Writing Workshop Wednesday - Week 3

Young writers learn to plan their writing because we teach them to plan.  Storytelling is part of the planning for narrative writing.  You can read my post from last week about storytelling here.

These are the steps I use to help writers learn how to plan a story.  Whether your writers are early elementary or later elementary students, they probably need reminders and extra practice planning their stories.  This is another one of the mini anchor charts that will be in a pack that I'm working on s-l-o-w-l-y. 

I start by showing students an example of how I planned in the same way to write a story of my own 

(my real adult writing in my real writer's notebook).  Then I ask students to practice thinking of a true story from their own life.  I struggle with the silence sit patiently, while I give them plenty of time to think. Next, I ask the students to turn to a partner to either tell the story across their fingers or we use a blank pre-made book and ask them to tell across the empty pages.  

I also created a graphic organizer to help my students sketch across the pages.  You know, so their story doesn't end up all on one page.  My Sketch Across the Pages is a freebie in my Tpt store if you'd like a copy.

This tired girl has to be at school at 6:45 in the morning to finish setting up for professional development.  So, that's all for now...

Happy writing!

Building Stamina (+ Free Graph)

As many of you know, this was my last week in the classroom.  On Monday, I'm off to my new position as an instructional coach.  I spent the last two weeks transitioning my class (since I was supposed to loop with them this year).  The new teacher is all settled in and I miss the kids like crazy already.  I'll still be posting on a regular basis, so I hope you'll follow along to see what my new adventure brings.

I absolutely love reader's workshop and writer's workshop time! Over the years, I've searched and searched for a resource for reader's workshop.  I've found lots, but last year I fell in love with this fabulous book.  The best thing about it is that it includes a full year of reader's workshop and writer's workshop units. The reader's workshop and writer's workshop lessons are separate in the book (in case you have a required curriculum).  I used the 1st grade version last year and started using the 2nd grade version this year.  The same authors wrote kindergarten through 5th grade editions as well.  It is very user friendly and the mini lessons are clearly laid out.  There are recommended mentor texts and anchor chart suggestions in each unit.

We spent the week working on reading and writing stamina. We talked about reading stamina first (only because reader's workshop comes first in my schedule).  I made this anchor chart with my students.  I added the smiley/sad faces when we created it together this year to help one of my special needs students.  Each day I asked my students to choose something on either side of the chart as a goal to work on improving during our reader's workshop time. We did a "think/pair/share" at the end with partners to discuss whether or not they reached their goals for the day.

We did the same during writer's workshop as we discussed building writing stamina.

Beatrice Doesn't Want To by Laura Numeroff  is my favorite mentor text to use for stamina building mini lessons. The story is an excellent way to kick off a discussion about both reading and writing stamina. I read it toward the end of the week, because by then the students are able to identify the characteristics of reading and writing stamina (rather than having me point them out early in the week).

Throughout the week, we also refered back to our "Things Writer's Write" chart to discuss how we could build writing stamina by working on different types of writing.  We made a similar chart together at the beginning of 1st grade and they quickly ran out of ideas.  This year, my students were so full of ideas that they begged me to make another list to add to this one.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the second one.

I did not ask my students to fill out an individual stamina graph  for reading this year.  I wanted my students to be able to spend their reader's workshop time getting lost in their chosen texts, not watching the clock.  I kept track of the time each day on an iPad timer and we celebrated our stamina building efforts at the end of reader's workshop time each day.

We did use individual stamina graphs for writer's workshop.  I made the graph below.  

You can click on it to download a copy for yourself.  I included 5 days on the graph, so you can use it for one week or make extra copies if you need to continue focusing on stamina for additional weeks.

I'm off to enjoy this beautiful day! 

Book Talk Tuesday - Chapter Book Series (freebies)

In preparation for my looping experience and in celebration of my fancy new bins...I'm working on a giant book sorting project this summer.  It's still a work in progress, but I thought it was a good time to link up with Deanna Jump to share some of my favorite chapter book series.

 At the beginning of the summer, I reread The Book Whisperer. 

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book, which refers to student reading surveys.

"Their needs as readers, as people, call to me from the pages of those surveys, and I whisper back with books." (Donalyn Miller)

Since I am looping with my students, one of my goals is to really get to know my readers.  In first grade, we poured our hearts into becoming readers and learning how to love books together.  During our 2nd grade year together, I want each of my students to develop their reader identity.  As their teacher, I want to make sure I "whisper" to them by listening carefully to their preferences, fostering their interests, acknowledging that I know and respect their individual reader identity and making sure that I have a variety of books available for them to read independently.  Along with that, I want to make sure my books are organized in a way that motivates my students since they are now more sophisticated readers.  That is how I justify the outrageous amount of money I've spent on new books and bins this summer. Ha!

