
Share: Have partners reread their stories to each other, pointing at the words as they read.
Week 5:
*"As writing partners, we can plan our stories out loud to each other, listening to make sure our stories make sense. As we practice telling our stories to our partners, we listen closely to every word we say, so that when we write the words, we write the exact words we say."
Model telling your story (with details) outloud to the class. When you go to write down your story in your book, just write a very obvious bare bones story. Ask S's to tell you if you wrote everything you said. Discuss with them how boring it is for the reader when the words in our books don't match the words we say outloud.
"After we've practiced telling our story out loud to our partner and written it down, we can reread our writing to make sure what we've written matches what we've said. Partners need to help each other remember what interesting parts were left out."
*"Today I want to teach you that we can add dialogue to our stories. We can reread our pieces, and think back to the moment we are writing about. As best we can, we can think of the actual words that someone said (or might have said). Then, we can go back into our stories and add in these exact words." Show a big book or read aloud that you have used recently with dialogue (either in speech bubbles or quotation marks). Point out how the author showed the reader who was talking and exactly what they said. Model adding speech bubbles and/or quotations into your own story. When you send S's out to write, some may want to try dialogue, some may not. Do not force them to use dialogue today.
*"You know how there are some words you guys, as readers, just know? Well, when we write, we also need a handful of words we just know in a snap. That makes writing go faster. We put words up here on our word wall that are words I think you know in a snap, or almost know in a snap. Today I want to teach you that if there's a word you are writing in your story that is on the word wall, but you can't spell it, you can just look for it there. Then you can say the letters to remind yourself. Once it is in your brain, write it down on your page-snap, snap, snap." Model writing and coming to a word that you don't remember how to spell. Look at the word wall, say the letters over a couple times to yourself, then quickly write the letters down. It's important to model that they don't copy letter- by -letter (too slow). They memorize all the letters in the word and write it all quickly.
*"Today I want to teach you that we need to read our writing as though we have never read it before. That is, we need to read our writing asking ourselves questions like, 'Does this make sense?' 'Is this clear?' And if it doesn't, or it's not, we revise our writing to make sure it does make sense and that it is clear." Model this in your own writing before sending them out to read/write today.
*"Writers, today I want to teach you that we want to write our stories with more detail, telling more about each and every step as the story moves forward. We want to put ourselves back in the shoes of the character and think, 'What is the very next thing that happened?' Then we write it! We do this again and again as we write our stories from the beginning through to the end." Ask S's to refrain from starting a brand new piece today. Ask them to first go back through old pieces, rereading and thinking "What else happened that I forgot to add? What do I need to add to my story to make it even better?" Remind them to use their reading partners during this time.
