How to eat a candy cane

As we return from the Thanksgiving break, it is time to turn our thoughts toward the winter holidays.  The children had a treat this morning as we started writing a new "how to" piece.  We brought out Jelly Belly-flavored candy canes and talked about the different ways that we get the shrink-wrapped paper off the candy cane - Do you tear or cut? Do you take all the paper off at one time or do you unwrap a little at a time so your hands don't get sticky?  Then we talked about the different ways that people eat a candy candy - Do you lick or bite?  Do you start with the stick or the curve?  Do you lick it to a point?  After talking about it, we decided to eat a candy cane and then write about the best way to eat a candy cane.  Below is just one example of a child's procedural writing.

First you go get a candy cane.  Then you take the paper off.  Then you lick it.

Second you keep licking it until it is all gone. Yummy!

Down 'n' Dirty

New bulletin boards went up today.  We decided to display our combination of Science and Writing.  In Science we have been doing a unit on "What Plants Need to Survive."  As part of our on-going gardening project we are planting potatoes.  I posted earlier about how we planted the potato eyes and then came in and wrote instructions for other classes. 

For our bulletin board border we had our children first draw themselves planting the potatoes on an index card and then had them draw what they thought the potatoes would look like when they were ready to harvest.  The picture to the left is one of my favorites!  I guess we forgot to discuss that the potatoes actually grow as part of the roots under the ground!  The children are going to be quite surprised that they don't see the potatoes growing as leaves and flowers!  Can't wait til harvest time!

We decided to use our potato planting papers for our bulletin board.  It was especially difficult to choose just four pieces of work, because there were so many that we really adored.  Below is Hailey's instructions with her thoughtful and heartfelt opening and closing!  Following that is the teacher commentary.

Hailey’s Commentary

Opening	You have to adore Hailey’s introduction - an original.
Steps	She has several steps in her process and uses the transition words first, next and finally.
Closing	Hailey ties her closing into her introduction by suggesting that some of the potatoes might go to Second Harvest.  She goes on to explain that Second Harvest is a truck that brings food to people who are hungry.  Love how she’s thinking!
Drawings	Hailey’s pictures reinforce each step of her procedure .
Capitals	After an editing conference, Hailey added capitals at the beginning of each sentence.
Punctuation	She also added some of the missing punctuation.
Sight words	Hailey spells most sight words correctly without consulting her word wall.

Potato Planting

Thanks to a wonderful volunteer, Dr. Brenda Zenk, our school garden was prepared for potato planting.  We went to the garden today and gave each pair of children a potato prepared for planting (you can see an example on the left).  Potatoes had been cut to have 2-3 eyes in each piece.  Trenches were dug about twelve inches deep with our class name attached to the row.  In pairs, the children dug a hole with a trowel approximately 8 inches deep and dropped their potato "seed."  The potatoes were planted about 12 inches apart. Then each pair covered the potato piece with about 2 inches of soil and 2 inches of leaves.  The leaves provide nutrients and, like mulch, keep the potatoes from freezing.  It will take about three months for the potatoes to mature so we should be harvesting in April.  Mashed potatoes? Potato chips? French fires?  Can't wait!

When we returned to the room, we reviewed the steps to planting and talked about writing the instructions for other classes that might enjoy planting their own potatoes.  Below is Avery's example of the instructions:

 

Hmmmm... Maybe this is our next bulletin board!

Ants on a Log

Since our theme this year is "Recipe for Success,"  it seemed the perfect time to think about using recipes to introduce procedural writing.  Several years ago, we read Tony Stead's Is That A Fact? and decided to incorporate one of his suggested units for teaching "how to" or procedural writing.  We used cooking projects and then writing about the experience  to teach children to identify ingredients and then the step-by-step procedure for writing a recipe.  That was such a fun unit.  After that year, we continued to do a few cooking projects each year but relied more on Lucy Calkins' Units of Study and folded procedural writing into non-fiction report writing.  We began with having students write a "how to" about something they knew how to do well, such as Karate or making a paper airplane or jumping rope.  Then we moved to including a "how to"  in an "All About" report such as including a "how to hit a ball" in a report "All About Baseball."

This year, however, with our cooking theme, we decided to add that cooking element once again in a more frequent way.  We'll still do our more traditional "how to" unit interwoven in our larger non-fiction writing, but by "cooking" every other Wednesday we'll have a bank of cooking experiences and recipes as the foundation for those beginning "how tos" when we begin our large unit of non-fiction writing in January.

