Grade 2 Unit of Study 2 (revised edition) - Syracuse, NY · ELA-Grade02-Unit03-small-moments-unit...

ELA-Grade02-Unit03-small-moments-unit

Small Moment Writing in Personal Narrative

Grade 2 Unit 2

In this unit, students will take moments from their lives and stretch them out. Most

students tend to write lists or summaries when asked to write a story about something that

has happened to them. This unit attempts to help students move away from that list kind

of writing into the kind of writing we are used to reading in story books. This unit really

teaches students the fundamentals of how to focus their writing. In addition, students will

come away with a repertoire of strategies they can use too elaborate their writing if

effective ways.

Preparing to Teach Unit 2-Small Moment Writing in Personal Narrative

Read the entire unit:

The best way to understand the big picture of any unit is to read it through in its entirety in one

sitting. At another time, read it again more slowly in smaller chunks, making notes and

highlighting portions you want to remember.

Make ahead teaching charts/transparencies so they will be ready when you need them.

Books to gather for this unit:

It would be wise to immerse your students during read alouds throughout the day in stories, and

particularly, small moment stories both before teaching the unit and ongoing as the unit is taught.

A few of the many titles that are particularly well-suited to story telling are:

Fireflies!—Julie Brickloe (referenced in this unit)

Sheila Rae and the Peppermint Stick—Kevin Henkes

Knufflebunny—Mo Willems

Shortcut—Donald Crews

Down the Road—Alice Schertle (referenced in this unit)

Owl Moon—Jane Yolen

Red Rubber Boot Day—Mary Lyn Ray

There are many more books that tell simple stories that would be beneficial. The more you read,

the better your students will be at telling their own stories.

Do the following writing/thinking ahead of time:

If you want to make the most of your conferring time, both in small group as well as individual

conferring, it would be wise to have a folder just like your students’ folders, decorated with your

own photos, quotations, ticket stubs, etc., and containing simple stories of your own life,

sketched and written across pages. Stories should be simple. Remember, you are modeling

stories for your students! Keep your stories at a level similar to what you would expect from

your students. Write stories about baking cookies, funny things your dog/cat does, your

children’s beach escapades (building sandcastles, finding sand dollars, seeing dolphins, etc.),

catching a fish, roasting marshmallows over a campfire, shopping for just the right pair of shoes,

etc. Make a couple of your stories “not so great” so that you will be able to show students how


you took that “not so great” story and revised it to make it better. For instance, leave out specific

details, then add them into your sketch and then your story right there during your conference.

Use a planning calendar:

Once you have a good idea of what will be taught in the unit, you may find you want to

add/delete a lesson or two. Base your planning on your students’ needs or on your own

proficiency with teaching this particular unit of study. Planning is best done in the company of

your colleagues, and PLC’s are the perfect venue for planning units of study across a calendar.

Be on the lookout at the beginning of the year for cooperative partnerships. After you have

assessed your students’ writing and come to know the children in your class well, set up

permanent or long term partnerships.

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL TEACHERS BEFORE GETTING STARTED:

The mini lessons are NOT meant to be read as a script!

You might be thinking to yourself: It sure looks like a script. Yes, it sure does look like a script.

You might read the mini lessons and say to yourself: It sure sounds like a script. Yes, it sure

does sound like a script.

We have provided the mini lessons that look and sound like a script with the intention of offering

up a detailed model for teaching the mini lesson. We know that some of you will take some of

the words in the mini lessons and use them verbatim to your own children. We also know that

more often you’ll decide that the teaching we describe needs to be adapted or rewritten in order

to fit you and your children. The writing department knows that teachers will read the mini

lessons and notice patterns within a single mini lesson and across the mini lessons in the unit.

We know you will read each mini lesson noticing:

A common structure: the architecture (connect, teach, active engagement, link).

Repetition of the teaching point throughout the lesson:

In the connect: Today I will teach you… (state teaching point)

In the teach: Did you notice the way I…? (restate teaching point)

In the active engagement: Now I’d like you to practice… (restate teaching point)

Link: Anytime you write, you can… (restate teaching point)

Common language: addressing children as writers, calling them to the gathering area the

same way: Writers, let’s gather…, Today I will teach you…

We know that you, as teachers, are quite familiar with the research promoting consistency in

instruction and the impact of consistency--especially with our most struggling students.

Teaching in the architecture promotes clarity in our teaching, conciseness in our teaching, and

consistency in our teaching.

The unit you are about to read has been written based on what we know about a very broad

and large group of second grade writers. This unit should serve as a suggestion and a

framework from which to teach writing.


We know that you understand it is not the writing department’s intention to make

instructional decisions about children we’ve never even met.

You know your students and their needs better than anyone. Always, always, always base

your instruction on the needs of your students.

The Writing Process: Grade 2

Generating/Collecting: Writers collect lots and lots of story ideas. They generate one

story after another in their writing folders. Writers date their stories. We want to teach our

children to live with the perspective of being a writer, seeing potential for stories, non-fiction

writing, and poems everywhere and thinking, “I should write this down. I might make

something of it.” This work happens on “writing ideas” sheets that the students keep in their

folders.

Here are some examples of writing ideas that a student may include on their writing ideas list:

my dog eating my birthday cake

seeing the new baby elephants at the zoo

scoring the winning goal in soccer

buying my dress for my aunt’s wedding

jumping off the high dive at the pool

my first sleepover at my friend’s house

Developing:

In second grade, students are still sketching across pages as a way to plan out stories, much as

students in upper grades use graphic organizers to plan stories. Sketching holds the meaning of

the story for the students. Most students at this level are still in need of ways to remember the

details of their stories. Sketches help them remember the way the story is sequenced as well as

the details important to the meaning of the story.

SKETCHING DO’S

-stick figures (characters) engaged in some kind of action (small moment)

-stick figures should have expressions on faces (feelings)

-setting details included

-done quickly—think of it as a tool to plan your story

-one or two minutes

SKETCHING DON’TS -illustrating

-rulers

-tracing

-working longer on the sketch to avoid writing the story


Drafting: Once the story has been sketched out, the student is ready to write with words. The story should

follow the sequence of the sketches and should include the elements in the sketches including

setting, characters, actions, etc.

Revising: Revision means to resee. When we revise we reconsider our first drafts. We shift to become

readers of our own writing. We read thinking:

Will the reader understand this?

Have I included enough information?

Does my story match my sketches?

We teach children how to use revision tools: colored pencils, carats, cross outs (never erase!),

adding more pages, adding details to sketches, etc.

Revision example:

My dad and I walked to the slides. They were as tall as trees and shiny. I climbed up the

ladder. When I reached the top, I could see everything in the park. “Are you ready?” my dad

asked me. I slid down into my dad’s arms.

Editing: Once the structure and content of the story has been revised, writers begin to reread, checking

each sentence, word, and letter. The child will read for spelling, punctuation, and tense

agreement.

Writers live twice. They go along with their regular life…But there’s another part of them that they have been training. The one that lives everything a second time. That sits down and sees their life again and goes over it. Looks at the texture and details. Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones


Teaching Point 1: Writers Use a Timeline to Come Up With Stories to Write About (Brief)

Materials: Teacher’s timeline of 5 events written on chart paper, paper of teacher’s choice for students to use for

timelines, 3 page booklet (unit of study paper) for teacher and each student (have them bring these to the gathering

area),cleaned out writing folders (may have 1 or 2 stories from previous unit)

Connect:

(Connect today’s lesson to the work they have been doing

so far.)

Wow, writers, you have been doing super work on…

Yesterday, Javier was writing and he…

Today I will teach you that writers…by (state

strategy)…because…

Recall moments from celebration

Tell students they will be using many of the same

strategies from unit 1 plus adding new strategies.

Tell students one way we come up with ideas

from our lives is to take story ideas and put them

on a timeline (explain timelines for students who

don’t understand this concept).

Today I will teach you that one way writers come

up with stories to write about is by thinking

about events in our lives, then marking them on

a timeline because this strategy helps us to think

about our experiences as possible story ideas.

