K-2 Writing

Elaine Roberts, Ph.D.

New Writers

Link reading environmental print to writing: Ask them what you should write on a tag board label hanging over the door, etc. Follow up with drawing a picture, strategies for how to sound out selected words, and label the areas discussed.

Brainstorm lists about the sorts of writing they might do in the block or playhouse areas

Stretch words (like a rubber band) together to help them try invented spellings (teach them they are the boss of their writing) and use word walls

Use literature to generate good writing and fluency (share writing in different genres)

Interview writers about their writing

Calkins: Actions Teachers Take During 1 Hour Reading-Writing Workshop

Teacher makes direct statement about the lesson (and ties it to standards/GA writing assessment)

Teacher states how the lesson connects to the previous writing lesson

Teacher Models effective writing strategies(5 min) Kids Practice (3 min) Summary: Today I taught you… Today I learned… Post the lesson’s learning on a chart with previous lessons Students go back to writing and use the taught strategies as

they write Teacher continues small group lessons and individual

conferences Workshop ends with sharing: Writers talk about what they

did and what they learned (make connections to the day’s mini lesson)

Daily Writing Workshop

Starting Components: Read Aloud/Think Aloud, morning message, writing strategy mini-lesson, choral reading (approximately 5-10 minutes)

Writing and Conferencing: Children write, dictate, draw, talk about writing, conference; teacher guides and conducts additional skills lesson with four to five writers (approximately 20 minutes)

Peer Conferencing: Response groups (4 or 5 members) meet for 20 minutes, status of group reports-each member of the group says in a single sentence what they need that day

Sharing Session: Publishing with Author’s Chair/talk time for 3 to 4 children, editing, or revising (approximately 10 minutes)

Publication Celebrations: Teachers schedule approx. four students to publish every Friday. Celebrations take place every grading period. Students can audiotape their writing.

Ideas for Crafting Mini-Lessons

Where do we write? When? How is you home writing different than school writing?

Is your writing like an special author’s writing? How and why?

What do you do when you are stuck? What do you think other writers do?

How should I begin my writing?

Have you found yourself writing about one idea and then in the middle of writing getting another ideas?

How can you make a title like, My Dog, more interesting to my readers?

What would happen if we take one sentence of a draft and put it at the top of a piece of paper and write and write about that one sentence?

Mini Lessons for Procedures during Writing Workshop

How can we create a way for gathering into a meeting area without pushing and arguing with each other?

If some of us are conferring while others write, how can we keep from disturbing each other?

How can we plan for an author’s celebration?

Should we have student-led mini lessons? Why and how?

Where can we keep our writing tools (notebooks, stapler, white out , date stamp, paper clips, enveloped and stationery-so we know where they are? How can we share the tools in a friendly way?

( Calkins)

Students Write DETAILS about Their Lives

Select a text you read aloud that matches what you ask students to do (connect to author’s style, voice, ideas, organization)

Model how to stretch out moments from their lives with details by sharing excerpts from the text

Teach them to “ picture details” as you share the text

More Details! Details! Details! Mini Lesson

Have the students find a favorite book and discover “Tiny details” and share them with a partner, then the class

Share authors techniques when writing for a purpose to stretch out small moments

Link the mini lesson to their writing “Stretch out a detail in your story” and develop pictures that show what you saw in your head

After writing celebrate their stories in a class book and illustrate some of the details

ELAKW1

The student begins to understand the principles of writing

Element: Writes or dictates to describe familiar persons, places, objects, or experiences

Task: After listening to the teacher read a story about a family, the student dictates or writes something about his/her own family

Develop a rhyme about the family

Element: Accurately prints name, all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet, and teacher-selected words

Teacher selected words - Name sound substitutions for writing and phonemic awareness (From Yopp & Yopp, 1997)

The letter t: Teacher asks students to name object that begin with t and create new t words from objects found in the classroom. For example, desk becomes tesk, door becomes toor. Then transfer the activities to their names. For example, Sue becomes Tue. They can write the nonsense words beginning with t and use them to create a silly sentence.