Our first cooking experience was "First Grade Trail Mix."  Today it was "Ants on a Log."  The projects are simple for these first recipes as you can see in the writing below.  We are expecting our students to be able to give the recipe a title, list the ingredients, give the few simple steps and write an opinion to close.  We provide paper specific to this kind of writing.  As the year progresses, the recipes will become a little more complex and the writing will include more detail and description.  But, for today, we enjoyed our healthy snack and our writing lesson!

Translation:

Ants on a Log

Ingredients:

peanut butter

celery

raisins

First you get the celery.  Then you put the peanut butter on the celery.

Next you put raisin on your celery.

Then you eat it.  It was yummy.  I will eat it again.





"How to" Writing

Two kindergarten standard-based bulletin boards feature our writing work this month. "How to" writing is also referred to as procedural writing or part of our non-fiction writing.  One of the kinder classes chose to use class experience with making fun foods as the basis for their writing.  They fixed a food with the class step-by-step and then had the children write about the common experience, using the step-by-step recipe approach.  Mrs. Mallon and Mrs. Dillard's kindergarten class wrote about making popcorn, chocolate pudding, chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate drizzled pretzels.  Each piece of student work is accompanied by the teachers' commentary.

How to make chocolate pudding

1.First you read the directions.

2.  Then you put the jello in the bowl.

3.Next you put 3 cups of milk.

4.  Finally you wait for 5 minutes.

How to make chocolate drizzled pretzels

1.  First you put the chocolate in the microwave.

2. Next you get the chocolate out of the microwave.

3.  Then you put the chocolate on the pretzels.

4. Finally you put the M&M on the pretzel.

How to make chocolate covered strawberries

1.  First you read the directions.

2.  Then you get chocolate chips.

3.  And pour them in a glass bowl and put them in the microwave

and every 30 seconds to count.

4. And get your strawberries and put the chocolate on.

Eat and enjoy.

How to make popcorn

1.First you turn on the popcorn maker.

2.Next you put two teaspoons of oil.  Then you put the kernels in.

3.Finally you wait for it until it pops.

Now doesn't that sound like a yummy unit!

"How to" Be SNEAKY

I have had children write about lots of different topics during procedural writing over the years, but "being sneaky" is a first! The assignment started with children writing a list of at least three things that they thought they were good at and could teach others. Joe (not his real name) listed three things that he thought he did especially well and decided to write about being sneaky. When the teacher tried to discourage him, he said, "but I'm really good at being sneaky!" So she let him go and noticed that he was engaged for the entire Writers' Workshop! Enjoy!
How to Be Sneaky 12-8-10

First I check to see if my Daddy is sleeping. If he is sleeping I go out of my bedroom. I find my DSI. I quickly turn my DSI on. Then I play. If my Dad wakes up, I shut my DSI off. I go to my bedroom. I wait for my Dad to go to sleep.

 

Check out these other first grade "how to" papers.

Procedural Writing

This week begins our work in procedural writing, writing about "how to" do something. On Monday Tracy had the children write directions for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. On Tuesday, I read some of the papers as Tracy followed the directions - EXACTLY!
The kids protested loudly, but they had to admit that she was doing exactly what the papers said. When she started spreading the peanut butter and jelly on the bread without taking it out of the wrapper, they really had a fit, but she made her point about how the lack of details can make a big difference. After the demonstration she asked the students to write directions for making peanut butter and jelly again with the details. What a difference!

Student Work in Procedural Writing 2009

Four times a year, each grade level comes together around a set of student work to develop a parent friendly example of what work should look like this time of year. In this case, each first grade teacher brings a piece of procedural writing to the table. They have just completed a unit on procedural writing, so each first grader has completed at least one piece of standard work for his end-of-year portfolio. The idea is not to bring the best piece or the worst piece, but a piece that the teacher feels meets the standard and is typical of the pieces being written in her classroom. Each teacher presents her piece and explains to the group why she feels the piece meets standard. Next the teachers decide as a group on the one piece that best meets the standard and represents the work they expect to see this time of year. In this case, first grade teachers selected John's work, How to Ride a Bike.

As a group the teachers write the commentary. In this case, first grade teacher Haley Alvarado acted as the facilitator for the group while Debbie Harbour acted as the scribe. The teachers created the Standard Snapshot below.

Standard Snapshots were developed to help parents understand what standard work looks like and to help them discern how their own child is doing in Writing. Parents will receive a copy of the Standard Snapshot above showing them what standard work for procedural writing looks like this time of year in first grade. Attached to the standard work is a piece of their own child's procedural writing. The parent can then compare how their own child is doing compared to a standard piece. Since very little writing actually goes home for the parents to see during the year (all student work is kept in a folder in the classroom), this gives the parent a view (or a "snapshot") into what is going on in the classroom. On Friday Standard Snapshots will go home for each grade in the school. This work also helps us benchmark our own work over time. As we review the Standard Snapshots over the years, we can actually see the progress in our own teaching and expectations!

