Infomational Writing - the Second Bend

One the great things about life at Chets Creek is that we take professional development very seriously.  We often provide professional development on the clock but there is a non-negotiable expectation - you are expected to be engaged and to participate.  Last week first grade met for a day of professional development while our students were treated to a special all-Resource day.  The students really look forward to their special day, and for us, it means no lesson plans for subs!

The day always starts with a demonstration lesson.  Maria Mallon hosted all 14 of us in her classroom for a Lucy-inspired (Lucy Calkins) lesson.  We are just beginning the second bend of Informational Writing.  Maria is our grade level lead so her job is to stay just a few lessons ahead of the pack so she can prepare us for what is to come.  She and Reading Coach Melanie Holtsman worked together to provide the perfect day.

The thing that always impresses me about Maria is that her classroom is just so joyful.  I can just imagine being a little first grader sitting on the floor at her feet.  I would believe every single thing she said!  She is so genuine and it just pulls you right in. I just feel good in her room. It just makes me smile.  Of course, there is also a lot of learning going on.  Her rituals and routines are such perfection that you feel like you want to rewind and figure out,  "How did she do that?"  The children transition with such ease.  On this day she transitioned with a song for fluency.  The kids went soundlessly to their seats on the floor and she started...  First she told them how incredible they were and how proud she was.  Then she launched into the gist of the lesson - which was about using all the tools in the room - the charts and rubrics and mentor texts and words around the room...  Then it was off to writing.  The children look like busy little bees.  Every single child is engaged in the process of writing and the only sounds you hear are productive conversations between partners. Maria does drive by conferences, walking around purposefully stopping to chat with a few students, asking purposeful questions and just generally supervising the flow of the workshop.  Before you know it, it's time to Close and the children quietly put all their supplies away and in a blink are back on the carpet.  When they are settled Maria reads the informational rubric and challenges the children to work toward the second grade standards.  You can see the excitement in their little bodies as they already begin to rise to the occasion.  I think I want to be a first grader again in Maria's class!

Then it's to the conference room where we debrief the lesson with Melanie, commenting on the things that we really liked in the lesson, asking Maria questions about things we still wonder about.  I think each of us questions how we  would do the same lesson and we make a mental list of things we want to try or change tomorrow.  That's what "starting with a demo" is all about.

Then it's to the work of the day.  As we wait for the Calkins Reading Units to be released this summer, we know we need to ramp up our reading instruction. Melanie digs in and begins to challenge us to push the continuum of thinking in our classrooms.  She frames the work that will be expected in second and third and fourth grade that is changing with the Common Core so that we begin to define a path from where we are to where we need to go.  Melanie doesn't give us the answers.  She doesn't spoon feed us but challenges us to think.  We don't need dummy-proof curriculums. We don't need scripted Core Curriculums but we do need teachers that think.  We need teachers who can look at the data, but so much more than that - teachers who can read the room, who KNOW their students as learners and from that wealth of information can take the standards and define the teaching that needs to be done. That's what will transforms education.

Texting in the Classroom

I have written often about how pitiful the technology resources are at my school - not that administrators don't work to stretch every single resource and get as much usage as they can.  The county simply doesn't supply the needed resources.  We're on a list somewhere to be updated at some time, but in the meantime...  So often I have a lesson planned and can't get on Youtube or the Internet is down or whatever - seems like there are always more problems than solutions.  Our Media Specialist, who works tirelessly to keep everything going and helping us find solutions, is amazing, but the resources simply aren't there.  I do have four land computers that are old, but they work as student stations and a laptop for my desk. I am thankful for those.  However, I do not have wireless, so even though I have my own ipad, I can't get wireless and I'm really not allowed to use it anyway - rules about not using your own stuff, because...  there's a long list (most of it probably justifiable). 

Anyway, we have been struggling with ways to take anecdotal notes in Writing, Reading and Math and even Behavior with two teachers and a Special Education teacher all servicing the same students.  We've used lots of systems over the years - notebook (it's too inconvenient to keep one notebook for several teachers), sticky notes (they fall off over time and they still go into one notebook so you can't see the last note that was written), individual notebooks for each student at their desks (they get so ratty by the end of the year and there's really not enough room at their tables), stickers (they aren't  big enough for everything I want to write), and on and on and on.  Nothing has really been very efficient... until...  we found an app!

