P2 Writing Workshop - Westwood Primary School · P2 Writing Workshop 6 February 2015 6.00 – 7.30...
Transcript of P2 Writing Workshop - Westwood Primary School · P2 Writing Workshop 6 February 2015 6.00 – 7.30...
inspiring a future-ready, anchor-steady community that flourishes and thrives
P2 Writing Workshop
6 February 2015
6.00 – 7.30 p.m.
• What are some issues you face when getting your child/ward to write?
• What do you want to gain from the Writing Workshop?
FAQs Addressing your needs & concerns
• Does not know where to start
• Construction of proper sentences
• Express or describe in more details
• Linkage of story in paragraphs
• To be more creative in their writing
FAQs Key needs & concerns
• Use the 5W an 1H to guide you!
The Fundamental (1) Sentence Building
• Use the 5W an 1H to guide you!
• I have a pen.
• I have a new blue pen.
• I have a new blue pen that I bought from the
bookshop yesterday.
The Fundamental (1) Sentence Building (classroom example)
What Who
Adjectives Who
What Who Adjectives How
Where When
What
• Use the 5W an 1H to guide you! • I was angry.
• I was angry at my sister.
• I was angry at my sister because she snatched my book while I was reading at home last night.
The Fundamental (1) Sentence Building (classroom example)
How Who
Who
Who Who Why
Where When
How Who
How
• Use as many adjectives and descriptive words as you can.
– I have a pen
– I have a green pen.
– I have a new green pen.
– I have a new green erasable pen.
– I have a new green erasable pen that I use for corrections.
The Fundamental (2) Using Adjectives
• Use relevant adjectives and descriptive words: – Feelings
• The pupils were excited to see Fandi Ahmad in school.
– Size • The petite teacher needed help to carry the big box.
– Shape • The square peg could not fit into the round hole.
– Characteristics (Properties) • The teacher needed help to carry the big heavy box
– Colours • The man wearing the striped shirt drove off in a blue car.
– Taste • The dish was delicious.
The Fundamental (2) Using Adjectives – Using Your Senses
• Using the 5Ws & 1H and as many relevant adjectives and descriptive words as you can, extend the sentence below with more details.
– I have a car.
Hands-on (1) Sentence Building
• Happy, happy, happy till teacher marking NOT happy
• Angry, angry, angry till teacher marking really gets angry
The Fundamental (3) Using adjectives that are NOT common
• Then, then, then, then, then … the whole story (e.g. of Making a Healthy Salad)
• Vary the connectors used – First, Secondly
– After that,
– Next,
– Following that,
– Time indicators – At midnight, In the morning,
• Starting sentences with And, Because……. not encouraged
The Fundamental (4) Connectors
• List alternatives to the common adjectives expressing feelings:
• Group Sharing
Hands-on 2 Using adjectives that are NOT common
Happy Angry Hungry Beautiful Afraid
Delighted furious starving pretty nightmare
Excited mad famished awesome fear
Beaming unhappy craving nice spooky
Glad agitated greedy stunning timid
amused crossed empty classy doubtful
joy annoyed peckished attractive anxious
elated irritated charming frozen
frustrated Gorgeous, lovely
Trembling with fear
• Write a short paragraph to describe your day today using different connectors and adjectives
• Group Sharing
Hands-on 3 Using different connectors and adjectives
I woke up at six in the morning. After taking a bath and having breakfast, I rushed off to work to avoid the morning rush hour traffic. When I reached my office, I had a meeting. Next, I had to type an urgent report for my boss and then, I was off to lunch. Following lunch, I was very sleepy and managed to catch a nap for about half an hour. In the afternoon, I had to deal with so much work that I lost track of time. When the clock struck five, I was dumbfounded and realised that I had to rush to Westwood Primary. Finally, I reached the school just in time to attend this workshop!