Another take away I had from reading The Book Whisperer was the importance of giving readers choice.  In her book, Donalyn Miller said that she used to read whole class novels with her upper elementary students.  She said she discovered that lack of control over reading choice was a problem until she stopped doing that and switched to a workshop structure instead. I do feel like I give my readers choice in my own classroom, but after reading this book 3 or 4 times I have a list of ideas of ways I can improve my own instruction.

I made a new Reading Interest Survey to use with my students this year.  You can click on the image below to download a copy.

I also decided to start with reorganizing my books (and buying lots of new chapter books) to start 2nd grade. I found these amazing chapter book bins from Really Good Stuff.  They have 3 divided sections, which are perfect for separating books in a series. They come in a variety of colors.

*We use Fountas & Pinnell levels.  Many of the series on this list are new and have not yet been leveled on many of the leveling sites, so I assigned levels that are close enough for me.  I'm simply sharing the list in this format in case it's helpful for any other teachers out there.  You can click on the image to download a copy of the list.

Today, I am going to my classroom for the first time to move my furniture around.  No flip flops.  Hair in a messy bun.  Pray for me. Surely this will count as my weight lifting for the day.

Head over to visit Mrs. Jump's Class to read about other great books.

ROADTRIP!

It's time for our roadtrip on the Information Highway!  

We're traveling on an informational text themed adventure for March.

Our whole building is focusing on specific themes
for informational text each week.  

Passport Registration

I have a crazy amount of leveled books in my classroom.  I do mean CrAzY, but they all get used on a daily basis.  I have bins full of fiction and nonfiction books at each level for students to use throughout the day.  I also have a Nonfiction Book Nook full of just leveled informational texts. I created this separate area full of nonfiction books just to make sure my students have extra exposure to informational text.  The books in the Nonfiction Book Nook are organized by category (but are also leveled to help students choose just right books).  As you can see, the bins for some categories are super full and other bins have so few books in them that you can barely see them in each bin.

Nonfiction Book Nook Shelf

You can find the labels that I made for the bins in my Nonfiction Book Nook here.
The labels are available to download free at the bottom of that old post.

I'll be posting more adventures from our trip on the Information Highway over the next few weeks.

Then...we'll finish off March with Camp Read a Lot!

100th Day Photos

Between President's Day and snow/ice days, we only ended up with 2 days of school last week.  We did finally make it to the 100th day of school though!

This is Granny Gillow all dressed up for her big day in 1st grade.  

I think the Kindergarten students in my hallway 

were scared of me and some of my own students barely recognized me. 

Granny Gillow with one of her students.  

*I don't normally post pictures of my student's faces on my blog, but this cute little old man's mom is a teacher in my building.  She gave me permission to post this picture.  He is so darn cute!

Some creative granny hair...

My students made self portraits to represent what they think

 they will look like when they are 100 years old.  

My students also chose one of the 100th day writing prompts.  

I posted this freebie a couple weeks ago.

You can click on the image below if you'd like a copy for next year.

Because surely we had to be the last one to make it to the 100th day, right?

I went to school to work for a couple hours yesterday, so my planning is done.  The to do list for today includes... go to the gym, make something with my new Silhouette, bake cookies with my kids and finish at least one of the things that I need to load on Tpt...all before Downton Abbey! 

Nonfiction Writing (Freebie Friday!)

We are finishing up our penguin research.  Well we're trying...but we have only had 2 days of school this week.  Seriously!  (President's Day + 2 snow/ice days)  I was actually able only to teach for one day.  I did Dibels testing all day on Wednesday and returned as Granny Gillow to teach on Thursday for our 100th day of school.  I'll post about that soon. It was SO much FUN!

During reader's workshop, we're finishing up our penguin research using my Nonfiction Penguin Unit.  You can read  a post with more details about that here.

During writer's workshop, my students are working on nonfiction writing.  I'm using the Lucy Caulkins unit to teach nonfiction writing.  My district has not officially adopted the program, so I use a combination of resources to teach different writing units.

Here is a reusable anchor chart that helps guide our planning.  

I laminate my reusable charts and use giant sticky notes to add the things myself or to let the students add things.  That allows us to reuse the same chart multiple times during the same unit and I can reuse it again in the future.