Although we can't get a signal on our iphones in much of our building, we are able to get a signal in our classroom because our room is on an outside wall, so one piece of technology that I can use is my iphone (although technically, I am not suppose to use personal devices).  For two years we have been using an app called Confer (we have had some recent syncing problems, but it was flawless for the first year, and I'm sure it will be again).  It was developed by a Nationally Board Certified Teacher - imagine that?!  A teacher with a solution! This app allows each of us to take notes during the day and then to sync at the end of the day and get each other's notes.  So, if I'm working with a child tomorrow, I will know that my co-teacher worked on conventions today during a writing conference or that the ESE teacher worked through a total melt down with a child yesterday in her room so I need to reinforce a specific behavior today.  We have very little time in our packed schedule to actually talk to each other about all the little conversations we have with children or all our noticings or wondering about specific children but this is a way we can keep in touch and keep a record of the progress students are making.

I never really thought to explain to the kids what I was doing while I was taking notes, so today one of the children asked me who I texted all day on my phone!  I wonder how many adults or other teachers have wondered through my class and asked the same question?!  I quickly pulled up my notes on this particular child so he could see what I was doing, but for anyone that has peeked into the classroom and seen us "texting," we really are taking notes!

Stop by.  I'd love to share what we are doing!  LOL!

The First Bend

Today we came to the first "bend" in our narrative writing unit. We have been using the new units of Study from Teachers' College.  After a few weeks of writing small moment stories, the children used a red pen to edit one of their finished pieces. And then, like a museum, the students put out their work and invited their friends to stop by and read their completed story.

After looking at each other's work, the students compared their own baseline pieces to their finished piece and discovered that they has really grown as writers. A few years ago I would never have imagined that first graders could do this type of peer review or self-assessment but today, they did! Thank you, Lucy!

End-of-Year Portfolios

It's the time of year to finish each child's portfolio.  We have been collecting work all year so now it's a matter of choosing the pieces that each child wants to include in his final first grade portfolio to represent the year's work.  In writing we include a piece of narrative, a report and a persuasive piece.  These will go in the orange portfolio folder that is kept in the cum file.  It's interesting to look back at the kindergarten work and see how far the students have come.  Specific pieces are added at the end of each year and then at the end of fifth grade the portfolios are given back to the children.  Fifth grade teachers say that the children are fascinated with looking back at the work and often walk down Memory Lane, remembering writing some of the pieces.  Parents also seem to really appreciate the packet when it comes homes. 

Cross Genre Bulletin Board

This month's bulletin board stands on the shoulders of all the writing that the children have done in Kindergarten and First Grade. This unit encouraged children to write in the genre of their choice.  It began as part of a shared event, our Starry Starry Sleepover, which is where the background paper and title come from.  Students were encouraged to write a small moment about the actual event or that write a report on any of the solar system's planets, stars or sun that we had studies, or write a fiction story about aliens and pretend sleepovers.  One student even wrote a procedural paper on how to draw Star Wars figure!  The possibilities were endless.  When students first choose their own genre, they tend to lose some of the foundational knowledge that they have about the genre, so it was evident early on that they were going to need a rubric to help them through the process and to remind them of the standards and expectation for each genre.  Below is the narrative rubric that they used. After the initial writing, the students were free to choose any topic that they wanted.