wonderful and interesting
inspiring a future-ready, anchor-steady community that flourishes and thrives
The Writing Process
Providing the language experience Carrying out the relevant activity – Learning Journey, activity in school, reading a story
Brainstorming ideas as a class - recounting
Class writing eliciting sentences from pupils
Group discussion
Group Writing
Individual Writing
The Language Experience Process - MLEA Providing the Scaffolding
The Writing Process
CONCLUSION
Edit Publish
DEVELOPMENT - BODY
Write Revise
INTRODUCTION
Brainstorm Plan
inspiring a future-ready, anchor-steady community that flourishes and thrives
Composition Writing Term 1 Week 3
A Bubble Blowing Adventure
A Bubble Blowing Adventure
Helping words/ phrases
bubble wand excited terrified scold
quarrel burst pulling apologised
To enhance any writing piece, we will brainstorm on a related topic before beginning to write…
Topic
• Write about how you felt when you first blew bubbles
• Use as many adjectives and descriptive words as you can.
BRAINSTORMING Writing Stimulus
• Use the 5W an 1H to guide you to plan your content for each picture:
• Introduction – Character & setting
• Body – Problem & Solution
• Conclusion – what happened in the end, how you or the characters felt…
PLAN
Picture 1 Who: _________________________
When: _________________________
Where:
__________________________
What:
__________________________
It was a bright and cheery day. The leaves on the
trees were rustling in the afternoon breeze. Mary and
Sarah were at the park blowing bubbles. There were four
boys playing at the playground.
Picture 1
I was cleaning my room when
my eyes fell on the broken bubble
wand. Memories of that horrible day
flooded my mind as I recalled what
happened.
“Peiling! Peiling! Let’s go down to the newly built
playground to play on the swings,” shouted Xinyi.
Picture 2 What had happened?
________________________________
________________________________
What were the children doing?
________________________________
________________________________
When the boys saw the bubbles, they were very
excited. The bubbles were like hundreds of little footballs
floating magically in the air. The boys were jumping up and
down trying to catch the bubbles.
The boy in striped shirt asked Mary, “Can I borrow
your bubble wand, please?”
While Peiling and Xinyi were
playing excitedly, John and his gang
came to mock at them. They teased
the girls that blowing bubbles was
extremely childish! Peiling and Xinyi
chose to ignore them. John was so
frustrated that he started to burst the
bubbles. The rest of the boys except
Tim saw the fun in bursting the
bubbles and they started to join John.
Tim politely asked to borrow the wand
from Peiling.
Soon the
bubbles attracted a
group of rowdy boys
who were playing in
the playground.
They came over and
started bursting the
bubbles . . .
Picture 2
Picture 3 Who:
_____________________
Why:
________________________
Feelings of the character:
_________________________
Mary agreed to lend him the bubble wand. When he
was about to blow, suddenly, another boy snatched the
bubble wand! All the boys started to quarrel and fight over
the bubble wand. When they were pulling the bubble
wand, the wand broke! Mary and Sarah were terrified and
burst into tears.
Picture 3
John quickly snatched the
wand from Tim and scolded him
for betraying the boys! They
started pulling and pushing each
othe and a fight broke out! The
girls were so terrified that they
burst into tears. Then to my horror,
the group of rowdy boys
snatching the bubble
wand. The wand broke
into two! I burst into
tears. Soon, a man
appeared.
Picture 4 What happened in the end?
_________________________
How did the children feel?
_________________________
Mary’s father heard them crying. He ran over
and scolded the boys furiously. The boys felt sorry and
apologised to the girls and each other. They promised
to buy Mary a new bubble wand!
Picture 4 The man reprimanded
the boys. They were
remorseful. They apologised to
my sister and I. We forgave
them as our father always
reminded us that forgiveness is
very important.