Teach: Demonstrate the work or show an example.

So I was thinking of…(Refer to a piece of your writing, a

mentor text and/or a shared class written piece.)

I want you to watch me as I…

Watch how I…

Create timeline from your life with 5 events

(preferably from when you were in second or

third grade) represented in time order.

Begin events with The time when…or The day

when I…

Choose one of the events and briefly tell the story

while holding a 3 page booklet, turning each page

as you tell the story (first, then, and finally).

Active Engagement: Students stay on the rug and practice the work with a

partner.

Now, I want you to try this work…

Teacher listens in to partnerships and reports out.

I heard some of you say…

I heard (Tim) and (Fanua) say…

Restate teaching point.

Part I-Partners timeline 5 events from this year’s

class experiences, holding up fingers for each one.

Events might include a fire drill, duck and cover,

a new student arriving, a class pet story, a first

day of school story, or any other events with

which they are all familiar.

Share a partnership or two who came up with 5

logical events, sequenced in order across a

timeline.

Part II: Now have the students take their 3 page

booklets and taking turns with their partners,

choose one of their timeline events and tell the

story in the air while turning the pages of their

booklets, using transition words as they go.

Link: Remind students that the skills and strategies they are

learning as writers are not just for today when they write,

but anytime they write.

Tell students that anytime they need to come up

with a story idea to write about, they can do it

using a timeline.

Pass out timeline paper and 3 page booklets to

each student. Tell them that once their timeline is

completed, they may then choose a story and

sketch it out in their 3 page booklets.


Materials:

Teacher’s timeline of 5 events written on chart paper

Paper of teacher’s choice for students to use for timelines

3 page booklet (unit of study paper) for teacher and each student

(have them bring these to the gathering area)

Cleaned out writing folders (may have 1 or 2 stories from previous unit)

Teaching Point 1: Writers Use a Timeline to Come Up With Stories to Write About

(Expanded)

Connect: Writers, today is an exciting day! We’re about to begin a brand new unit of

study. This unit is called Small Moment Writing in Personal Narrative. We will be using

many of the strategies we learned in our launching unit and build on those strategies by

adding new strategies. We’ll be learning strategies we can use to really focus our writing by

learning how to write small moment stories. One way we can come up with ideas from our

lives to write about is to think of things that have happened to us and then put those events or

story ideas on a timeline.

Today I will teach you that one way writers come up with stories to write about is by

thinking about events in our lives, then marking them on a timeline because this strategy

helps us to think about our experiences as possible story ideas

Teach: Writers, before we begin, I want you to take your 3 page booklets and just tuck them

under your legs. Great! Now I want you to watch while I show you how I can use a timeline

to come up with some stories to write about. A timeline is a line we can write either vertically

or horizontally with marks on it that represent events in our lives that are listed in time order.

Near each of those marks, we briefly describe the event. So I’m going to make a timeline of

my life when I was in 2nd

grade. Let’s see, I could put the time our dog had puppies in the

cellar of our house. So let me write that right here. I could write about the time I helped my

father plant tomatoes in our garden. Let me add that. (Tell about another 3 events, writing

“in the air”) I could add those to my timeline, too. Now I can take one of those events and tell

it across the pages of my booklet (do this now, tell the story while holding a 3 page booklet,

beginning with First I…(say, “Turn the page” as you turn the page) Then…(say, “Turn the

page.”) Finally…

Did you see the way I did this? I thought about some events from my life, then I took 5 of

those events and put them on a timeline. I chose one event and thought about how I could tell

the story across pages.

If they haven’t done so by now, be sure to have your

students decorate their

folders and you do the

same!


Mid-Workshop Interruption: Highlight students whose timelines are effective and

feature events that can be told as stories that might begin with The time when…or The day

when… You might also highlight students who complete their timelines, have chosen an event, and have

begun to sketch their stories across the pages in their booklets.

Active Engagement: Part 1: OK, writers, now I want you to try out this work right here

on the rug. I want you to think about the past couple of weeks you’ve been in school. Think

about some things that have happened so far in time order. For each event, hold up one

finger (this is preparation for telling a story across their fingers later on in this unit). Events

might include a fire drill, duck and cover, a new student arriving in the class, a class pet story,

a first day of school story, or any other events with which they are all familiar. When you

share what you heard, be sure too say the students’ names you are highlighting and make

whatever they said the best examples of what you want students to do. In other words, make

what they said bigger and better.

Part 2: OK writers, now that you’ve come up with some events for our class timeline, I want

you and your partner to choose one of those events and using your 3 page booklets, take turns

telling that story across the pages of your booklet, just like you saw me demonstrate. Use the

words First…then…finally…as you turn the pages of your booklets. Share out a couple of

partnerships who told a story across pages appropriately.

Link: Writers, any time you need to come up with a story idea, remember, you can use a

timeline of events from your life, then choose one to sketch and then write about. If you

finish your timelines before the end of our workshop time, you can take the event you chose

and begin to sketch it out across the pages of your booklet.

Write and Confer: At their seats, students will create their timelines. They can use

blank paper, paper with pre-printed timelines on it, or regular notebook paper. You will now

be conferring with students one to one to help them choose events for stories about things that

have happened to them—stories that are triggered by the phrases The time when…or The day

when I… (see One to One Conferring Structure at the end of this lesson)

Each student will also need their 3 page booklets from the active engagement in which they

may begin sketching their stories when their timelines are completed.


One-to-One Conference Structure:

Research

____How’s it going? (student will usually say, “Good.”)

____Can you tell me what you’re working on as a writer today? (student should use writerly

terms such as, “I’m using my timeline to come up with a good story idea.” Or “I’m adding

dialogue to my story.” If the student says “I’m writing about my baby sister,” re-direct them to

tell what strategy they are using today.

Compliment ____Do you know what you’re doing really well? (Name out what they are doing. Say

something like: Right here you added small actions in your story. Writers do that so that their

readers can really picture what’s happening in the story. Nice job! You can do that anytime

you’re writing almost any kind of story.

____It’s so smart that you…(added small actions to your story, etc.)

Decide and Teach

____Can I teach you something else writers do?

____Teaching point

____Demo or give example (use your own story, another student who demonstrated using a

strategy well, or a mentor text)

____Did you notice how…?

____Can you try…?

Link

____Today and everyday

____Teaching point

Teaching Share: Highlight one or two students who completed their timelines, listing

events in time order.


Materials: Fireflies! book, teacher sample of small moments story sketched across 3 pages, 3 page booklets for each

student, writing folders.

Connect:

(Connect today’s lesson to the work they have been

doing so far.)





Compliment students; connect today’s lesson to

ongoing work

Today I will teach you that writers write small

moment stories by zooming in on important

moments, then sketching and writing about

them across several pages. Writers do this

because they know the best stories tell about

the most important things that happen.





Watch how I…

Using the book Fireflies, read from “The screen

door banged…” to “…and it was over.” Say

turn the page as you are turning the pages.

Explain that this is the most important part in

the book and that the author stretched out that

moment across pages.

Show how you take one of the moments on

your timeline, zoom in on the most important

part, tell it across your fingers, then sketch that

moment on your 3 page demo booklet (sketch

on one box, sketch “in the air” on the next 2

boxes).

Tell students that small moments come from

small things that happen within long stories.

Use watermelon/seed idea strategy.


partner.






Have partners choose one event from the class

timeline (e.g.: coming to school the first day-

watermelon story) and then tell each other

about one important moment within the long

story (e.g.: the moment they opened the door to

the classroom-seed idea).

Tell students to tell their small moment story

across their fingers using the words

first…then…finally.

Share out a couple of partners who did this

work, then choose one to sketch on demo paper

for a shared class experience story. Do a quick

sketch on one page of the story, then sketch “in

the air” for the other pages.

Some examples might include: the moment we

were interrupted by the fire drill; the moment

the principal came in to introduce herself; the

moment you met your writing partner


learning as writers are not just for today when they

Remind students of today’s strategy.

