February Writing Fun: Great Products to Get You through February

Whether you have primary or intermediate students, I know the month of February is packed-each with it's own fun, problems, and issues to cover.  Writing shouldn't be one of them!  I've got you covered!  As you know, I've been talking a lot about writing in my classroom lately.  I've given up the boxed programs for a more "old school" approach-actually TEACHING in CONTEXT!  Imagine that!  Anyways, now that January is heading out the door, I want to cover some of the things I plan to do for February.  Here we go!


Today I am double posting!  I'm over at Conversations From The Classroom talking about how to have fun with STEM and writing through the use of one of my products called Love Bug in a Jar   This has always been one of my favorite prompts to write about and I'm sure this year's group won't disappoint!  Check out what I'm sharing if you love this idea-I think you will!

Check it out here!

If that doesn't fit your needs, I have two other great products for Valentines that just might.  Both focus on Valentines but are geared toward text dependent writing prompts.  These are designed to provide practice for your students in the area of reading prompts and, then, having to write with source materials in their pieces.  These are print and go ready too!  One of the things I've done in the past to help cut the copy costs is print the reading pieces on card stock and then laminate them.  This way I can use them over and over again!

            

Click on the pictures to view these products.  

How about Groundhog's Day!  I've got you covered! This great narrative piece will let kids think about how the groundhog would feel being awaken from a sound sleep to be jolted out into the cold world to see what the weather would be for the next six weeks! Is it me or have you ever really thought about the inaccuracy of that!  The sun has to be out for the groundhog to see his shadow!  Wouldn't that mean spring is on it's way and not more winter!  But, it's a fun tradition and that groundhog lives high on the hog-pun intended!

Check it out here! 

Right after Valentine's Day, we head into President's Day!  Students would just LOVE writing about a day with any President of their choice.  This can be simply a narrative piece, or, for added bonus, use this document to do some research about a President.  Then, students can use that research to create their day with a President!  How fun is that!

Check this one out here! 

As February winds up, intermediate students would love to explore the history of snow globes!  Students are provided with three pieces to read and examine.  Once they gather vocabulary, notes, and ideas about the history of the snow globe, students write about their new knowledge.  Then, they get to try their hand at creating their own snow globes!  This was is so, so much fun!

You can find this fun project here! 

Don't forget that the Winter Games are coming!  This product has a little of everything!  Students can do a quick research piece on one of the sports they are interested in.  Once the mini-research is completed, they craft an informative essay as to why that sport is their favorite!  Then, students create a topper to match their choice!  These would look great in anyone's hallway or classroom!  

Find this fun product here!

So, as you can see, I've got you covered for the month of February in writing!  Find them all at my store on TpT!

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The Best Way to Build Writers: Modeling, Planning Style!

As I travel through this journey of giving up the boxed writing program, there is one thing I will never give up-MODELING!  Teachers frequently ask me what makes my students become the writers that they are, and that's what I tell them-MODELING!  You have heard it over and over from others I'm sure, but I'm here to tell you, modeling is golden!  It is the very key to successful student writers, with one other thing!

Modeling!  

Where does this process start-at the very beginning.  I model how to make a plan first.  This is so incredibly important!  Students need a plan to guide their writing, but it is the first thing that teachers drop.  WHY?!  I have heard everything- students don't know what to do, they don't use their plan, it takes too much time, it's too hard!  UGH!  This is NOT about us, the teacher!  It is about students making their way in writing, with a view of where they are going in their sight!  Give them the opportunity to have success through planning.

So, how do you model this?  Super simple!  The first thing you need to do is decide on what form of planner you want to use.  I am a Hamburger Planner girl myself!

I have used this planner for years with every grade from first through fourth!  I find the idea to be very appealing to students and it is easy to make the parts valuable to students.  The buns go together-this is a MUST!  Students must understand that the top bun and the bottom bun are THE SAME THING!  The focus of the writing goes in each bun.  Where do you get the focus-from the prompt, the assigned topic, or their own personal choice of topic.  That's the joy of the hamburger planner!  You can use it for all styles of writing and for any topic!  Just a little tweaking to make it work across all the platforms and you're good to go!

Next, students will move into the hamburger layers.  This is where you can talk about all kinds of organizational issues.  This is where organization starts after all!  That's one of the very reasons to plan!!  Instead of students jumping all over as the write,  this can be fixed before they write!  Take the time to talk about this during the planning stage.  Then, MODEL it!  Get a copy for yourself and fill it out.  You are going to be using this to guide your way, so fill it out before the students, not before class!  Modeling only works well live.  Give up your idea that it has to be fancy and beautiful because that isn't going to work.  Talk through your thoughts and the why behind what you are writing on the page.  The more you verbalize, the more students will see that you believe in what you are doing-and that means it WORKS!

You see, that's half the problem right there.  When we offer students criteria and then don't support it with evidence, we are doing the same thing they are when they don't use text evidence.  "It was in my brain." doesn't work when we want them to provide text evidence,  so why would we want that for writing!  Model this step and it will pay off BIG TIME!

An now, for the next best thing to Build Writers-Have honest conversations about what is on the planner.  Yes, that's right.  Ask kids to share and then have an honest conversation about what is on their page.  The key is to wrap it in that general rule of  one positive comment, one suggestion, and one positive comment so that kids are seeing your suggestions as a positive.  Here's a brief example of how this might work:

Conversations

Student: My bun is Winter Break.  My reason one is Isle Maurada, my reason number two is Disney Cruise, my reason number three is running a race.  My final bun is Winter Break.
Teacher:  I love that you are focusing on your favorite thing on your break, which is your Disney Cruise.  Do you think that your order of these reasons makes sense in the order they are in?  Think like a story from a book.  You're ideas are strong.  What can you do to make it make better sense?
Student:  I could put the Cruise first!!