I don't know about your students, but my students struggle with spreading their story across the pages when writing nonfiction books.  When we are writing personal narratives or small moment stories, they are able to think of the story in terms of a beginning, middle and end.  That helps them spread their story across the pages.  That is not as easy for them when writing a nonfiction (teaching) book.

I made Sketch Across the Pages graphic organizers for my students to use to help them during the planning stage.  First, I ask them to tell the story out loud across their fingers.  Then they can choose either a 4 or 5 page graphic organizer to help them organize their ideas in the planning stage.  Some students return to me to get another copy of the graphic organizer if they realize they need to add more pages to their story.

If you click on the image below, you can check out the graphic organizers
and download your own copy if you'd like.  

I'm linking up with Teaching Blog Addict for Freebie Friday!

Since there is no school again today, maybe I'll get some things done at home.  Happy Friday!

100th Day Writing Freebie

With all this snow, it's hard to say 

when we'll finally get to the 100th day of school.  

I'm planning on it anyway, for whenever it happens.

Our 100th day plans include:

Dressing like you are 100 years old  - complete with fashion show!

My favorite 100th day craftivity...

Here are pictures from last year's craftivity.

Oh my goodness...they are so cute I just can't stand it!

We'll also do some 100th day themed writing!  

I made several different prompts to give my students some choices.

You can grab your own copy of the prompts I made

 by clicking on the image below.

Please follow my Tpt store if you visit to download.

I'm having a competition with myself to increase my followers 

in my store by 10 before the end of the month.

I'm tellin' ya the life of a competitive person is exhausting. Ha!

I'm linking this post up with TBA for Freebie Friday!

Time to Reflect on Writer's Workshop

I'm serving a two week sentence...in bed. 

Here's the short version of the story. 

On Monday, I had surgery to remove my ovaries and tubes for cancer prevention. My family has an alarming cancer history and turning 40 in November meant that it was time for me to make some big decisions. My mom is an ovarian cancer survivor. She's brave. She's also the oldest living woman on her side of the family (and she's only 61). I made a brave decision about my health. And...I am confident that this was the right decision for me. I'm also grateful that my mom is here to help me make these big decisions.

Why post about it? Because, I'm not Angelina Jolie. I am grateful for her willingness to share her story. I'm just a plain 40 year old mom/teacher living on a two teacher income. Turns out normal people have to make big decisions about their health too.  It's not easy, but sometimes it's necessary.

 And now, this Type A teacher/mom is stuck in "resting" mode.

 Here's my view every time I open my eyes.

Meet Daisy, goldendoodle #1 in our family.

She likes to be very close to my face while I'm resting. 

My guard dog/foot warmer is not far away either.

Meet Kalli, goldendoodle #2 in our family.

I have big plans to try something that I don't normally do...watch movies.

I thought it would be a good idea to watch all the girlie movies that my husband would hate.

They are all wrapped in plastic, never opened.

So, I stacked them all up in my "things to do while I'm resting" basket.

I might try to watch some...one day soon.

Luckily, my husband and children are fabulous caregivers.

My own parents are super supportive and came to help on surgery day.

Our friends are delivering food, checking in and taxiing the kids

 while I'm out of commission.

My son even made a business card to highlight his helpfulness.

(excuse the punctuation error 

and I'm sure Martha Stewart would forgive his table setting placement 

since he is 7)

This time at home is giving me lots of time to look through

 the photos of my daughter at her recent dance recital.

Oh, how I love my little dancer!

And, I am sitting around doing the best I can to rest.

Today, I discovered a fabulous blog post that  helped me do some reflecting 

on writer's workshop time in my classroom.

The post is by Kari Yates on her blog, Simply Inspired Teaching.

The post is called Seven Signs of an Effective Writing Workshop. 

I love that Kari starts off by reminding us that writer's workshop is not a program or a package. It is a framework for teaching writing.  Kari suggests that there are 7 signs of an effective writing workshop.  Since, I have time (oy...) I decided to use these 7 characteristics to help me reflect on my own writing workshop time.  You can click on the image below to read my reflections.

I made the sheet below, just in case you'd like to use it to help you with your own reflections.  Focusing on the 7 Signs of Effective Writing Workshop by Kari Yates was really helpful for me.

I'm linking this post up with TBA's Freebie Friday! Off to take a nap...again.  

   

Winter Themed Freebies

Looking for some winter themed freebies?

You can find them in my Tpt store by clicking on the images below.

Please follow my store if you like these freebies.

I'm heading out to dig out AGAIN!

I do love winter...but the kind where it's not too cold for kids to play outside.

This is bonkers.

Enjoy your Sunday!