Cross Genre – Child’s Choice

Narrative_____________________________

Name ________________

3^rd Nine Weeks, Chets Creek, 2013 

	3	2	1
Opening	Gives time, place or occasion (setting) and introduces the characters	Time, place or occasion is confusing or may be missing; may or may not introduce characters	Does not establish a context or introduce characters
Organization	Develops a story with at least two events	Story is hard to follow	Events are out of order or missing
Information and Detail	Includes details to describe incidents and people; uses dialogue	Includes some detail or may attempt to use dialogue	No detail; no dialogue
Closing	Provides a sense of closure	Closing is unclear	Does not include a closing
Illustrations	Drawings match the topic	Illustrations do not add to the story	Few illustrations are included and are not related to the story
Capitals (edited)	Uses capitals at the beginning of most sentence, uses capitals for proper nouns; capitalizes I	Capitalizes inconsistently even with editing	Capitalizes inconsistently and uses capitals in the middle of some words even with editing
Punctuation (edited)	Uses a variety of punctuations at the end of sentences	Some punctuation but some is missing	Most punctuation is missing even with editing
Spelling (edited)	Spells almost all sight words correctly using the word wall; uses rules when spelling unknown words	Spells  some sight words from the word wall correctly; writes the sounds heard in unknown words	Writing is difficult to read
Spacing	Spaces between words so that piece is easy to read	Spaces are inconsistent	Spacing is so difficult that it makes the piece difficult to read
Revisions	Uses more sophisticated revision strategies such as adding a flap/ spider legs or cutting the paper to add content in the middle of the paper	Uses a caret to add a word	Does not revise

Presented here will be two of the translated narrative pieces with the teacher commentary.

Space Hamsters

by Nicky

One time there were four hamsters.  Their names were Leo, Mark, Jack, and Snacky.  They were special hamsters.

“COOL,” said Leo.  “But what’s that?” said Mark. “That’s a warning light,” said Jack.  “I want a snack,” said Snacky.  “What’s that lever for?” said Snacky.  “Don’t touch that!” said Leo.  But he touched it…

“NO!  We’re not ready to go to Venus!!!” said Leo.  “How do we steer?” said Mark.  “I want a snack!” said Snacky.  “I think I know how to steer?” said Jack.  So he tried and he did it…

And he stepped on the gas pedal and he wasted all the gas!  They screamed, “Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!”  “I wanted a snack for this whole trip and now I’m going to die!!! So now, can I have a snack?” said Snacky. “NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!” said the others.  BOOM!!!  “AHAHAHAHA…” “Wait a minute.  I think we’re alive,” said Snacky.  Jack felt a tap, tap, tap and he screamed.  “Ah ah ah ALIEN!”  said Jack.  He jumped into Leo’s hands!  It was another space hamster!

“Oh, hi,” said Jack. “What’s up?” said Leo.  “Hay!” said Mark.  “What’s your name?” said Jack.   “Giovanni.”  “WWWWOOOWWW!! Nice name!” said Jack.  He was sarcastic.  “Where’s your space ship?” said Mark.  “Over there,” said Giovanni.  “Have any gas in it?” said Leo. “Yup!” said Giovanni.  “Yay!” everybody said.  “Let’s get on and go!” said Jack.  “Okay then, let’s go,” said Leo.  So they lifted off!

Space Hamsters

Commentary

Opening	Nicky opens his piece by establishing a context, introducing the time (one time) and the characters (hamsters named Leo, Mark, Jack, and Snacky).  He lets the reader know that these are special hamsters.  He could have helped to orient the reader further by adding the setting so that the reader knows from the beginning that the hamsters are on a space ship.  This becomes more obvious as the story develops.
Organization	Nicky develops a story line with humor (Snacky repeatedly wanting a snack). The story flows from take off to landing on Venus and then meeting an alien hamster.  He develops the problem of being out of gas and a solution of finding gas from the alien so the spaceship can lift off to continue the adventure.
Dialogue and Detail	Nicky does a nice job of moving the story along with dialogue.  All of the hamsters speak at some point to carry the story.  He correctly describes Jack as being sarcastic when he says he likes Giovanni’s name when he doesn’t like the name, which is advanced vocabulary for a first grader.  Nicky often uses onomatopoeia (BOOM!) and uses all caps to let the reader know when words are meant to be really strong and loud. Nicky uses several revision strategies including adding word(s) using carets and actually cutting his paper in half when he wants to fuse an illustration with writing other than the original instead of starting a new sheet.
Closing	The piece has a concluding sentence (So they lifted off!) that provides closure to the story.
Language Use and Conventions	Nicky usually uses basic capitalization and punctuation correctly. He uses a variety of punctuation including an ellipse to build suspense.  He uses slashes (/) instead of commas when he lists the characters’ names but this shows that he knows that it is a list of things that need punctuation.  He attempts to use the punctuation in dialogue correctly and does a nice job, as a first grader, often using the “talking marks” correctly.