Teaching Point 2: Writers Zoom in on a Small Moment (brief)


write, but anytime they write.

Materials:

Fireflies! book located in Grade 2 writing kit (read this book as a read aloud at least a day

or two before doing this lesson

Teacher sample of small moment story sketched across 3 boxes on chart paper plus blank

sample chart paper with 3 boxes and drawn lines for shared class story

3 page stapled booklet for each student, writing folders

A drawing of a watermelon with seeds on the board, chart paper, or whatever you choose

Teach: Show the book Fireflies! (you should have already read this book at an earlier time as

a read aloud). Hold up the book and read the text from the page beginning with “The screen

door banged…” to “…and it was over.” After reading a page and before moving to the next

page, say turn the page.

Writers, did you notice what Julie Brinkloe did here on these pages? Julie took the moment of

catching fireflies and stretched it out over several pages. She did this because that moment of

catching fireflies was the most important part in the book. I’ll bet when she sat down to write this

moment, she closed her eyes and thought a long time about it, picturing it in her mind with

crystal clear clarity. When we write today, we’re going to try this work out. When we choose a

story to write from our timeline, we’ll zoom in on the most important part of that story, a part we

can picture in our minds with crystal clear clarity, then we’ll sketch those moments out across

our pages and then go back and start writing.

( Cont’d.)

Teaching Point 2: Writers Zoom in on a Small Moment

(Expanded)

Connect: Writers, yesterday we used our timelines to come up with ideas for stories. We

chose events to tell across the pages in our notebooks. I noticed that Chantal came up with

some great ideas for her timeline stories. One of her stories was about a time when she rode an

elephant at Lowry Park. She told that story across her 3 pages. I just know that when she gets

ready to sit down and sketch out that story, it will be great! Writers, you’ve all seen how we do

this good work, but there’s something else that’s so important for us to do. Not only do writers

choose stories from their lives to sketch and write about, but they also think about those big

stories (I like to call them “watermelon stories”—point to the watermelon on your drawing) and

find the most important part of that big long story (I like to call those important parts the

“seeds”, or small moments, of my stories—point to the seeds on your drawing). So, writers,

today I will teach you that writers write small moment stories by zooming in on important

moments, then sketching and writing about them across several pages. Writers do this

because they know the best stories tell about the most important things that happen.


Teach (cont’d.)

Watch how I do this with my own timeline. I’m going to take a story from my timeline, the one

about my dog having puppies in the cellar of our house. I’ll close my eyes and think about that

moment. Let me do that…OK, I can picture that in my mind. Now I want to zoom in on the most

important part of that story, that small moment that I can picture with crystal clear clarity.

Close your eyes and tell the story across your fingers, using the words first, then, finally. First…

I walked down the stairs to the cellar in my house, and there on a pile of blankets on the floor I

saw my dog, Greta, surrounded by tiny puppies. I kneeled next to her on the floor, watching

puppies squirming around their mother, trying to snuggle up to her to stay warm. Next...I took

my finger and ever so gently stroked one of the little bodies, feeling its soft warm fur against my

skin. Finally…I raced back up the stairs to tell my family that the puppies were here.

Did you see the way I did that? I could have told the big story, beginning with waking up that

morning, knowing that Greta might have had her puppies during the night. I could have told

about getting dressed quickly, trying to be quiet so as not to wake my brothers and sister. I

could have kept going after the part where I picked up the puppies and told about having lunch

and going outside to play, but those weren’t the most important parts of my story. I zoomed in

on just that small moment when I walked down the stairs and saw those puppies for the first time.

Active Engagement: (You may want to put the steps to this work on the board or a half

sheet of chart paper (1. Choose one event. 2. Zoom in on just one moment. 3. Tell that

moment across your fingers First, then, finally.) Now I’ll have you try this work out right here on the rug. I want you to look at our class

timeline that we did (yesterday). With your partner, I want you to choose one event from the

timeline (e.g.: coming to school that first day). That’s our watermelon story. Then I want you to

zoom in on just one important moment within that story (e.g.: opening the door to the

classroom). That’s our seed story. Tell that moment across your fingers (first we…then

we…finally we…)

Teachers, share out a couple of partnerships who did this work. I was listening in to Georgie and

Valerie. They decided to choose the event of the time they saw a snake by our classroom door.

They zoomed in on that moment when the plant operator came with a big rake and chased the

snake away into the grass behind the school. They took that moment and told the story across

their fingers. That would be a great moment to use as our shared class story. Nice work you

two! Teachers may now take a story like this one from a partnership and begin to sketch in

boxes on chart paper. Sketch one box in front of students, then say out what you would sketch in

the other two boxes.


Link: So writers, today and everyday, remember when we want to write a small moment story,

one way you can do this is to use your timeline to choose an event, zoom in on the most

important part, then picture that moment in your mind before you begin to sketch and write

about it.

Write and confer: Students will begin writing today by choosing an event from their

timeline and deciding on a small moment to write from that event. Be sure to remind students to

sketch across all their pages as they plan out their stories.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Students may be sketching/writing too little or too much

on a page (because they have difficulty staying with one moment and often move on to tell about

a different moment without realizing it.) You may need to clarify that when they move to a new

part in their moment, they turn the page. As you go around conferring, be sure to note names of

students who are sketching their stories across pages before they write, and students who have

begun to write their stories after sketching.

Teaching Share: Highlight one or two students who you noticed have effectively sketched/

written a small moment story.


Materials: Teacher demo story (3 boxes on chart paper, lines drawn below), bag of items to spark ideas, 3 page

booklet for each student

Connect:


doing so far.)





Compliment students; connect today’s lesson to

ongoing work.

Today I will teach you a strategy that writers

can use anytime they want to write a story. We

can look at ordinary objects and think of small

moments those objects remind us of. We do

this so that we can rely on ourselves instead of

our teachers for story ideas.





Watch how I…

Using an idea bag, pull one or two objects from

the bag and tell a personal experience it

reminds you of.

Remind students that an object such as a

baseball can remind us of a “watermelon story”

about going to a baseball game, but that we

want to remember a small moment, or “seed”

idea from that big moment (e.g.: the moment

your favorite player hit a homerun to win the

game; the moment you saw yourself on the

giant scoreboard; the moment you had your

first taste of cotton candy)

Show how you can take one of your moments,

tell it across your fingers and then begin to

sketch it out across pages (Sketch just one page

on your demo paper; sketch other two pages “in

the air.”).


partner.






Have students tell their partner a personal story

related to an object you pulled from the bag.

Share out one or two ideas that are small

moments. Make big the fact that they could

have written about the whole experience

(watermelon story), but that instead, they chose

just a small moment (seed idea) from that

experience.




Remind students that anytime they need a

writing idea, one strategy they can use is to pull

an object from an idea bag, then think of small

moments the object reminds us of.

Teaching Point 3: Writers Choose a Writing Topic Using an Idea Bag

(brief)


Teaching Point 3: Writers Choose a Topic Using an Idea Bag (Expanded)

Materials:

Teacher demo story (3 boxes on chart paper, lines drawn below)

bag or backpack of items to spark ideas (some items might be a baseball, a bandaid, a

flashlight, a ticket stub, a photograph, a piece of jewelry, a plastic pail and shovel,etc.)

3 page booklet for each student

Connect: Writers, we’ve been learning strategies to help us get ideas for writing our stories.

Yesterday, I noticed Marcus and D’Angelo came up with some great small moment ideas for

their stories. Marcus chose a time when he was at the park with his brother. He decided to zoom

in on a small moment about finding a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. D’Angelo chose to

write about his birthday party in July. He zoomed in on the most important moment and then

decided to write a story about opening one of his presents and being surprised to see a jersey of

one of his favorite football players, Derrick Brooks inside. Nicely done, both of you!

Writers, sometimes it’s still hard to come up with ideas when we’re trying to think of stories to

write. It’s nice to have a lot of strategies we can use when we can’t think of what to write. So

far, we’ve learned we can think of people and places that matter to us and we’ve learned that we

can use a timeline to help us get ideas for stories. Today I will teach you another strategy that

writers can use anytime they want to write a story. We can look at ordinary objects and think

of small moments those objects remind us of. We do this so that we can rely on ourselves

instead of our teachers for story ideas.

