Miss Nelson is Missing!

Mrs. Ruark and Mrs. Timmons have done an outstanding job with this month's kindergarten bulletin board.  They used the book Miss Nelson is Missing to introduce this narrative unit.  The story is about a teacher who decides to teach her disruptive children a lesson by pretending that she is a mean substitute named, Mrs. Viola Swamp.  She comes dressed as the mean sub and gives the children work until they are thrilled to see their real teacher again.  After reading and discussing the book, the teachers invited the children to use the characters in the book and write their own story.  They encouraged the children to write their fictional narrative using themselves and real people that they know mixed in with the fictional characters.  This bulletin board shows three different levels of kindergarten writing. 

The teachers began by having the children help them write an alternate story.  They discussed variations and decided as a class how the story would go. Then they modeled each step over several days.  That story is shown on top of the bulletin board.

The first piece of student writing was done in a guided writing group with the teacher and a small group of students.  The teacher and student went page by page, first talking about what the group thought should go on each page and then each student writing his own sentence.  The teacher supported each child by helping him stretch words so he could write his own individual thoughts.  This group had difficulty veering away from the original story and basically did a retelling of the original story.

The Kids Are Crazy

by Mikaela

There is paper on the floor.  There was a knock at the door. It was Viola Swamp. 

She said, “Do your homework!”  They did their work.  The kids did not like Viola Swamp.  She gave lots of homework.  Mrs. Nelson came back.  The kids were happy.

Each child did a picture of Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp which the teachers used as a border on the board.

The second student piece on the board, which was done independently, is a short story using the writer's teachers along with Mrs.Viola Swamp as the main characters. The teacher supported the student by having her first envision what she wanted to write on each page and then rehearsing it orally.  As the student told the teacher what she wanted to write, the teacher drew a line for each word to help the student remember the sequence.

by Jaylene

             Paper all around.
            The children are being bad.                  
            The children made a mess in the classroom.
             They are coloring on the carpet.  Miss Viola Swamp came in the door.
             There will be homework today.  When school is over we see Mrs. Timmons
              and Mrs. Ruark at the beach.  Mrs. Raurk and Mrs. Timmons are back!

The final piece of student work is amazing.  The fluency of the piece for such a young writer is striking and shows natural talent beyond that taught in the classroom.  This kindergartner is able to write the story totally independently and to control for much of the spelling. She wrote a delightful, imaginative story over a series of days.

by Morgan

Crayons are all over the place.  The bookshelf is tipped over and all of the kids clips are on red!  Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Ruark decide that something must be done.  The very next day Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Ruark were missing and the children said, “All right now, let’s really act up!”  They started to throw all the clips in the trashcan.  They started to color all over the white board and the worst thing that you could ever imagine, they were flipping the tables over and they made a piñata.  Then they hung it up somewhere in the classroom.  Then they turned off all of the lights in the classroom.  Then they found a bat in the classroom.  Then they swung the bat to see if they could make the piñata break and they also had a blindfold.  Then one of the boys in the classroom (his name was Ryan) swung the bat and he broke it.  Then lots and lots and lots of candy came out of it.  Then all of the children gobbled the sweets up and they said that it was so so yummy.  Then all of a sudden Miss Viola Swamp ran in the classroom door and screamed, “Stop playing around.  I have lots of homework for you today!”  and the children started to listen to Miss Viola Swamp.  After that Miss Viola Swamp started treating the children sweeter.  Then Miss Viola Swamp read them a story.  It was called Miss Nelson is Missing.  Finally Miss Viola Swamp left, but the children were not very excited because they wanted her to stay, but the children also missed Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Ruark.  Finally Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Ruark CAME BACK!  And the children did a silent celebration.

Each piece of work on the board includes a chart that shows a teaching rubric and then discusses the child's work as compared to the standards.  Morgan's commentary is included below.