The teacher can read The Three Billy Goats Gruff and discuss the t in troll. The students can clap each time they hear the word in the story. Afterwards, the teacher can help them find other words in the story with t that they can write and use in a puppet show about the story.

Element: Uses drawings, letters, and phonetically spelled words to create meaning

Writing is Multilevel: It develops print concepts, concrete words, phonemic

awareness, and knowledge of letters and sounds, and requires making meaning

Interviewing and shared writing: Ask a student to sit in a special place. The rest of the class are reporters who interview him. The children decide on questions to ask him. The students write his responses phonetically on chart

paper. Together they read his answers and then create a newspaper

article about him.

Element: Uses left to right pattern of writing

Talk about what they notice about reading and writing by pointing at words as you read from left to right.

Ask students to point at words as you read.

Ask students to point at words as you write.

Ask the students to write a sentence and point from left to right as they share the sentence with a partner. Have each of them hold a word card to read a word in the sentence as they stand in a line.

Ask them what they discovered about “reading writing” noting the importance of reading from left to right.

Element: Begins to use capitalization at the beginning of sentences and punctuation (periods and question

marks) at the end of sentences

Interactive Writing – “sharing the pen” (Fountas & Pinnell) Teacher and children decide what to include in a sentence on chart

paper. Ask the children to look around the room for a beginning word such

as today and discuss how sentences begin with capital letters. Today….

Today is Rashad’s birthday! Today is Monday. Encourage children to write the words in the sentences on paper

strips that can be clipped on the chart paper. Clap when they add the punctuation and capital letters.

Ask one child to use their hand to remind them of spaces between words (adaptation).

Ask the children to write a today sentence with a partner. Together they select punctuation and draw a picture about their writing to share with others.

Shared Writing

What can be said can be written

Shared Writing – Teacher is the scribe for a group of children with attention to cooperative composition

The text should be predictable and highly readable for the children.

Interactive Writing - Teacher and children share the pen in the construction of the text, word by word

Combination Writing - Group writing combines language experience with shared writing and interactive writing (charts-science words, etc.) the teacher acts as a scribe then the children compose/write with the teacher some of the text (shared writing); teacher and children share the composition/writing (interactive writing)

Shared Writing (con’t)

Combined Writing: What kind of apple do you like best?

Red Delicious Golden McIntosh

Lauren Jill Steve

Create a Mini Lesson: First Draft

Think, Pair, Share: “I was at a beach in Florida. I pressed my toes into the hot sand. I saw my sister jumping out in the waves with my Aunt. She was jumping around as the waves hit her, she was out deep…I wanted to go and play in the big waves but I was nervous to.”

(Calkins, 1996, p. 214)

Components of Effective Conferences

Initially ask about where the student is in the writing process, not the topic: How’s it going? What problems have you encountered? When you read over your text, how do you feel about it? Which part is your best, good, less good? Why? What are you planning to do next? What kind of writing are you trying to do? (Narrative, persuasive, informative, combination? How do you want your writing to end?

“Walk through the piece with me” Calkins

Conferencing: Decision and Teaching Components

Think: What might help this writer? Ask: What works and doesn’t work?

Listen to see when the action takes place (use expression). Conferences empower students! Are there 1 or 2 things you want to explore?

Students need to become critical readers of their own texts by rereading and sharing with others…as teachers we will not always be there when they write.

“Our job in a writing conference is to put ourselves out of a job…they learn how to interact with their own developing drafts.” (Calkins, 1996, p. 229).

Reading, Writing, and Running: Literacy Learning on the Playground

(Giles & Wellhousen)

Share sidewalk chalk for drawing and writing Hide items in the sandbox and children select a card

to find items Bring outdoor suitcases-magnetic boards, letters,

chalkboards, alphabet blocks, and beach towels Share story time outside with outside themes to

encourage drawing and writing Supply toy microphones and writing utensils for

weather reports and outdoor news Encourage journal writing about observations of

outside sights, sounds, and smells from nature and nature walks

Writing Skills at the End of K

Write in complete sentences and uses strings of consonants with and without median vowels, with finger spaces between words and conventional spelling of some sight words

Forms most of the upper and lower case letters Chooses topics, edits, publishes (with help) and

shares writing with others Selects best work based on personal or teacher

requirements Understands (hears and discusses) the difference

between information and narrative texts (**refer to GA writing assessments and ELA GPS)

Building Blocks-Cunningham, P.