Teach: Writers, we’ve been doing lots of work coming up with ideas for our stories haven’t

we? Now I want you to watch while I try out this new strategy of using everyday objects to spark

memories for stories. Pull an item or two from the bag and tell a personal experience it reminds

you of, showing your thinking out loud. It might sound something like this: Let’s see. Here’s

something. A bandaid. Hmmm. That makes me think of the time that I jammed my finger

between two pieces of a concrete garden seat and I broke the bone in the tip of my finger. That

really hurt! I could write about that! Let’s see, what else? How about this little jewelry pin?

This reminds me of a pin my grandmother used to wear. She gave it to me a while back. I don’t

know if I could come up with a story about that, though. Let me look again. Oh, here’s

something! A little sand shovel. That reminds me of bringing my niece, Karis, to the beach with

me and building a cool sand sculpture of a sea turtle. I could write about that! Begin sketching

in the first box on your demo paper.

Did you see the way I did that? I reached into the backpack and pulled a few objects out, then I

thought about what they reminded me of and zoomed in on a small moment. I started planning

out my story by sketching it across my pages. This way, I don’t have to ask someone else to help

me with ideas for stories. I can rely on myself to come up with ideas. I love that!


Active Engagement: Now I’m going to have you try this out right here by me. I’ll pull an

object out of the backpack and you’ll turn and tell your partner what it reminds you of. Try to

zoom in on a small moment. OK. Here’s the object! (Pull out something that most kids will be

able to relate to, like a flashlight or a ticket stub.) Share out partnerships who came up with

small moment story ideas based on the object.

Link: Remind students that any time they need a writing idea, one strategy they can use is to

look at objects around them to recall a personal memory.

Write and Confer: When students return to their seats, they can label a sheet of paper

Writing Ideas (or make copies of the blackline provided with this unit.) Students can add ideas

to this sheet during this unit. Today you could:

Do some one to one conferring

Tuck in a couple of compliment conferences.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Highlight and gush over students who are writing during

the whole workshop. You might say something like: Wow! Would you all put your pencils

down for just a minute and put your eyes on me? I was just noticing that the students at this

table group have been writing for the whole workshop time. They haven’t left their seats or

raised their hands or even sharpened their pencils. They must know that during this time, they

are seated, silent, and self-reliant. Awesome job. Keep going!

Teaching Share: Highlight students who took an object, came up with a small moment,

then sketched/wrote across pages.


Materials: Teacher demo story sketched out across pages with one or two sentences written below each sketch,

shared class experience story sketched out with one or two sentences added below each sketch, revision pens, strips Connect:

(Connect today’s lesson to the work they have been doing

so far.)





Compliment students. Connect today’s lesson

to ongoing work.

Today I will teach you that writers include

small actions to stretch out the heart of small

moments by closing their eyes, zooming in,

making a movie of that moment in their

minds, then asking themselves, What was my

body doing? What was happening around me?

We do this so that our readers can get a clear

picture of the moment in their minds.





Watch how I…

Using your own story that you’ve sketched out

and have begun to write, show students how

you close your eyes, then ask yourself, What

was my body doing in the heart of that

moment? or What was happening around me?

Tell them they can put their characters into

action in their sketches by drawing little lines

coming from the person or object, or they can

include labels such as Me running or bouncing

ball or spinning merry-go-round (show

examples of this in your own sketches).

Show students how you then add action words

to the heart of your story (add some of these to

the second page of your demo booklet from

yesterday using a different color marker)


partner.






Have partners think about the shared class

experience story, making a movie in their

minds of the heart of the story, then telling the

small actions that could be included in the

story.

Share out some small action details, include

them in one of the sketches, then add the words

to that page.


learning as writers are not just for today when they write,

but anytime they write.

Remind students of today’s strategy.

Remind students if they finish one story, they

may begin another.

Teaching Point 4: Writers Revise: Using Small Actions to Stretch Out the Heart of a

Small Moment (Brief)


Teaching Point 4: Writers Revise: Using Small Actions to Stretch Out the Heart of a Small

Moment (Expanded)

Materials:

Teacher’s own small moment story sketched out across 3 boxes on chart paper with one

or two sentences written under each box (keep it simple!)

Shared class experience story (e.g.: seeing the snake by the classroom door)

3- page booklets for students to use if they finish their story today

Revision pens of varied colors, revision paper strips (1” and 2” strips)

Connect: Writers. We’ve all been writing up a storm! Pat yourselves on the back for a job

well done! You know, the other day I was enjoying a day at the beach. I really love going there.

So relaxing. I was there enjoying the sun when just ahead of me in the sand I saw some birds

called Royal Terns. I like watching the birds on the beach, especially terns, because sometimes

they do some interesting things. While I was watching, I noticed that suddenly one of them was

being chased by a group of others. The one being chased had a little fish in his mouth and the

others were chasing him in the air. It was so cool to watch. They were diving at him, flying in

tight circles, and flapping their wings, all the while squawking as loud as they could. The bird

with the fish was flying as fast as a little bee, turning, twisting and weaving so quickly that the

other birds couldn’t catch him. When he finally landed in the sand, he gulped down the fish in a

flash! It was quite a sight to see.

Writers, in first grade, we learned about the heart of our stories. Well, when writers want to get

at the heart of their story, the part in which they want their readers to feel emotion when they

read it, they know they really have to stretch that part out. That bird chase would have definitely

been at the heart of my small moment story about watching birds on the beach. By stretching out

that part of my small moment using lots of action words, I could bring a feeling of excitement to

my story.

Today I will teach you that writers include small actions to stretch out the heart of small

moments by closing their eyes, zooming in, making a movie of that moment in their minds,

then asking themselves, What was my body doing? What was happening around me? We do

this so that our readers can get a clear picture of the moment in their minds.


Teach: So, writers, watch me while I try out this work. I’m going to go back to my story about

building a sand sculpture with my niece, Karis. I’ll close my eyes, zoom in, and make a movie of

the heart of that moment in my mind, then ask myself, What was my body doing? or What was

happening around me? So let me see, (close eyes) I remember we decided to build a sand

sculpture and I could put that on my first page, but that’s not at the heart of my story. I think the

heart of my story is that little moment when we were actually forming the sand into the shape of

a sea turtle. If I make a movie of that, I would have to picture what Karis was doing and what I

was doing. So let’s see…I remember we scooped up handfuls of sand. We dribbled some water

from our buckets and wet down the sand to keep it from falling apart. Karis smoothed the sand

into a big mound, and I formed 5 smaller mounds around the big mound; one for each foot and

one for the head. Using our fingers, we carefully etched lines into the mounds to show the

turtle’s shell, his toes, and then his eyes and nose and mouth.

OK. So now I want to be sure I add those small actions into my story. I’ve sketched out my story

across my pages and I’ve begun to write. On the middle page, I have a sketch of us making the

turtle and I wrote “We made a sea turtle in the sand.” That’s where I’ll add those small action

words. So I’ll write “We scooped up handfuls of sand. We dribbled some water from our

buckets…” (write those words with a different color marker to show revision) and I’ll keep going

with the rest of those small actions, adding them to my writing.

Did you see the way I did that? I thought about the part of my small moment that was at the

heart of my story, the part in which I wanted my reader to feel the most emotion, then I closed my

eyes and made a picture in my mind, asking myself, What was my body doing? What was

happening around me? I added those small actions to my story so that my reader will get a clear

picture of what was happening in my story and feel what I felt in that moment.

Active Engagement: Writers, let’s try this work out now. We’ll take our shared class

experience story, the one about the snake by our classroom door, and we’ll think about the heart

of that story, when the plant operator took the rake and chased the snake away. That was the

most exciting part, the part that has the most emotion, right? With your partner, make a movie

in your mind and ask yourself “What was my body doing? What was happening around me?”

thinking of the small actions in the heart of that moment.