Elements

Orientation and Context ·         Demonstrates an emerging grasp of context	Morgan brings the reader into the narrative and engages by opening with a description of what is going on in the classroom.  From that initial grounding she begins to describe events.
Plot Development and Organization ·         Creates a “story” or recount made up of several incidents or actions, some of which may be loosely linked ·        Controls for chronological order	Morgan’s story is an interesting sequence of events including the teachers leaving, several incidences involving the children’s misadventures and Miss Swamp entering the picture.  Then she includes several more events with Miss Swamp before she closes.  The story has a natural, easy sequence that is in chronological order.
Closure ·         Provides a sense of closure	After establishing the problem in her story  (the children misbehaving while the teachers are missing), Morgan brings the teachers back as her closing.  She even adds, “And they did a silent celebration.”
Strategies
Details ·         Uses detail to describe incidents and people	Morgan’s uses details throughout her story.  She begins with details describing the opening scene, “Crayons are all over the place.  The bookshelf is tipped over and all of the kids’ clips are on red!”
Dialogue ·         May attempt dialogue	Morgan uses dialogue naturally when she says, “…and the children said, ‘All right now, let’s really act up!’” and also when she wrote “Miss Viola Swamp ran in the classroom door and screamed, ‘Stop playing around.  I have lots of homework for you today!’”
Other ·         May use simple transition words ·         May use drawings to expand or illustrate the text	The transition word then pops up often in Morgan’s writing.  She also uses after that and finally.  She does not depend on her drawings for meaning as she spends all of her time in the Writers' Workshop on her writing.  Morgan also uses capitals to provide emphasis when she writes CAME BACK, a fairly sophisticated strategy for a kindergartner!

Rubric with Response to Literature

As we begin to complete our written responses to Kevin Henkes' books to go in our portfolios around our Kevin Henkes Author Study, the children are given a rubric to help them decide when "good is good enough." We want them to be able to look at their own work and then look at the expectations for a response and begin to work on the revision process by themselves and during conferences with the teacher. We also want them to begin to internalize some of the editing techniques that we have taught. Revising and editing are not always easy for a first grader! Above is our Response Rubric and below Dazha's response to Kevin Henkes' Wemberly Worried with revision and editing comments in red. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

Have you ever been worried a lot? If you have, you will know how Wemberly Worried was feeling when she was worried.

This first page and the last page were actually added after the retelling was complete. As Dazha went back and compared her work to the rubric, she realized that she had not included an opening to hook her reader, a connection (which was optional) and a closing, so she added them as the last pieces of her response.In the beginning Wemberly Worried was worried about everything. She was unique because she worried a lot. She worried about big things, little things, and things in between. Wemberly worried in the morning. She worried at night. And she worried throughout the day. And she worried about her doll Petal.

The second sheet is actually the back of the first sheet which shows that Dazha used a technique for inserting information of putting a star on the front page where the insertion is to take place and then writing the information on the back of the page. In this case, Dasha wanted to get extra credit for using one of the vocabulary words, "unique," that we had been studying as part of this Kevin Henkes Author Study, so she added it during the revision process!In the middle she went to school and was worried but she made a friend that had a stuffed animal just like her. They played with each other.At the end Mrs. Peachum said, "Come back tomorrow!" Then Wemberly said, "Don't worry. I'll come back tomorrow." And when she got home Wemberly, her mom and dad danced around in a circle.

Remember when I told you that have you ever been worried a lot? Well I have. When my mom goes in the car washer I get scared, but things come our okay. If you have things that you were worried about they will come out okay.

When Dazha came to this writing conference she wanted to close her response with a connection which she had written, "When my mom..." but when she reread her closing she decided that she wanted it to connect back to the beginning so she added the first sentence on this page and then used the insertion editing mark to add in the middle of the last sentence.

