Teaching+Writing

Teaching Writing Pre K to Grade 4 and Middle Level

// So often, children don't even realize they have done remarkable things in their writing. We must help them see this and then make room for celebration. // //Katie Wood Ray/Lisa B. Cleaveland About the Authors (2004, 138)// Syllabus EDP4 311(CHC - Spring 2018)

Great Links to Enhance your Teaching of Writing Blogs! Being of the Baby Boomer generation (meaning I have 40+ years of teaching behind me), I am new to Blogs! A professional group that I respect has raved about A. J. Juliani, so I signed up to receive his email links to his blog. What a find! I suggest that each of you sign up, too. Click here: [|AJ Juliani] There may be some you are not interested in, but there are sure to be some that inspire. Here's a link to my favorite so far because it has direct impact for this course. [|How to Improve Your Writing in 10 Quick Lessons.] Engagement Strategies - Here's a file of many creative ways to engage students in learning. [|Link to Student Writing Models] - This link provides many models of student writing at all grade levels and in a variety of genres. Excellent resource! [|Link to PAPA preparation materials]- Includes sample questions, full practice exam, video tutorials, etc. This is a must before taking the Pre-service Academic Performance Assessments in Reading, Math, and Writing.

Resources for Middle Level Teachers [|Mentor Texts for writing with Middle Level Students]-//Using Mentor Texts to Motivate and Support Student Writers -//This is an excellent article with links to mentor texts. [|Link to Write in the Middle] - a comprehensive web site with video and articles on how to teach writing to middle level students. Excellent! [|Link to LA Youth Magazine] by and for Teens - This is a valuable resources of examples of teen writing especially if you are teaching in an urban setting, but really relevant for all teens!

Internet Links/Supporting Materials [|TTMS] - Teaching that Makes Sense - FREE classroom-proven teaching tools for all grade levels. This site has over 20 downloads that cover topics from Writing Strategies to just about any topic on teaching literacy. [|Writing Fix] - Wow!This web site includes many lesson plans using mentor texts to teach genre and the writing traits. Each lesson includes graphic organizers and student writing samples. Here's a You Tube video of [|Dog Breath] by Dave Pilkey. Check out the lesson plan on Writing Fix for using this book for a writing lesson. Sample writing from Grade 1 to grade 7 are posted on the site. [|Chalk Talk] (A blog for kindergarten teachers.) This link will take you to a page about writing with lots of illustrations and ideas. [|Teacher2Teacher Help]- Here's a web site that supports teaching the Six Traits of Writing. I love the links to children's literature for each trait!

Week 1 [|Beautiful Oops] - This is a video of the book. A great video for the beginning of school to let kids know it's OK to make mistakes. Getting to Know You - Building a Writing Community: Here's a video with a great Getting to Know You activity that leads to writing. The video is focused on 6th graders but this activity could work for any grade level. The teacher begins with the prompt [|I am the one who... .]Watch how the teacher intros this activity, models, and then circulates. This a great example of one activity that can be used in many grade levels to build a writing community. [|First Day Jitters]

Week 2 Here's a link for an [|interactive word game]to help students think of a silly animal to write about after reading Dog Breath. Here's a You Tube video of [|Dog Breath]

[|week 3 Balanced Literacy]- This comprehensive article expands on the definition of balance as a "decision making approach through which the teacher makes thoughtful choices each day about the best way to help each child become a better reader and writer." Lesson Planning: Daily Five: An approach that includes all the components of a balanced literacy program [|week 3 Writing Workshop Website] - This is a great site for every element of the writing workshop with links to many resources. Great for beginners!

[|week 4 Stages of Early Writing Development] - This link includes pictures of kid writing at each stage.