"How to" Prepare for the Holidays!

Couldn't help but feature this "how to" piece from the Mall-ards. It's a perfect example of how teachers have tied the traditions of the holidays to the Writers' Workshop. The Mall-ards made these wonderful multi-stepped cinnamon-smelling ornaments as holiday presents for their families. After the children made the ornaments they wrote the directions. Notice how this young writer used the nonfiction conventions of labeling and captions from the previous unit on writing reports!

Standard Snapshot - Kinder, 2007

Standard Snapshots began as a way to help communicate with and educate parents. Four times a year, each grade level sends home an example of a standard piece of student work with commentary about the task the students were asked to do and why the piece meets the standard. The grade level standard piece goes home with a piece of each student's work attached. So... a parent receives a standard piece with an explanation of why it is a standard piece and also a comparative piece of their own child's work addressing the same task and standard.

In Kindergarten we sent home our first standard piece of writing this week.  It is up to the parent to compare their child's work to the standard piece.

When we began sending home Standard Snapshots eight years ago, we showcased our BEST work, but we soon realized that when parents compared our BEST work with their child's work, it was hard for them to figure out what was "standard." Now we select a single piece together as a grade level and look for work that is really representative of the standard at this time of year. This gives parents a good benchmark to compare their own child's work.

As time has gone on, we have also realized that these "Snapshots" also archive our work over the years. It has really become our school's work-over-time!

"How to" Bulletin Boards

Kindergarten is deeply involved in their Pow Wow celebration but that does not mean that academics have suffered. The classes are also learning about non-fiction text features such as the Table of Contents, a Glossary, bolded text, and learning from captions with the illustrations as they read about Native Americans. They are writing procedural pieces that tell the reader 'how to" do something. The work that is being done in the classroom was evident as bulletin boards went up this week. The Hopi tribe in Julia Lewis' class worked on how to make kachina dolls which is native to their southwestern Hopi tribe. After making the dolls, the students then wrote instructions so that you can make one too! To the right you can see one example which features a picture of the young author with her kachina doll. The directions are written on special "how to" paper that includes four squares down the left side for illustrations with lines beside each square for the writing. At the bottom Julia has written her commentary on how the student has met the kindergarten standard for procedural writing.


In Debbie Harbor's class her Nez Perce natives made medicine bags. After they finished making their bags, they also wrote about the procedures, step-by-step so that you too can make one. Debbie displays four pieces of student work on her standard-based bulletin board but the photograph on the left represents one child's craft, the same procedural paper as seen above for the student to draw and then write about making the project, and Debbie's commentary. Each of the four pieces on her bulletin board include her commentary of how each student met the standards for this genre of writing.


These boards are excellent examples of how student can be deeply involved in content while at the same time they are deeply involved in reading and writing. Pow Wow here we come!

Service to Others...

Kindergarten teachers this year wanted to do something to teach their youngsters about more than academics. They realize that our children are being raised in a time surrounded by it’s “all about me.” Haley Alvarado made the first suggestions about using the platform we have as teachers to show our children that relationships, that caring, that thinking about other people is one of the great lessons in life. Even though Haley was the first to bring it up, the kindergarten teachers were instantly of one mind in their desire to make her vision a reality.

The first of these “projects” is “Alex’s Lemonade Stand.” Each teacher will invite her class to host a Lemonade Stand during one of our parent events during the course of the year. The Timmonte Team was the first to host at our Annual Parent Night. The Mackarado Team hosted at our annual Pow Wow Make 'n' Take and had over a hundred people come through for a cup of lemonade! Alex was a 4-year-old child stricken with cancer who hosted her own Lemonade Stand in her parents' front yard to raise money for research before she succumbed to the disease. All year our kindergartners will be raising money for childhood cancer research as they sell their lemonade.

The Timmontes used their lessons at the Lemonade Stand for this month’s bulletin board. To reinforce non-fiction writing they read to the children Alex’s story on the Internet so they would understand the purpose behind what they were doing. In their unit of non-fiction writing, the children wrote about “How to Make Lemonade” as they learned in preparation for the night event. Others who participated in the selling wrote about “How to Sell Lemonade.” The class even integrated math as they kept tally marks to make sure that they knew how many cups were sold. All this learning for such an authentic event! Does it get any more real than this?