Share out some partnerships who came up with some appropriate small actions for this part of

the story, then add them to the middle page of your shared class experience story where you may

have written a sentence like this: Mr. Alex, our plant operator, came down the hallway with a

long rake. Possible small action sentences (use different color marker to show revision): He

snuck up behind the snake with the rake. He pushed the rake toward the snake and moved the

snake away from our door. The snake raced toward the field, slithering and twisting away from

the rake.


Link: Tell students that today and anytime they are writing small moment stories, they will

want to stretch out the heart of that small moment so that their readers will be able to put

themselves into the story. One way to do that is to add small actions to their stories. Make

colored pens available for those students who would like to use them for revision. This

usually gets kids excited about revising! Students who have no room for all the small action

sentences may want to use revision strips.

Write and Confer: Reminder: For the first few minutes of writing time, we suggest that

you the teacher pull up to a group of students and work on your own writing. In this way, we

teach our students to be Seated, Silent, and Self-Reliant.

Today’s conferring may consist of:

One or two compliment conferences

One or two one to one conferences

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Once a few students have decided on the heart of their

stories and have added small actions, you may want to share some of what they’ve written.

Encourage them to include some small actions on one of the other pages of their stories.

Teaching Share: Reminder: Be sure to share not only those students who have tried out

today’s strategy, but sometimes also a struggling student who has tried something new, even

if it isn’t today’s strategy. For instance, a student who has had difficulty with stamina may

be highlighted when he writes for the whole workshop, or a student who has difficulty with

independence and today works independently.

Now would be a

good time to remind

students to continue to add dialogue and

use show not tell ,

both taught in unit 1.


Note: Read Down the Road to your students as a read aloud separate from Writers Workshop if possible.

Materials: Down the Road book located in Grade 2 Writing Kit; teacher small moment story with sketches and

words; shared experience story from yesterday; 3 page booklets for students; revision pens, strips

Connect:


doing so far.)






to ongoing work.

Today I want to teach you that writers add

their internal thinking to small moment stories

by closing their eyes and asking themselves:

“What was I thinking at that moment?”

Writers do this in order to help our readers be

in that moment with us.





Watch how I…

Read the pages in Down the Road that have

Hattie’s thoughts in italics

Demonstrate how in your own small moment

story, you can close your eyes and zoom in on

the moment, asking yourself: What was I

thinking? Add your thoughts to one page, To the other

pages, if appropriate, add thoughts by writing in

the air what you were thinking


partner.






Tell students to look at the shared class story

and with their partners, find places in the story

in which to add their thinking using the same

strategy you used in your demo.

Share out a couple of partners who came up

with good examples of internal thinking for

shared class experience story.

Add one of their examples to a page of the

shared class story.




So writers, today and any day that you’re

writing a small moment story across pages, you

can stretch out that story by adding your

internal thinking so that your reader will be in

the moment with you.

Tell students that if they finish a story today,

they may begin to sketch another 3 page story

using any of the generating strategies they’ve

learned so far.

Teaching Point 5: Writers Revise: Using Internal Thinking to Stretch Out a Small

Moment (Brief)


Teaching Point 5: Writers Revise: Using Internal Thinking to Stretch Out a Small

Moment (Expanded)

Materials:

Down the Road book (located in the Grade 2 Writing Kit)

teacher small moment story with sketches and words

shared experience story from yesterday;

3 page booklets for students

Various colored pens for revising; revision strips of paper

Connect: Writers, yesterday, we did some revising by adding small actions to the heart of

our stories. We can add small actions to other parts of our stories as well to make them

really come alive for our readers. I noticed yesterday that Jordan added lots of small actions

to his story. Jordan told us about how when he was at the beach, he went on a huge water

slide. He stretched out the heart of his story, going down the slide, by writing this: “I sat at

the top of the slide and stared at the bottom. My knees were shaking. My hands were

clinging to the sides of the slide. I let go of the sides and flew down, down, down to the

bottom.” He really slowed down that moment for his readers to help them get a picture in

their minds. Writers have other ways of revising to stretch out their stories. Another way

writers can stretch out small moments is by adding our internal thinking. Today I want to

teach you that writers add their internal thinking to small moment stories by closing their

eyes and asking themselves: “What was I thinking at that moment?” Writers do this in

order to help our readers be in that moment with us.

Teach: So now, writers, I want you to watch me while I try out this work. Here’s my story

about making a sand sculpture with my niece, Karis. Let me start with the first page, when we

were just getting to the beach. Read: My niece, Karis, and I decided to go to the beach. It was

such a nice day. Let me see, what was I thinking? I know, I could add something like this: I

wondered if the water would be warm enough for us to go for a swim. (Next page) I’ll go back

to that second page where I added small actions to my story. Now let me close my eyes and think

back to that moment again (do this). I want to ask myself, What was I thinking at that

moment? So let me see...I remember thinking as we were smoothing the sand into the turtle

shape, “Hmmm, this is really starting to look like a sea turtle!” Now I can add that thinking to

my story right here after this sentence (find an appropriate place to add the sentence, using a strip

of revision paper if needed, and using another color marker: I thought to myself, “Hmmm…etc.)

Did you see the work I did here? I reread my story and asked myself, What was I thinking at

that moment? Then I added my thinking to my story.


Active Engagement: Writers, now let’s try this out together. Let’s look at the first page of

our snake story, when we first saw the snake. I wrote these sentences under the sketch: Our

class saw a black snake by our classroom door. It was barely moving. Now I want you to think

back to that day and try to remember, What was I thinking? Turn and talk to your partner

about what you were thinking in that moment.

Listen in and then share out a couple of the thoughts students decided on. They might sound like

this: I wondered to myself if it was even real! Or, I said to myself, “Uh, oh. I hope that snake

doesn’t bite!” Add one of these to the shared class story.

Link: Say to students: So writers, now you can see that today and anytime you write small

moment stories, you can include internal thinking to stretch out and elaborate the moment for

your readers. Remind students that you will be adding thoughts to your story as well, and so

they need to be seated, silent, and self-reliant. Row 1 off you go! Row 2…Row 3…

Write and Confer: As students work today, they should be attempting to add thoughts to

the small moment story they have already begun to write across 3 pages. Some students may

want to begin a new 3 page story and add thoughts as they write it. This is acceptable at this

point (remind students to sketch across pages before they write!). The key here is that everyone

writes during writing time. You can focus on helping students add in appropriate thoughts as

you do one to one conferring today.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Stop and highlight students who added internal thinking to

their stories. Make big those students who have done this work on more than one of their pages.

Remind students that part of internal thinking might be dialogue and that they need to remember

to use quotation marks on these sentences (quotation marks were taught in grade 1, unit 5 lesson

#5).

Teaching Share: In the gathering area, say to students: Writers, I have to share what (Ray)

did today. Read an example of a student’s piece before and after internal thinking was added.

Share your piece as well.


Materials: Fireflies! book (or other book with good setting lead); teacher small moment story sketched and written

across boxes on chart paper; shared class experience story sketched and written across boxes on chart paper; student

3 page stories; revision pens, revision strips/blank unit of study paper

Connect:


doing so far.)






to ongoing work.

Today I will teach you that one way writers

can write a good beginning for their stories is

by writing a story-like setting beginning so

that you can let your readers know that they

are about to read a story you wrote.





Watch how I…

Read the beginning from the book Fireflies (or

use any other book that has a good setting

lead).

Point out how this beginning tells not only

when the story takes place, but where.

Point out that we are getting ready to read a

story about a particular thing that happened at a

particular time. (put up chart: A Story-Like

Setting Beginning Might Include…)

Demonstrate to students how you might begin

one of your small moment stories by using a

setting beginning. Write it in the air, then on

your chart paper story, using a different color

marker.


partner.






Using one of the shared class experience

stories, that now includes small action and

dialogue, have partners work together to create

a story-like setting beginning.

Share one or two partnerships that came up

with a good setting beginning.




Tell students that anytime they are writing their

small moment stories, the can use a story-like

setting beginning to let readers know they are

about to read a story you wrote.




learned so far.