Back in my room, I
smiled to myself. I wiped the
dust off the wand gently. It was
a memorable incident indeed
Uncle Raymond,
who was a retired police
officer, saw the whole
scenario and came to
reprimand the boys. He
warned the boys not to fight
again! The boys felt guilty
and they apologised to one
another as well as to the
girls
WRITE / REVISE Success Criteria
Success Criteria: 1 2 3 4
1. I described the events in order and wrote in complete sentences.
Rarely Sometimes Most of the time
All the time
2. I used past tense when describing the events.
Rarely Sometimes Most of the time
All the time
3. I used connectors to organise the ideas / events.
Rarely Sometimes Most of the time
All the time
4. I used the first person (I, We) and the third person (he, she, they) correctly.
Rarely Sometimes Most of the time
All the time
5. I have written enough sentences ( at least 16 sentences) including details that describe how I (or the characters ) felt and thought.
With limited details
With partial details
With most of the details (at least 16 sentences)
Very thoroughly, in-depth (at least 16 sentences)
6. I spelled the words that I have learnt correctly, and used spelling strategies for new words.
Rarely Sometimes Most of the time
All the time
EDIT The Editing Process
• Whole –class guided editing
• Pair editing – using success criteria
• Individual editing - self-check using the success criteria / composition checklist
• Exchange your writing piece with your friend
• Use the Success Criteria checklist to help your partner to improve on his/her writing
• Focus (example): Replace common words with Star Words
Common Words Star Words
good fantastic
bad terrible
hungry famished
EDIT Success Criteria Checklist
Composition (50min) – 80 words
Composition Checklist
• Have at least 3 paragraphs.
• Use Interesting beginnings, e.g. a sound or dialogue.
• Use correct punctuation – capital letters, full-stop.
• Use past tense.
• Include adjectives and adverbs.
• Have correct spelling.
• Include at least one sentence of dialogue.
• Read your story once you have finished.
Writing Conventions
• Spacing
– between words
– between punctuation marks and words
• Correct spelling of High Frequency Words,
• Punctuation of dialogue,
• Capitalising on beginnings of sentences and Proper Nouns (names of people, places etc)
Current Challenges
• Pupils using “Singlish” & everyday speak:
– Sam and John got too impatient….
– I got money…
• Pupils using short forms, SMS & email languages
– OMG, Sara realised…
– The pupils lol when they saw the funny incident.
– Ok, gd
Simple Writing Tips to Remember
1. Spell the numbers (not Math!)
– There were 2 two girls at the playground
2. Give the characters simple names
– Sara and Jan were at the playground…..
3. Expressions of feelings should NOT be limited to the conclusion
inspiring a future-ready, anchor-steady community that flourishes and thrives
Extension Stretching pupils in writing….
Begin your story in an interesting
and exciting way.
Arouse curiosity with the following
techniques:
Beginnings Introduction
Extension (1) Open with Story Grabbers
a Question a
Quotation
Personal feelings
a Movement
Personal Experience
Describing the setting
Introduction – Story Grabbers
a Question
a Quotation
a Movement
“Why must this always happen to
me?”
“Blood is thicker than water!” I
muttered to myself …
Crash! My grandfather tumbled down
the staircase.
Introduction – Story Grabbers
Personal Experience
Personal Feelings
Describing the setting
I was cleaning my room when my eyes fell on the broken bubble wand. Memories of that horrible day flooded my mind as I recalled what happened.
I love my family very much that I will do anything for them.
It was a bright and cheery day. The azure blue clouds moved gently across the sky and the leaves on the trees were rustling in the afternoon breeze.
• Begin with a “Wow” word …Help! Ouch! Yikes!
• Guess what I got to do (where or when) …?
• You won’t believe what happened (where or when) …?
• You’re never going to believe this!
• (When) was the best / worst day of my life?
• I was so (feeling word – embarassed, excited, angry)…!
• I don’t think I’ve ever been so …(feeling word)…!
• The most amazing thing happened (where or when) …?
• What a/an (feeling word – boring, exciting) weekend!
• I love (activity word – reading, soccer, skating)…!
• Have you ever been ……….?