[|week 5 Link to ideas for argument and opinion writing]- The pinterest site shows lots of texts and ideas for encouraging opinion writing [|week 5 Dear Mrs. LaRue]- A story for older students (grade 4 - 8) Mrs. LaRue sends her dog away to Obedience School and the dog writes letters to her to persuade her to let him come home. This link takes you to a You Tube video reading of the book. [|week 5 Persuasive Writing] - Link to Read Write Think lesson on developing persuasive writing, includes a link to an excellent interactive graphic organizer. [|week 5 The Important Book]- The ppt includes the text and pictures of //The Important Book// by Margaret Wise Brown. This is a great book for illustrating organization in writing.

[|week 6 ReadWriteThink] - This a an incredible online resource for students and teachers. This link takes you to the demo video on how to use this tool and save student work.

[|week 8 Yesterday, I had the Blues] - Here are the first few pages on Amazon. [|week 8 Punctuation Splat] - A great online punctuation game! week 8 Dear Tom Letter - Can you punctuate this correctly? [|week 8 kid thesaurus] - An online thesaurus for kids. [|Routman video about memoir] - Reggie Rouman discusses her thinking before writing a memoir snippet (personal narrative). A memoir snippet asks students to choose the most memorable part of one significant life experience and expand on that with elaboration and detail. This approach to a personal narrative produces some rich writing, but not a long piece, allowing time to really reflect on what makes the experience memorable.

week 10 Links for Writing and Using Rubrics: [|week 10 Rubistar]- This free service is great for creating your own rubrics. Rubistar does most of the work for you! [|week 10 NWREL] - Rubrics to assess the Six Traits of effective writing using the Common Core Standards. [|week 10 Read Write Think] - Search for rubrics using the Thinkfinity Search Engine. [|week 10 Rubrician.com] - Links to hundreds of rubrics at all grade levels.

[|week 11 Playing with Poetry]- This blog discusses the types of Poetry writing that is fun for primary students. [|week 11 Types of Poetry]- This is an excellent website that lists in ABC order a variety of poetry forms for children. Excellent examples are provided for each type.

[|week 12 -8 Great Sites for Reluctant Writers]- Take a break from writing workshop and have some fun with these great tech sites. Suggestions for use are included. [|week 13 Test Tutor]- This a an interactive game that provides practice in writing summaries.

Video Clips: What does Writing Look Like at Grades K,1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [|Kindergarten] [|Grade 1] [|Grade 2] [|Grade 3] [|Grade 4] [|Grade 5] [|week 2 Writing Objectives]- This a a quick 1min. 47 sec. review with a good example clearly explained. [|week 3 The Components of Balanced Literacy] - This 7 minute video highlights a few of the components of a Balanced Literacy program. The narration is excellent and the teachers model best practices in teaching literacy. [|week 3 Daily Five]- quick video that introduces using anchor charts to set up Daily Five in the classroom. Great ideas!! [|week 3 Water Cycle Rap] - Writing Traits Rap example [|week 3 First Grade Writing Workshop]- This 4 min video describes a Day in the Life of a first grade writing workshop. [|week 3 Writing Workshop gr 7-] This 10 min video kicks the concept of writing workshop up to 7th grade (working on an ad campaign for persuasive writing) [|week 3][| - Dinosaur Rap], has a good beat you can use for kid created raps.

[|week 4 Kid Writing Workshop Video #3] - This short video shows the teacher with a small group of children who have completed some kid writing. Notice the use of the hats (Wiz of is). The whole video is about 8 min. Notice all the strategies Judy Lay uses to teach writing to novice writers. [|week 4 Interactive Writing]- 47 sec. explanation. [|week 4 Shared Writing] - 3 min. [|week 4 Modeled Writing] - 1.5 min. [|week 4 Second grade workshop with mentor text] - This 8 min.video captures the teacher using //Charlotte's Web// as the mentor text to work on describing with details. (needs password) [|week 4 Writing Workshop Beginning Procedures] - This 5 min. video is a little fuzzy, but excellent in describing how to begin a writer's workshop early in the year.

[|week 5 Did you know? Bubbles] - Kindergartners write non-fiction reports! Great idea. [|week 5 I Wanna a Iguana]- Video of book 6 min.