Teaching Point 6: Writers Revise: Writing Story-Like Setting Beginnings (Brief)


Teaching Point 6: Writers Revise: Writing Story-Like Setting Beginnings

(Expanded)

Materials:

Fireflies! book (or other book with good setting lead, like Down the Road)

Teacher small moment story sketched and written across boxes on chart paper

Shared class experience story sketched and written across boxes on chart paper

Student writing folders/ 3 page stories

Pre-made chart titled: A Story-Like Setting Beginning Might Include:

Colored revision pens, revision strips of paper or extra sheets of sketch box paper for

adding revised beginnings

Connect: Writers, in this unit, we’ve been writing small moment stories with clear

beginnings, middles and endings. In order to make these small moments sound like stories we

might read in a book, we will want to write beginnings that sound like a story is coming.

So today I will teach you that one way writers can write a good beginning for their stories

is by writing a story-like setting beginning so that you can let your readers know that they

are about to read a story you wrote.

Teach: Writers, listen while I read the beginning of this story. Point out that in the

beginning of the story, the author lets us know where the story is taking place. For instance, in

Fireflies, Julie Brinkloe tells us when and where the story takes place: On a summer evening I

looked up from dinner, through the open window to the back yard. This beginning sounds like

we are getting ready to read a story about a particular thing that happened at a particular time.

Put up a pre-made chart that says:

A Story-Like Setting Beginning Might Include:

When the story takes place.

-the time of day: On a summer evening -the month: In early September

-the time of year: Late last winter

Where the story takes place. -in my back yard

-at the beach

Remind students

that we learned to

use setting details throughout our

stories in Unit 1

and to continue to use this skill in

this unit as well.


Teach (cont’d): Watch how I do this with my own story about my niece and I making a sand

sculpture at the beach. I can look at this chart (point to chart) and think about when and where

my story took place. So let me see, I know it was a nice April day and it was a Saturday

morning. I know we were at the beach. It could go something like this: One Saturday morning

last April my niece Karis and I decided to go to the beach by one of the hotels on Treasure

Island. The sky was blue and the water was clear and calm. OK. I think that sounds good. I

told when, last Saturday morning, and where, the beach by a hotel on Treasure Island. I’ll cross

off my old beginning and rewrite this new beginning (Do this in front of the students.) Tell

students that if they don’t have room to cross off and rewrite, they could take a strip of paper,

write their new beginning, then tape it over the old beginning, just like they did in first grade.

Did you see the way I did that? I thought of how I could write a story-like setting beginning by

thinking about when and where my story took place, then I revised my beginning to let my

readers know they are about to read a story I wrote.

Active Engagement: Display your shared class experience story that is now written across

three pages (you may have another class story from your timeline started, or you may use the one

you’ve already created). Say something like: Writers, now we’ll take our shared class story and

practice this work. The first page of your class story should have a simple beginning. For

example, the snake story may have a beginning like this: Our class saw a black snake by our

classroom door. It was barely moving. Now, writers, with your partners, see if you can create a story-like setting beginning for our

story. Remember to think about when and where your story took place. Go ahead and turn and

talk.

Listen in to a couple of partnerships. Coach students who may be struggling with this concept.

Share some good story-like setting beginnings. They may sound like: Last Tuesday our class

was walking up the hallway to our classroom. When we came to our classroom we saw a black

snake on the sidewalk right in front of the door.

Link: Tell students that today and any time they are writing stories, they can use a setting

beginning that includes when and where their story takes place. Tell students that they may take

a clean sheet of unit paper, sketch the first box again, including the setting, and write their new

beginnings on that paper. Provide staplers for students to attach their new beginnings if you

wish.


Write and Confer: Students may be at many different places. This actually makes

workshop easier to manage. Confer today based upon the individual needs of your students.

Realize however, that the lessons you teach in conferences are either ones you have previously

taught to the entire class or ones that will be coming later in this unit.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Notice students who are trying the teaching point with

some degree of success. Always make bigger and better whatever it is you have noticed. Don’t

hesitate to stop students to re-teach or clarify something students need help with.

Teaching Share: Highlight students who effectively wrote a setting lead.


Teaching Point 7: Writers Revise: Writing a Close-in-to-the-Moment Ending (Brief)

Materials: Teacher small moment story sketched and written across chart paper with simple ending; shared class

experience story sketched and written across chart paper; chart titled: Close-in-to-the-Moment Ending; revision pens

and paper (strips and/or blank unit of study paper)

Connect: (Connect today’s lesson to the work they

have been doing so far.)






to ongoing work.


can write a good ending for their stories is by

connecting the ending to the moment you are

writing because endings are important and

should not be separate from the moment you

are writing.





Watch how I…

Show the story you have been writing as your

demonstration story.

Reread your story, showing your thinking by

trying out a couple of endings that are not

connected to your story.

Put up chart: A Close-in-to-the-Moment

Ending

Demonstrate how you think aloud to write an

ending that is connected to your story, using the

ideas from the chart, then write the ending in

your story.


partner.






Using the shared experience story you used for

revising beginnings, have partners use the

Close-in-to-the-Moment Ending chart to write

orally an ending for the class story.

Share an effective ending or take ideas from a

few different pairs of students and combine

them to create an effective ending for the

shared story.

Show students how they might take a piece of

paper and add it on to the end of their small

moment story in order to write their close-in-to-

the-moment ending.




Remind students that anytime they are ready to

end their small moment (or other types of

stories), they should try writing a close-in-the-

moment-ending.




learned so far.


Teaching Point 7: Writers Revise: Writing a Close-in-to-the-Moment Ending,

(Expanded)

Materials:

Teacher small moment story sketched and written across chart paper with simple ending

shared class experience story sketched and written across chart paper

chart titled: A Close-in-to-the-Moment Ending

revision pens and paper (strips and/or blank unit of study paper)

Connect: Writers, we’ve been doing a lot of revising lately! We’ve added small actions,

internal thinking, and story-like setting beginnings. In our first unit of study, we learned how to

revise by adding setting details throughout our stories, adding dialogue, and using show, not tell.

All of these things make our stories better and better by helping our readers get a clear picture of

our small moments. Today I will teach you that one way writers can write a good ending for

their stories is by connecting the ending to the moment you are writing because endings are

important and should not be separate from the moment you are writing.

Teach: So writers, I’m thinking about my story about the beach. When I write my ending, I

would want it to end close to where we finished the sculpture. I wouldn’t want to end my story

with what I had for dinner that night or where we went the next day, because then I’d be into

other moments in the day. So, let me see, what would end my story close in to finishing the

sculpture? I could say something like: “We stepped back to look at our work of art. A few

people even stopped to admire our sea turtle. I smiled at Karis and thought about what a nice

memory this would be for us.”

Did you see what I did? I thought about how I could end my story close to the moment. I tried

out some endings until I came up with one that worked, one that ended with the next thing that

happened, and included a thought or a feeling. This would make a good ending because it tells

the very next thing that happened when we finished the sculpture and even included a thought. I

could have included a feeling as well. You can use one or all of these strategies together when

you want to write a close-in-the-moment ending. Here’s a chart you can refer to when you want

to write an ending like this.

A Close-in-to-the-Moment Ending:

ends in the moment with the next thing that happened

might include a thought

might include a feeling


Active Engagement: Display the shared class experience story and have partners work

together to write orally a close-in-to-the-moment ending. Listen for students who end in the

moment/tell a feeling/tell a thought. Decide on an effective one to use as the ending for the class

piece. Or, you can take ideas from different pairs and combine them to create an effective

ending for your shared story. Show students how they can take a blank piece of unit of study

paper to write their close-in-to-the-moment ending and add it to the end of their small moment

story to replace the ending they have now.

Link: Writers, from now on, whenever you are ready to end your small moment stories, you

should try writing a close-in-to-the-moment ending. This type of ending is effective not only for

small moment stories, but for almost any kind of story.