Dazha has learned so much during this unit. She began with the retelling (which was easy for her) of a beginning with the characters, setting and problem and then moved to the middle with its events and then finally the ending which solves the problem. Then she used her rubric to identify the missing parts of her response and added an engaging beginning and a closing to wrap up the piece. She also showed that she had learned some techniques for inserting information by using a star and writing information to be added on the back of the paper and also by using the insertion editing mark to add right above the writing. She even thought about adding a connection which was optional and a vocabulary word for extra credit! Look out Dazha - I might be standing in line one day getting your autograph after you publish your first book!

Oral Retellings

Before a child can write "just like Kevin Henkes" in  Writers' Workshop, he has to be able to orally retell a story. He must be able to hold an entire story in his head before we can ever expect him to transfer the craft that he hears into his own writing.  Retelling also deepens comprehension.  It helps students understand beginning, middle and end and to sequence the events of the story.

To practice retelling we spend a week on orally retelling  Kevin Henkes' stories. On the first day we show the children a written retelling of Owen with a beginning, a middle with three events, and an ending. Then the students cut out puppets of the main characters of Owen that we put on Popsicle sticks and we encourage the students to retell the story to a partner. We, of course, model how we would retell the story before the students try it on their own. After they have practiced, we have several students come to the front and use their puppets to retell the story. The children then take the puppets home so they can continue to practice the retellings with their family.

We do virtually the same thing on the next day with the story Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. We first show the children a written retelling with a beginning, a middle that includes three events, and an ending. Then we give the children five pictures from the story that represent each of the five parts, one picture for each part. We begin by modeling our own retelling of the story with a partner. I tell a part of the story and then my co-teacher tells a part and then I tell a part... until all five parts have been told. Then the students practice with a partner. Finally we bring a partner pair to the front to "fishbowl" retelling the story for the class. Once again, the students take their pictures home and are encouraged to retell the story to their family.

And still another day we pass out a piece of construction paper to each student. Each table (groups of 5-6) decides on one of Kevin Henkes' books and chooses one of the five parts to illustrate and then to retell. After the children at the table have illustrated their part of the story, they hold up their picture and in order, retell their part of the story.

All of this oral work provides the background for understanding story elements. Until a child can retell a story orally by holding the entire story in his head, he is not able to summarize and it is summary that we will finally reach as we end this unit. The ability to summarize leads to synthesis and it is the synthesis across an author's entire body of work that will be the goal for our most advanced students. Stay tuned to watch the children's growth across this unit...

Retelling Mem

!As we have been studying Mem Fox' books in our class, the children have begun to practice writing retellings of the books. After watching the teacher model a retelling of Koala Lou, the children then divided into partners and chose a different Mem Fox book to retell. They divided their papers into three section and referred to the attributes chart to make sure they had the details correct. They discussed what they should put into each section and how they should say it and then one of the partners began writing. Before you know it, they had an entire retelling!

The Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle and Josey!

The point of studying all of the works of a single author is to teach our children, even our youngest children, how to discuss an author's books. We want them to understand that you can usually predict what an author's book will be about- the style of the book, the illustrations (if the author is also the artist), the story line, information about the characters and setting, and many other things when you have read some of the author's book. Understanding some of the books helps you understand new books by the same author. Before they can talk - and write - across an author's books, however, our children have to be able to retell a single book. Below is a wonderful example of a child's retelling of a single Eric Carle book.

She begins with a lead that includes the name of the book and the author on her cover page. Then she starts with an engaging beginning - One night Eric Carle made a book called The Lonely Firefly. As she retells the book, she includes lots of details in her writing and in her illustrations. She even uses some of the story language directly from the book. She closes with her adorable opinion - I hope you like fireflies now. I do. Good by. This is an outstanding example of a kindergartner's ability to retell a story that she has heard read aloud in the classroom and probably can read herself!

The Very
Lonely Firefly
by Eric Carle
and Josey

One night Eric
Carle made a

book called

The Lonely Firely.

It starts like
this - One day a firefly was born.

So he went

looking for

fireflies so he

saw a light.

He flew to it. It

was a light ball.

Then he saw

another light.