[|week 6 Collaborating Using Google Docs] - A quick 5 minute overview of how this works. [|week 6 Austin's Butterfly]- This video shows how nonjudgmental peer critique helped a 1st grader improve a butterfly drawing to make it more scientifically accurate.

[|week 8 - 6 Traits of Writing]- Fun cartoon approach (best for grade 4 and up) [|week 8 Hey Jude by the Beatles]- First debuted in 1968 [|week 8 Hey Jude sung by Ella Fitzgerald] - 1969 [|week 8 Teaching Punctuation in 2nd grade] - 6 min video on introducing this unit. (Membership to Choice Literacy is needed to view this video.) [|week 8 2nd Grade Punctuation Conference]- Another Choice Literacy video..the teacher is conferring with her student about adding punctuation to her writing. (Membership is needed to view.)

[|week 9 The Writing Process Song] - Very cute

[|week 10 2nd grade quick conferences]- This Choice Literacy video shows Sean Moore as he quickly moves about his second grade classroom conferring with a few students.

[|week 11 Poetry mini-lesson]This video clip is a lesson in a 2nd grade class using poetry to practice fluency, expression, and vocabulary. (Membership to Choice Literacy is needed to view.) [|week 11 - When I was a dinosaur,]a great intro to the book/poem Dinosaurumpus. This is performed by Trout Fishing in America, a great children's duo.

[|week 12 Best Practice in Teaching Writing]- This 12 min.video provides a clear overview of best practices. The Indiana Teacher of the Year (2007), Anna Shults shares many ideas to motivate student writers. [|week 12 Rewards of Teaching Young Children to Blog]- This article includes a video created by third graders on how to write comments. Excellent (and very cute)! [|week 12 Brain Pop on Blogging] - This free video clip is a great way to introduce blogging to your students.

[|week 9 Me First by Helen Lester] - This You Tube production of the reading of this funny book about a pig who always wants to be first, but learns his lesson from a wise Sand Witch is excellent. The book, //Me First//, is a good story to use with summary writing [|week 13 Integrating Math and Writing] - An excellent article with illustrations [|week 13 Meet Stuart J.Murphy]- One of the most prolific writers of math story books, Stuart J. Murphy believes children are visual learners. This 3 min. video is a great overview of his work. [|TED Talk on Bill Finger] - Bill Finger is the real creator of Batman. Bob Kane has taken all the credit. Marc Tyler Nobleman has set out to set the record straight in his book, Bill, The Boy Wonder.

Slide Presentations and other Information Pieces -Week 9-Steps in Writing Workshop including Revision -This slide show will help you plan for the Curriculum Writing Night at St. Gens. -How is a Tootsie Roll Pop like a lesson plan? - week 2 If you are looking for a good review of child development theories all in one place, check out this chapter. Easy to read and understand. - week 2 This power point is a quick review of writing a Four Part Learning Objective including audience, behavior, condition, and degree. - week 3 An interesting approach to the Six Traits of Writing. - week 8 Here's a quick review on common rules of capitalization. Week 9 Most common grammar mistakes kids make (includes the Capitalization ppt listed above. - week 2 CHC formal lesson plan format for Early Childhood -week 2 CHC Early Childhood formal lesson plan with explanation -week 2 One example of a mini-lesson format that includes most of the components of the formal lesson plan -week 6 What's better than...And they lived happily ever after? This ppt provides practice in writing Excellent Endings. -week 8 This is an excellent packet with lots of idea and games for teaching punctuation. -week 8 Here is a slide presentation that includes many pages from the book, //Punctuation Takes a Vacation//, so students can read the messages. -week 8 This a humorous approach to introducing the importance of spelling. -Here are some cheers to keep your students laughing and energized. -week 13 Use this slide show to introduce or review how to write a summary. -week 10 This slide presentation goes with the Adult Version of the Interdisciplinary Performance Test. (a humorous approach to rubrics) -week 13 This presentation highlights journal writing across the curriculum. Check out the adorable kindergarteners and see what they can do!

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