Cinderella’s Sleepover

by Addison

Cinderella asked her mom if she could have a sleepover and her mom said yes.  “OK,” said Cinderella.  “Now I need a list of the princesses that are my friends.  I’ll start right now.  I’m going to invite Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Snow White, Belle, Sophie and Anastasia. Mom can we have a sleepover upstairs?” “Yes,” said mom. 

“Mom, can I buy some things for the sleepover?”  “Yes,” said Cinderella’s mom.  “I don’t know what I should buy.  Now I know,” said Cinderella.  “I’m going to buy a chocolate fountain and some Princess beds and some games like puzzles. I’ll buy some chairs so we can play Musical Chairs and I’ll buy some pillows so we can have a pillow fight. Mom, when should we go to sleep?” “I know,” said Mom.  “You should go to sleep when it is midnight.”  “Yay,” said Cinderella.  “Mom?”  “Yes Cinderella?”  “When should the sleepover begin?”  “I know when the sleepover should begin.”  “When?” said Cinderella.  “The sleepover should start right now.”  Yay,” said Cinderella.

I’m going to call my friends now.  “Ring, ring. It’s Cinderella.” “Hi,” said Ariel. “Would you like to come to my sleepover?”  “Yes,” said Ariel.  I’m going to call my other friends now.  Ring, ring, ring, ring.  “Hi,” said Snow White.  “Ring, ring. “Hi,” said Belle.  Ring, ring.  “Hi,” said Sophie.  Ring, ring. “Hi,” said Anastasia.  “Yay, I’m done calling my friends.  Now the sleepover can begin.” 

“Yay.  Friends, time to pillow fight!”  The pillow fight was awesome.

Time for musical chairs. It was very fun.  Ariel said, “I want to do it again.”  Then she started to cry because she wanted to keep on doing it but at the puzzles, she stopped, because it was so much fun.  “Now it’s time to chocolate fountain.”   “Yay,”said Ariel.  “Yay,” said Snow White.  “Yay,” said Sophie.  “Yay,” said Anastasia.  “Yay,” said Belle.  “Yay,” said Sleeping Beauty.

The puzzles were awesome and we got them all right, and now it’s time for chocolate fountain.  The chocolate fountain was yummy.  Actually it was awesome.  Now it’s time to sleep.  They all snuggled in their beds and in the morning they all left.  It was awesome.

Cinderella’s Sleepover

Commentary

Opening	Addison opens her piece by establishing a context.  She introduces the main characters, Cinderella and her mom, and lets the reader know that Cinderella is asking her mom if she can have a sleepover.
Organization	She develops her sleepover story by going through a series of events including who Cinderella is going to invite, buying supplies, calling the Princesses on the telephone, enjoying sleepover fun and then going to sleep
Dialogue and Detail	Addison fills her story with dialogue, especially questions and answers, and lets the talk carry some of the story.  Drawings illustrate and expand the text.   Onomatopoeia is added when Addison uses ring, ring for the telephone.
Closing	Closure is in the sleepover coming to an end as the Princesses snuggled in their beds and then leave in the morning.  Addison also includes a reflective statement, It was awesome.
Language Use and Conventions	Addison has good control of capitals and punctuation.  She uses a variety of punctuation, including trying to punctuate dialogue.  She understands that the “talking marks” are put around the words that the character actually says and she actually tries to figure out where commas and question marks in the middle of the sentence go.  Her piece is easy to read because she spells most sight words correctly and approximates more complex spellings.

My Life as a Writer

I guess I've always been a writer, but as a young student I don't ever remember being taught to write or any teacher ever encouraging me to write. I do remember being in middle school and the teacher assigning a creative writing assignment. We had to write about "Red." I don't really remember what I wrote but I do remember the pieces that the teacher read out loud and I remember being blown away because they were so-o-o- good. None of the stuff that they wrote ever popped into MY head! I remember thinking that I could NEVER write like that!

Even as a young child, however, I liked to write. I had a diary. I remember writing long journal entries about everything in my life. I also remember destroying a couple of the diaries because I was afraid my mother would find them! As a young wife I wrote furiously in a journal trying to figure out how to learn to live with another person. I really didn't have a good role model for being a good wife so none of it came naturally for me. My husband used to call it my "hate" journal because I was more likely to be writing when things weren't going well or I was really upset! I still think I do my best writing when I'm fired up about something. It's easy to write with voice - with passion and emotion when I care deeply about an issue.

