Isabell Cardonick mini-lesson Kids typically use all for aw. So I decided to use a kid spelling of the word saw(sall) for a mini-lesson. We wrote the word/chunk "all" on a rubber ball and called it the "ball of all". Then we wrote "aw" on the picture of a cute puppy. Of course, we all made very exaggerated "aw" sounds to show how we admired the puppy. I wrote sall and pronounced it, wrote saw and pronounced it, then asked which sounded better. I'll try to pick out another all or aw word again tomorrow to review. Within the next couple of weeks we'll do a word family house for all and for aw. Eventually, when an "au" word comes up, we'll add the letters "au" to the cute puppy picture. Keep in mind that this is not an appropriate mini-lesson for children who do not yet have the consonant and basic vowel sounds in place. Happy Kid Writing!

 

Posted by Jessica Meacham k/wi on 1/30/07

I wanted my students to start writing stories with more of a storyline, instead of the typical: I like fish. Fish are cute. Fish are pretty. I love fish. So, we've started to model story writing.

I start by drawing a hand on the board (glove). write "who" "what" "when" "where" "why" and "how" (in the middle of the glove and in the fingers). The kids have gotten really good at helping me identify the different story elements when I write the story telling question words on the glove.

I model how to do this by showing the pre-draw illustration [I draw it ahead of time to save time as I don't want my mini lesson to go beyond 10-15 minutes]. Te illustration typically has two characters in it.

I then select a student from the classroom and we label one of the characters with their name and the story now "belongs" to them. That selected student then chooses a classmate, a friend, a family member, etc to be the other character and we label that character with their name.

I then ask, "what does this illustration tell us?" (pointing to the storytelling glove). We give possible scenarios. The person that the story "belongs" to ultimately makes the final decision as to what the story will say. I help by putting in my two cents or by changing the sentence structure.

We use the storytelling glove and check of the "questions" that we've answered in our text and/or pictures (we talk about how our illustrations work with the text and help to tell the story, thus answer some of the storytelling questions).

It's hard for them to stay away from the "safe" sentences (I like, I love, It is, ...). BUT they are getting better and I've noticed an improvement in their own stories when they write independently.

Some even say, I've decided to answer the "who" "what" and "how" story questions today. And during our conferences, if there is time left over, I encourage them to think about what other questions they could answer.

Of course organization is not the focus here...just ideas...(for those teachers that are thinking Six Traits - - we focus on "organization" in 2nd grade and "Ideas" is taught starting in Kindergarten).

Another thing that I've done and will do after I get through writing a story about each of my students is to focus on what other writers write about (they write about things they know about).

I check out series of books from the library (think CAPSTONE book series for early grades) and we talk about how writers not only write fiction, but they also write non-fiction too...of course moving beyond the "I like and I love...".

I come right out and tell my students that at this time of year, "I like" and "I love" stories are not enough. They need to tell more... In fact we talk about how a reader already knows that the author loves and likes the topic they've writen about because they chose to write about it and illustrate it.

I'll be putting the STUDENT STORIES as a mini lesson idea on my web site. Wow! I love to talk about writing, and it is my favorite time of the day!! :o)

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Taking journal time to the next level
Posted by Flacka on 1/30/07

I don't like to give my kids topics for their writing but I will sometimes give them a "story starter" (One day I opened my door and ... Once upon a time... In winter... After school...) These are very open-ended and they can write a sentence or a whole story. Sometimes they don't even use the story starter but it gets their brain fired up about something else.

I have also had them write a partner story where 2 children take turns writing the sentences. They can either write them all on one page or write each sentence on a separate page and illustrate them.

 

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