Extension (2) Good “Hooks” for stories
Hands-on 4 Writing an introduction using a “story grabber” or “hook”
horror movie
alone trembled in fear
tossed and turned
finally
slept
Monster
chasing
mother
comforted
Hands-on 4 Writing an introduction using a “story grabber” or “hook”
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
A Nightmare - Picture 1
Improving content
Using our 5 senses in writing
How writing assignments are graded
Writing
Content Language
Why pupils struggle with content?
• Lack of vocabulary
• Weak at spelling
• Lack of ideas
• Weak at imagination
• Inability to elaborate
Why pupils struggle with content?
• Lack of vocabulary
• Weak at spelling
• Lack of ideas
• Weak at imagination
• Inability to elaborate
Problem Pupils only rely on 1 sense - Sight
• All of us have 5 senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch)
• When pupils look at the pictures, they only write down what they see.
• Hence, their ability to describe is limited.
Using all our senses in writing Leading questions you can ask to guide children
5 senses 5 Questions
Sight “What do you see?”
Hearing “What sounds can you hear?”
Taste “Any tastes?”
Smell “Any smells/aromas?”
Touch/ feelings
“How do the characters feel? Any sensation?”
Example of relying on sight only
Jane and I were blowing
bubbles. Some boys
started to burst the bubbles.
One boy asked me for
my bubble wand and solution.
Writing down what they see only makes the content boring and bland!
Example of using all 5 senses
Jane and I were blowing bubbles.
The bubbles had a soapy smell
(smell). Some of the bubbles had
rainbow colours in the sunlight
(sight).Some boys started to burst
the bubbles. “Pop! Pop! Pop!”
(sound) The bubbles burst. One of
the bubbles popped near my
mouth. It tasted bitter (taste).
“Yucks! (sound)” I cried. One boy
asked me for my bubble wand and
solution rudely. I cried in fear
(touch/feelings).
Key idea: Getting pupils to elaborate
• When pupils engage all 5 senses, they can imagine more.
• This will boost their content as they will be able to give vivid descriptions and elaborate on what they ‘see’ from the pictures.
• Constant reinforcement of this strategy trains the child to be better writers in the long-run.
• The teacher’s face turned beetroot red …
• Tom’s face was as white as a sheet…
• Johnny felt like he was in seventh heaven when he saw that he had full marks in his class test.
• Danny’s mother was furious because he had forgotten his pocket money for the third time!
• I was drenched from head to toe …
• The girls stood rooted to the ground …
Extension (3) Using descriptive vocabulary, idioms, similes etc
Good endings give your reader the
feeling he has not wasted his time
reading. Unless the ending is given
in the question itself, think about your
ending before you write it.
Endings Conclusion
“Begin with an end in mind”
1. Relate how events finally turned out after a series of tense or difficult incidents.
With his usual playful smile on his lips, Steven continued
walking home with a bounce in his steps. His parents
were going to be so happy!
“Everything’s fine now, mom!” he answered happily,
much to Mother’s bemusement. Everything was going
to be just fine.
Back in my room, I smiled to myself. I wiped the dust off
the wand gently. It was a memorable incident indeed
“Never, Never again!” I cried to myself as waves of
remorse engulfed me. I have learnt my lesson.
Various Story Starters:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/ Idea Generation Tool (Cube):
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/cube-30057.html Generating Ideas for various Text-Types:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/writing.pdf
Links for further tips on Writing
For input & guidance
• Ms Tracy Tan, Vice-Principal
• Mrs Adrena Ong, Head of Department / English
Language
• Ms Yong Lee Min, Head of Department / Talent
Development & Aesthetics
• Ms Tiey Huay Yong, Senior Teacher
Excerpts used from the composition written by
• Glendon Gan, 2 Kindness
• Rainnie Tan Xin Ning, 2 Teamwork
• William, 2 Diligence
Acknowledgement
Thank you for your
attention