While I was home on my second maternity leave, my writing took a dramatic turn. I had been leading a mixed group of teachers who had been meeting together once a week for a couple of years to share teaching ideas - I guess I understood collegiality way before it was the newest buzz word - and while I was out with my second baby I decided to finish the document that we had been working on for those two years. It was ideas around teaching a letter of the week to beginning readers. I had been keeping notes on all of our ideas so I decided to complete the research that we never seemed to have time to finish as a gift to the teachers when I returned. It was their idea that I try to have it published after they realized how much additional work I had put into our original ideas. I thought it was lark but decided to send the manuscript off to six publishers. I knew so little about publishing but within two weeks I had a contract for my first book. However, there were many delays and it was not published until five years later in 1991, A is Amazing. I just happened to submit a manuscript that a particular publisher was looking for at that particular time so the contract was immediate, but the publisher was going through some editorial changes that caused many delays and frustrations. Now, of course, the idea of "letter of the week" has fallen out of favor and of course, the book is out of print, but at the time it became a best seller for the company and within 6 months I had a contract for another book and so it went. I published 10 books with that company over the next few years.

In the meantime I had been publishing ideas in The Mailbox and they invited me to a Summer Writing Institute where I joined eight other authors from across the country that were all doing freelance work for the The Education Center which publishes The Mailbox Magazines. I went to Greensboro, NC for two summers to learn to write the "Mailbox" way and it was both intimidating and awesome. At the summer retreat I met three other teacher-writer-moms who lived in different parts of the country. We decided to propose a series of books to The Education Center while we were there and to our surprise, they accepted our proposal. It was a first for them to have collaborators outside their direct organization make a proposal.  For the next four years the four of us wrote books using e-mail. It was before Google Docs or any of the on-line pieces that make cooperative writing so much easier. It was cumbersome but it was the first time The Education Center had a completed manuscript that was done outside of their offices that didn't require major revision. Those three women were funny, creative, and wonderful co-writers and I am richer for having known and worked with each one of them. Just remembering that time in my life puts a smile on my face!

During those ten years I wrote or co-authored 19 books for teachers. When I think about it now, I am awed by how prolific I was and I am proud of that accomplishment. I could not have done it if my husband had not been so willing to take up the slack. He learned to wash clothes and dishes during those years as I often wrote through the night to meet a deadline while I taught full time. I tried for my writing not to take time away from my children and so I wrote late at night, very early in the mornings, and while they were away with friends. I loved it, but there came a time when I felt it was taking too much of my time... so before my daughter left home, I decided to put down the pen and spend time with her. It was a good decision.

In the meantime, I joined a new faculty and began a steep learning curve into a new chapter in my life. I haven't really been moved to take on a book project or at least, when I thought maybe I wanted to, things just didn't seem to piece together easily so that I really felt it was what I was suppose to do. I usually get very clear messages about what I am suppose to be doing - nothing like the burning bush, of course, but still pretty clear! Today I write on a more immediate level. I have written about the work I'm doing now in magazines and for some on-line publications, when asked, and I love blogging about my work. I work with incredible teachers. I've written some units for and with the teachers I work with now and then have sent them out to anyone that wanted them. That actually has been very gratifying.

While I have written on topics that I was asked to write on, that kind of writing is like writing to a prompt. My best writing comes when I just have something noddling around in my head and I just can't seem to get rid of it unless I write about it. Some of that writing is so emotional that it will never see the light of day and some of it is just my ramblings about things in my personal life but some of it has a purpose and involves things I want to share about the work that I am lucky enough to do now.

I am not, nor will I ever be, the world's greatest writer. I don't write deep pieces with great thoughts that will change the world. I don't write "funny," because actually I'm not really a very funny person. I just write about the world as I see it and hope that something I say might resonate and make a difference...

I do believe that the varied experiences that I have had have made me a better writing teacher. I think I understand many of the reasons that people write and I realize that children need to learn to write for many different reasons. It is my job to release the inner writer's voice that is in each of my children so that whatever it is that they will need to do, they will be equipped to do it - whether it's texting or therapy or writing the next great novel. Here's to that writer in each of us!