Writing for ChildrenWriting with Children

Desire to Learn to Read and Write Language Concepts Print Concepts Phonemic Awareness Interesting Words Letters and Sounds

Building Blocks

Morning Messages End of Day Journal Signs and Directions Predictable Charts Writing Center

1st month students interact and explore Copy text from the classroom, scribble and tell

stories, driting (combination of writing and drawing), real writing, delivering a message for a friend or parent, pictionaries, and writing for a purpose based on class themes, progresses through spelling stages

Writing Skills at the End of 1st Grade

Writes in complete sentences Chooses topics independently and generates lists Writes several sentences on a topic in personal

expository and narrative genres Use transitional or temporary spelling and more

conventional spellings of common sight words Shares writing and editing (including basic

conventions) with peers Identifies skills in others writing Revises and publishes writing Selects best work (Check GA Writing Assessment)

The Four Blocks Grades 1 and 2

Guided ReadingWritingSelf-Selected ReadingWord Studywww.fourblocks.com by Cunningham

Writing How To Books (Informational Writing)

Share a How To Book you have written Share the process Have the student pretend they are writing a book on how

to write a How To Book (List the process on a chart) Brainstorm a list of possible How To Book topics:

How to do a cartwheelHow to fish

Share How to Words (first, then) Students talk in pairs to describe their selected topic and

tell the steps they would have in their How To Book Partners tell about their How to Book with pictures Model how to begin writing the How To Books and follow

the writing process

Six Traits Plus

Discuss the use of the Six Traits and/or other methods used for teaching writing. Record examples of an integrated writing lesson in a content area on a chart to share with the class.

Discover the six traits-Organization, Ideas, Style, Voice, ?

GA Writing Assessment

DOE Website-Curriculum and Instruction and testing site

www.doe.k12.ga.us Think Pair Share: Review the Stages of Writing

and the new Grade Three Writing Assessment information. What do you need to emphasize and integrate across the content area at your grade level?Discuss ways to integrate writing across the content areas.

Review 3rd grade rubric and requirements for goals and instructional strategies

Develop suggestions for writing workshop based on grade level ELA GPS, GA writing assessment, and content GPS

Integrating Writing in Units of Study

Writing types change with units of study Units of study are published on a calendar which

teachers can adjust as the year progresses Units are supported/analyzed by staff development

through the year. For example, in December schools study non-narrative writing, nonfiction text as a staff and refine related units

Teachers decide the calendar, curriculum planning, and PD focusing on shared goals for writing workshop across content areas (Calkins book studies, Conferencing Young Authors by Tommy Tommison, etc.)

Integrated Writing Continued

Teachers discuss class and individual needs related to ELA/content standards and GA writing

Teach narrative and non narrative writing structure and zoom in on parts of ELA standards

Create snapshots of learning for analysis of progress related to curriculum planning (success of integration of writing)

Develop binders with strings for mini lessons for special needs students, etc.

Teachers observe each other teaching writing for student response, standards connections, management structures and room environment

Challenge: Enhance what is happening and not happening in the integration

of reading and writing across the content areas

Resources Freeman, M. (1998). Teaching the youngest writers: A practical guide

book. Maupin House Publishers. Cunningham, P. Building Blocks and Four Blocks at

www.blocks4reading.com Hall, D., & Williams, E. (2000). The teacher’s guide to building

blocks: A developmentally appropriate, multilevel framework for kindergarten. Carson-Dellosa.

Hall, D., & Cunningham, P. (1997). Month by month reading and writing for kindergarten. Carson-Dellosa.

http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/edis771/designerquest http://www.psd267.wednet.edu/~kfranz/Literacy/LittleFish/littlefish.htm Calkins, L. (1996). The art of teaching writing. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann. Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. (1999). Voices on word matters: Learning

about phonics and spelling in the literacy classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.