He flew to it

but it was a

candle.

So he flew off.

Then he saw a

light. It was a

flashlight.

Then it saw
another light. It

was a lantern.

Then another -

they reflected

from eyes

like a dog,

like a cat

reflects from eyes,

like an owl

reflects from

eyes.

Then the family
rode and they

found a beautiful

thing and the

firefly did too

and it was

beautiful too.

I hope you like
fireflies now. I do.
Good-by.

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!

The Grouchy Ladybug

We have continued our Author Study of Eric Carle by working through retellings of many of his books. Before a child can write a retelling, he has to be able to orally retell the story! Characters, setting, sequence, repetition all become important. Today Mrs. Alvarado's class retold Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug through pictures as their mini-lesson for Readers' Workshop. They loved their parts!

During the independent work period of Readers' Workshop each child was given an Eric Carle book to retell. Some of the children can actually read most of the words by this time of year but others just enjoy looking at the pictures as they orally retell the story. At the Closing of Readers' Workshop several children were invited to read parts of their book under the document camera and the teacher commented on children that were using a pointing finger or how a child figured out a word by looking at the picture or any of the other strategies that the children have been learning.

As the children transition into Writers' Workshop the same story is reinforced once again. The children fill in a planning sheet of the animals for each time frame and then write the name of the animal below the picture. They will use this planning sheet tomorrow as they begin to write the full retelling of the story to help them remember the sequence and characters in the story.

I really love this author study in kindergarten this time of year. The children love the animals and the art work and Eric Carle's simple repetitive story lines. Every day I go into my classroom with a skip in my step, excited for what the day will bring. It's the perfect antidote to high stakes testing!!

Lilly's Standard-based Bulletin Board

The TDRs put up a standard-based bulletin board this week featuring retellings of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes. It is a culmination of a first grade unit with a goal of discussing and responding across books by a single author.

Each of the retellings begin with an engaging lead, include a retelling with the beginning, middle and end and conclude with a closing. Some of the retellings also include a connection in the opening or the closing. Below is an example of one of the retellings that is posted with the transcription following each page.

Have you ever got in trouble with your teacher? Well if you have you should read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes.

Lilly loved school but she especially (loved) her new teacher, Mr. Slinger. One day her grandmother bought a new purse that plays music and (had) three quarters and movie star glasses. Isn't that fun?! When Lilly got to school she wanted to share, but her teacher Mr. Slinger told Lilly, "No!" But she kept showing her friends. Mr. Slinger took away Lilly's stuff!! She was sad. She thought. Then she got very mad. She made a mean note to Mr. Slinger that said, "Big fat mean Mr. Slinger." P.S. - When it was the end of the day Mr. Slinger gave back her stuff.

She said, "I don't want to be a teacher when I grow up" and her teacher said, "I like you." On the way home she found a nice note in her purse from Mr. Slinger. She was sad. Lilly felt she was going to cry. She ran home. She didn't watch her favorite movie. She put herself in time out for 1000 years. She counted a long time. After that Lilly felt better. She wrote a story about Mr. Slinger and her Mom made snacks for Mr. Slinger. When she got to school she said, "I am

really, really, really, really sorry." She gave Mr. Slinger the snacks. Everyone forgave Lilly. Then they danced to the music. Everyone ate the snack.

Did you have a blast reading Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse?

Teacher's Commentary: This student produced a detailed retelling of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes. He asks the reader if he has ever gotten in trouble with a teacher. In doing so he creates an engaging "hook" that pulls the reader into his retelling. He also asks the reader to make a connection between his own life and the book. The retelling includes a beginning, middle and end. The writer provides a closing or "sign off" with the last sentence. The writer provides punctuation and capitalization to express his feelings and reactions of the characters. Quotation marks are used during appropriate dialogue and his spelling is easy to read. He also spells most high frequency words correctly, again fulfilling an important part of the language use and convention standard. Many of the sentences begin with transition words to indicate the direction of the story.