Work Over Time, 2010

This is the time of year that Kindergarten teachers post work that shows individual students work over the year. Kailey's work below is typical of what we expect in kindergarten. Children begin the year with simple pictures to illustrate their stories and can often write their name and copy a date. By the mid-term they are beginning to sound out words and to use the few sight words that they know with their more detailed pictures. They often start a new page of work each day but by the end of the year their fluency has exploded and they are working on the same piece for several days. Pieces are anywhere from a few pages to many pages and often include detailed pictures. Words are sounded out and many sight words and vocabulary words are used. It's an amazing process to watch unfold!


At the beginning of the kindergarten year, Kailey wrote the piece above. It's the story of a birthday party. While she drew a simple picture and had no letters except her name, she could orally tell the story.

By January Kailey was blooming as a writer. She was drawing more detailed pictures that foreshadowed the writing ahead. In the piece above she wrote a personal narrative in her one page about seeing a classmate at the water park, and how they played on the slide. Kailey showed control over the sight words to, we, play at, the. She also used appropriate spacing between her words making the work readable.

Her final piece in March shows Kailey's understanding of the writing process. In this response to literature that she completed during our author study of Eric Carle, Kailey retells the story The Grouchy Ladybug. This is the first page of a six page retelling that includes a one page chart of the animals and the times they each spoke with the ladybug. Her writing fluency is remarkable at this time of year. Kailey sounded out each word and gave a detailed account of the animals as they were visited by the ladybug. Kailey's work is typical standard work at the end of the kindergarten year.

Kailey, we can't wait to see what next year holds!

Earth Day!

Not all teachers celebrate Earth Day which really is a shame. After spending Earth Day with Haley Alvarado's kindergarten and watching how excited the children were, I was asking why we couldn't incorporate Earth Day into our curriculum every year, so that every child had an opportunity to learn how to protect our Earth!

Haley's kiddos came dressed in recyclable materials. They were so excited to show off their designs! Their creativity was staggering! From recycling fairies to superheroes, the children certainly got the message. They started the morning with a book about recycling that would be just part of a larger collection of books on the topic that would be read during the day. Then it was outside for a
recycling relay. Haley dumped a large pile of "clean" trash (is there any such thing?) and the children formed two teams. The first person in each line found something in the pile that was recyclable, ran to put it in the recycling bin after explaining to an adult what it was made of and then back to the next person in line. The kids learned so much including looking for the recycling sign!

Back inside, the children wrote letters to Mother Earth. There assignment was to let Mother Earth know what they were going to do to make a difference. Some of the children took this very seriously and came in this morning telling us what they were going to be doing at home to help the Earth... and isn't that what this is all about? Jack's letter is a great example of what the children wrote.

April 22, 2010

Dear Earth,

I am going to be a

planet protector. I will

recycle and reuse things

and stop cutting trees.

I will plant more trees

and flowers and won't

throw stuff away

when it will be in

there for 800 years.

From,

Jack

In the afternoon the children painted their balloon-shaped Earths as they chatted about all the ways they were going to protect their precious Earth. Their conversation was amazing. They were even mad that other people who didn'tunderstand and weren't doing more. They pledged to become planet protectors. It was obvious that they understood what the day was all about and what their teacher was so passionately trying to teach them! A seed was planted today. May it be watered and fertilized for many years to come.

The results!

The goal of any Author Study is to teach student to discuss and respond across an author's books. This is an example of the type of responses that our children are writing in kindergarten. I think it's pretty impressive!

In the story The

Very Lonely Firefly

by Eric Carle

one night a

firefly went out

to find some fireflies.

It saw lights but

none were a firefly

and finally

it found some fireflies.

The very lonely firefly

reminded me of when

I was outside

all by myself. I felt

lonely too. This book

also reminded me of
Do You Want to

Be my Friend?

by Eric Carle

because they both

went looking

for a friend and found

friends. I like

this book because

I can write a response

to literature.

You should

read it because it lights

up at the end of it.

Eric Carle writes

books that I love

so much.

He writes my favorite

books!