Remember, when we return to our seats, we are seated, silent, and self-reliant. Row 1…row 2…

Write and Confer: Students will be finishing up their pieces today and perhaps thinking

ahead to which one they will want to choose for the end of unit celebration. Your conferences

will focus not only on effective endings, but also on getting students who are ready to reread

their pieces and look for any revisions they may want to tuck in.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Highlight endings that students are writing effectively.

Also, you could share some examples you found in books your students are already familiar

with. For example, you could share the last page from Fireflies! and point out how the author

ended close to the moment and used a feeling. Tell students they can be looking for other good

endings in books they read both in school and at home and share them with the class.

Teaching Share: If possible, highlight a student who struggled to write an effective ending

and how he or she finally overcame the problem (maybe with good coaching from a teacher!).

Another possibility is to have students turn to their partners and tell them the thinking that went

into writing the eventual final ending for their small moment pieces today.


Materials: Students’ writing folders, teacher’s writing folder

Note: Due to the self-explanatory nature of this lesson, choosing a piece of writing, an expanded lesson does

not follow.








to ongoing work.

Today I want to teach you that writers choose

a piece of their writing to publish by looking

through their pieces and choosing the one

they like most because you’ll want to choose

carefully before sharing your work with

others.





Watch how I…

Tell students that this unit will be ending soon

and that they will be sharing a piece of their

writing at the celebration.

Show students how you take your own pieces

of writing, lay them out on the floor, reread

each carefully, then choose 2-3 that tell a good

small moment story, flow well, have voice, etc.

Of those 2-3 pieces (some of the rest will be

sent home), one will be chosen to share at the

celebration, while the others may be saved in

your folder for the next unit of study.


partner.






Have students now go through the process you

have just demonstrated.

Share out some students’ good reasons for

saving some of their work.




Remind students that sorting through and

choosing their best work is something they will

do many times in their lives and that writers

choose those pieces carefully.

Teaching Point 8: Writers Choose a Piece of Writing to Publish, (Brief)


Teaching Point 9: Writers Edit: Identifying and Editing Run On and Rambling Sentences

(Brief)

Materials: Teacher piece on chart paper, revised on one page using “wimpy words” for demo purposes, shared

class story, also revised on one page using “wimpy words” for active engagement purposes, revision/editing pens,

strips








to ongoing work.


edit their stories is by identifying and then

editing run on and rambling sentences in

order to make your writing clear to your

readers.





Watch how I…

Put up a page of your small moment story. Be

sure it has some of these words added into it:

and, then, so, and/or but. Read your sample.

Explain how those words may mean you have a

run on or rambling sentence in your story.

Show students how you can 1) put a dot under

these words everywhere they appear in your

writing and then 2) reread those sentences and

see if they make sense without the dotted word.

If so, cross off the dotted word 3) place a period

before the crossed off word and capitalize the

next word. Tell students we sometimes call

these words Wimpy Words because they make

our stories weak.


partner.






Take a page from a shared experience story,

revised to include wimpy words.

Have students read and identify the wimpy

words, then try reading the sentences without

the words to see if they still make sense.

Reread the sentences without the wimpy words

and then tell where correct punctuation will go.




Tell writers that today and anytime they are

editing, they can look for run on or rambling

sentences by taking out wimpy words so that

they don’t weaken our stories.


Teaching Point 9: Writers Edit: Identifying and Editing Run On and Rambling Sentences

(Expanded)

Materials:

Teacher piece on chart paper, revised on one page using “wimpy words” for demo

purposes

Shared class story, also revised on one page using “wimpy words” for active engagement

purposes

Revision/editing pens, strips

Chart with steps for removing wimpy words

Connect: Writers, we’re getting close to the end of our unit. You’ve chosen a piece that you’d

like to share for our celebration, and one thing we must do before we share our writing with

others is to do some editing. When we edit, we reread our pieces and correct errors. A common

error with lots of kids, even older students, is the run on and rambling sentence. Today I will

teach you that writers identify and edit run on and rambling sentences so they can rewrite

those sentences in order to make their writing clear for their readers.

Teach: Writers, I’ve taken a page from my small moment beach story to read to you. Listen:

Karis and I scooped up handfuls of sand and then we dribbled water from our buckets onto it and

then we wet down the sand.

After reading aloud say: The words and, then, so and but are signals to a writer that he or she

might have a run on or rambling sentence. The only way to tell is to 1) Put a dot under these

words everywhere they appear in my writing and 2) Reread those sentences. If the sentence

makes sense when I reread it without the dotted word, I should cross the word out. And finally,

3) I will then need to place a period before the crossed out word and capitalize the first word in

the next sentence. Tell students that we sometimes call these words WIMPY WORDS because

they often make our writing weak by creating run on and rambling sentences.

Chart:

How to Edit for Run On and Rambling Sentences

1. Put a dot under the words and, then, so, and but everywhere they appear in your

writing

2. Reread those sentences. If the sentence makes sense when you reread it without the

dotted word, you should cross the word out.

3. Place a period before the crossed out word and capitalize the first word in the next

sentence.


Active Engagement: So, Writers, let’s try this work together with our partners. I have

a page from our shared class story for you to look at with your partner. Together with your

partner, identify the wimpy words, then rewrite the run on and rambling sentences in the air

using correct punctuation and capitalization. (Example: Our class was walking down the

hallway to our classroom and we saw a snake by our door and we didn’t know how we would

get in the room and then we told our teacher and she called the plant operator.)

Listen in and highlight students who identify and correct the run on and rambling sentences.

Remind students that these sentences weaken our stories.

Link: Writers, now you can see that today and anytime you are close to finishing a piece of writing, you are ready to begin editing. One thing you always want to edit for is the run

on or rambling sentence because they weaken our writing. So let’s go off to finish our

drafts, try some of the revision strategies we’ve learned so far, and when you’re ready, edit

for run on or rambling sentences.

Write and Confer: Students are working at different points of the writing process

depending upon how far they have gotten with the piece they may want to share for the

celebration. You will need to confer based on individual needs. Remember to keep in mind

the previous and future mini lessons within this unit of study. You will want to be prepared

to reteach a previously taught skill or strategy. You will also need to be prepared to teach a

skill that will be coming later on in the unit if the student is ready to learn it. Remember to

keep some sort of notes about the conferences you have with students.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: You may want to write on the board 2-3 sentences that

you noticed students had corrected. It is effective to show the before and after look so that

students can not only hear, but see the difference as well.

Teaching Share: Back in the gathering area, ask students to share with their partners what they worked on today. Point out specific students and the changes they made to run on

or rambling sentences in their writing. Remember, the most effective sharing occurs when

the teacher highlights those students who effectively used the teaching point for that day. If

you want students to have an opportunity to read aloud what they have written, they can do

that before or after the Teaching Share with a partner or in a small group of students.


Materials: 2 dialogue sentences from Fireflies! book or any book previously read during a read aloud ; Teacher

demo piece, class shared experience piece with dialogue added; Write Away handbook








to ongoing work.

Today I will teach you that writers punctuate

dialogue in their writing by using quotation

marks and ending punctuation because it

helps our readers understand who is speaking.





Watch how I…

Read two previously used pages from Fireflies

that contained dialogue. Point out how the

sentences are punctuated, emphasizing where

quotation marks, commas, period and capital

letters go.

Refer to pages 251, 253 and 255 in their Write

Away handbooks for more examples.

Using one of your own small moment stories

written on chart paper, point out where you

have added dialogue including internal thought

dialogue.

Demonstrate through think-aloud how you

would punctuate your dialogue.


partner.






Have students work with their partners to think

about how any dialogue in our story would

need to be punctuated.

If students have white boards, now would be a

good time to have them use them in the

gathering area to copy a dialogue sentence from

the shared class story and then add punctuation.

Share out some of the good work partnerships

have demonstrated and add appropriate

punctuation ideas to the shared class story.




Remind students that anytime they are writing

and want to use dialogue, they need to pay

attention to how they punctuate it in order to

help their readers understand who is speaking.

Teaching Point 10: Writers Edit: Checking Our Dialogue Punctuation (Brief)


Teaching Point 10: Writers Edit: Checking Our Dialogue Punctuation (Expanded)

Materials:

2 dialogue sentences from Fireflies! book or any other book you’ve already read for a separate read aloud,

written on chart paper

Teacher demo piece with dialogue

class shared experience piece with dialogue added

individual white boards if available

revision pens, alternate color marker for teacher editing

Connect: Writers, I was noticing in a book I read a few weeks ago that the author had this

funny way of letting you know someone was speaking. She used something called “italics” in

her writing. Those are words that are written kind of slanted so that they look different from the

rest of the words on the page. It was OK, but it was hard for me to figure out just when someone

was actually speaking. I think I like it better when authors use quotation marks and speech tags

like “Mom said” or “Dan replied” so I can easily figure out who is speaking. So I was thinking

that in our writing, it would be really important for us to be sure our readers know who is

speaking and when they are speaking since we don’t know all those fancy tricks like italics that

some authors use. I know that when you were in first grade, you learned to use quotation marks

when you were showing someone speaking in your writing, but sometimes we forget how to do

that. Today I will teach you that writers punctuate dialogue in their writing by using

quotation marks and ending punctuation because it helps our readers understand who is

speaking.

Teach: Here are a couple of sentences I took from our book (Fireflies). Notice how the

author has put quotation marks around the words the character actually says? The author also

included a comma before the last set of quotation marks and a period after the speech tag –that

means the part that tells you who is saying the words, like “she said”, or “Peter yelled” or

“Marissa asked.”

Now I want to show you exactly how I used quotation marks in my story. I’ll reread this page to

see if I added some dialogue to my beach story. Oh, here’s some dialogue. Let me read that part

to you: (teachers, leave out the quotation marks in your demo) “Karis, would you like to

build a sand castle?” I asked. I want my reader to know what my exact words were and that it

was me who said the words, but the way it’s written here, it’s hard to figure out. So let me see,

what did I actually say? I said “Karis, would you like to build a sand castle?” I need to put

quotation marks around those words, because they were the words I actually said. Since it was a

question, I need to put a question mark instead of a comma before the last set of quotation

marks. My speech tag is “I asked,” so no quotation marks go around that, just a period at the

end. (You can refer students to pages 251, 253, and 255 in their Write Away handbooks for

more examples of how to punctuate dialogue.)

Did you see the way I did that, writers? I reread my story to see if I had included dialogue. If I

did, I want to be sure I included the correct punctuation for my dialogue, including quotation

marks. I didn’t have any dialogue punctuation, so I added that in to make it clear for my readers

that these were my exact words and that it was me who said them.


Active Engagement: Put up a page of the shared class story. Let’s try this out now with our

class story. Think about some dialogue we might have said on this page. With your partner,

share your idea and then think about how you might add punctuation for this dialogue. (Allow a

minute or two for them to do this.)

If your class has individual white boards, this is a great time to use them in the gathering area.

Students can then write and punctuate a piece of dialogue they think could be added. When you

share out, you can add some of the suggested dialogue to the class story.

Link: Writers, remember, any time you are writing and want to use dialogue, you will need to

pay close attention to how you punctuate it. When you go back to your stories today, reread

your pages and see if you need to add punctuation to your dialogue. Row 1, off you go! Row

2…

Write and Confer: Students continue to work on one of their 3 page small moment stories.

I would encourage students to stay with the one small moment story they like best. You will

probably spend time holding table conferences today that deal with how to punctuate dialogue.

Mid-Workshop Interruption: Writers may I have your attention please? Pencils down.

Eyes on me. Remember when we were talking about including thoughts in our stories? Well, I

was just noticing that sometimes when we include thoughts, it’s written like dialogue! You’re

talking, but you’re talking not to someone else, but to yourself. When you include thoughts that

sound like you’re talking to yourself, you need to use dialogue punctuation around what you say.

Let me show you: Right here in my beach story, remember when I included a thought? Let me

read that back to you:

I thought to myself, “Hmmm, this is really starting to look like a sea turtle!”

Writers, even though I was just talking to myself, I was actually using dialogue in my head, so I

need to let my reader know what I was saying in my head by using quotation marks.

Teaching Share: You may want to have partners share how they punctuated dialogue before

bringing them back to the gathering area. In the gathering area, highlight students who used

dialogue punctuation correctly, especially if one or two used it in their internal thinking

sentences.


Note: These last two lessons do not have expanded lessons following them.

They are for the most part, self explanatory.

Materials: Teacher’s own demo piece, student pieces they will be sharing in the celebration, individual copies of

pages 8-9 from Spelling Instruction Elementary Reading and Language Arts Grades 2-5; revision/editing pens








to ongoing work.

Today I want to teach you that writers study

words in their stories in order to spell them

correctly so that anytime you want to write

them you will remember how they are spelled.





Watch how I…

Show your piece of writing with 2-3 words

misspelled and circled.

Tell students you circled these because they

don’t look like they are spelled correctly.

Show them how you use a spelling strategy you

already know to find out the correct spelling

(e.g.: word wall, personal word wall,

dictionary, or other spelling strategies you have

taught your students)

Tell them you will study these words so that the

next time you write them, you will spell them

correctly the first time.

Go through the steps for “How to Study a

Word” found on pages 8-9 in Spelling

Instruction Elementary Reading and Language

Arts Grades 2-5.


partner.






Using a shared class piece with a few words

circled, have students practice spelling them

correctly with their partners, using an

appropriate strategy they’ve already learned,

and following the steps you demonstrated.

Share out a couple of partnerships who did this

work well.




Remind students that spelling does matter,

especially when they are getting ready to share

their writing with others. Anytime they need to

study a word to spell it correctly, they can use

the steps they learned today.

Teaching Point 11: Writers Edit: Studying Words to Spell Them Correctly

(Brief)









to ongoing work.

Today I will teach you how partners can help

us prepare our pieces for an audience by

asking specific questions about our piece

because another person can help us catch

mistakes we might not notice as writers of the

piece.





Watch how I…

Read one of your small moment pieces revised

to include some confusion, to the students.

Ask What else would you like to know? Did

any part confuse you?

When students respond, model how you might

use their questions to revise your piece in some

places (not the whole piece).


partner.






Ask students to try out this work with their

partners using a shared experience story revised

to include some confusion.

Have the two questions What else would you

like to know? and Did any part confuse you?

written on chart paper.

Share out some changes partnerships suggested

based on the questions.




Remind students that anytime they are ready to

share their work with others, they can first

share it with a partner who can help them make

it better by asking some specific questions.

Teaching Point 12: Writers Publish: Partners Can Help Us Prepare Our Piece for an

Audience (Brief)


Some final thoughts:

Remember that a small moment is a moment that occurs during a very short period of

time as opposed to an all day event. Take students to a level that is most comfortable for

them. Know that you have the entire year to help students become more and more

focused in their writing.

Remember to focus on one skill during conferring. Decide what the one thing is that you

can teach the writer that will be useful to him or her for this piece of writing, as well as

all writing he or she will do in the future.

It is helpful to look through your students’ writing folders occasionally to note what your

students are doing well. If possible, make copies of samples that demonstrate

accomplishment. Keep an ongoing display of work that can serve as models for all the

mini lessons you have taught within a unit of study. This board becomes a reminder for

students of what they have been taught. It also can serve as a wonderful reference during

the celebration for the end of that unit of study. Parents and visitors will have a clear

sequential look at almost everything you have taught within the unit of study.

Additional support for teaching this unit can be found in Small Moments: Personal Narrative Writing

within Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong Curriculum by Lucy Calkins

Author’s Celebration:

Students might display their writing around the room on tables or desks. Guests read pieces

and on an index card or brightly colored stickie note, write a comment or response to the

writer. See separate booklet titled A Handbook of Interesting and Provocative Writing Terms

for more information about ways to celebrate student writing at the end of a unit of study.

Grade 2 Unit of Study 2 (revised edition) - Syracuse, NY · ELA-Grade02-Unit03-small-moments-unit...

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