Yep-that was a real conversation.  By simply allow students to take a minute to think about their planner fixed a major writing problem-organization-BEFORE their draft was written.

This is the product we were working on all week!  

I hope this helps you to build confidence in planning and using this as a modeling tool.  Take the time to try it, and stick to that planner for writing.   I'll be back to discuss this very thing, so you can see the sequence of how to model with the planner during the writing process.  Until then, let me know what you think, what your favorite planner is, or any ideas that you might have for modeling writing with students.  I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

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Giving Up The Writing Program: What I'm Doing Instead

Throughout your teaching life, you will have moments of discovery-about who you are and what you truly believe as a teacher.  I've had a number of those through my career.  The first one was that I would switch from the traditional method of reading and become a more "Balanced" Literacy Instructor.  Not in the sense that is today's "Balanced" Literacy (Which is a farce-but that's another blog post!) Another was when I discovered that I was truly a great writing instructor-because I loved to write and I learned from the very best!  Karen Padgett-may your retired teacher time be the VERY BEST, wherever you are!  Yes, I learned from a very wise and knowledgable peer!  Not some crazy writing program that everyone hates-but REAL teaching!  REAL TEACHING!  

So, when I found myself saying this, I was completely SHOCKED- "I don't know how to teach writing anymore!"  Yes, I said that-because I didn't.  You see, I've been bogged down in writing programs-Lucy Calkins, Write Traits, Top Score, Making Meaning Writing-you name it, it's come my way.  In that moment I realized I needed to STOP THE MADNESS and go back to the Karen Padgett way of life-write every week with a purpose!  Just Write! (Oh, wait, that was ANOTHER program I tried!)  

Here's how this breaks down day by day:

On Monday you introduce the prompt and plan.  That's it.  The key to this method is in the simplicity of each day.  When students get overwhelmed, they don't produce the writing you expect.  That is what I have learned over the years of teaching writing-small chunks for small kids produced the best results.  And so does planning!  So many people skip this part but it is the KEY to excellent results.  It takes the ideas for writing from higher order thinking to the knowledge level.  (Read more about it here!)  So, planning is KEY!

Tuesday is modeling day for the teacher and writing day for the kids.  Again, I take this in small chunks.  I start with proposing a grabber, or introduction, statement.  Here is something to keep in mind-kids WILL copy you.  That's what modeling is-the opportunity to show a technique.  If they copy it, so what!  Really, I mean that!  They will eventually venture off into something different-I PROMISE!  What you are doing is loading their tool kits with ideas.  You just have to remember that your introduction statement is no different than a list of ideas you would put in a writer's notebook.  Once I get the introduction started, I form my three ideas and add those to my paragraph.  I finish with a strong closing-again, a modeling technique that allows kids to grow their tool kits.  Then, I give students the time to write their introduction-and that's it!  And, yes, I do this week after week!  

Wednesday arrives with a little more writing.  I will often model my opening of the second paragraph.  Then I continue to write while students write their second and, many times, third paragraphs.  This is where I should take a moment and talk about the end of each writing period.  Students are always sharing throughout this process, in the form of the last 5 minutes of the writing period.  During this time I provide specific feedback as to what students have done correct in their writing.  I also provide ways to boost their writing.  This is the specifics of paint a picture with your words, using figurative language, boosting strong verbs, and any other opportunities that present themselves.  I always phrase these things in positives, such as, "One way to strengthen your writing would be...".  This allows students the opportunity to change their writing and for others to apply this same idea.  Many times, I open the writing period with this same technique.  

Thursday arrives as a time to complete any of the remaining body of the essay.  Again, I start with a quick modeling of what I am working on within my own writing.  Do not underestimate this part!  The more we model writing, the better it is for students.  And, it actually improves our own writing!  If we can grow as writers, we can help students grow!  Depending on the process we are at in writing, I may even model my conclusion.  This is where it gets tricky.  You don't want to jump into the conclusion until you are sure that you have modeled it time and again.  But, if we are on a short week, or Friday is heavy, then I will model this process at this stage.  

And, finally, FRIDAY!  As I just said above, on Friday we work to complete the conclusion.  This should always include a restate of the topic, followed by a reminder of the information inside for an expository or informational and an opinion piece.  For narrative, you are looking for a wrap of the ideas, the solution, and a lesson learned.  Model, model, model these ideas!  In addition to this, it is very important for students to then edit their work.  They need to read it out loud to others and check for spelling and grammar throughout the week.  

I am actually super excited to be going back to this method and seeing what my students can do.  Yes, by the end of all of this we will be moving into how to add information from readings into our work to get ready for fourth grade! But, this is where we are going to go  from where we have been!  No more programs, no more jumping around with ideas or things that are taught.  Just modeling, embedding instruction in real learning, and letting kids learn how to REALLY write!  Here's where I'm starting!  

You can find this in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and it will soon be part of my January Writing Prompt Bundle!  I hope you join me in this simplification of writing program, because it WORKS!  Let me know what works for you!  I'd love to hear your ideas!  

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Today I'm over at Conversations From The Classroom discussing planning in writing!  So many of us skip this part, not understanding the value within planning!  Jump on over and check out everything I have to share about this important step in the writing process!

Or, if you are visiting from CFTC, feel free to look around and enjoy my blog!  Leave me a comment while you are here.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

5 for Friday: The "Real" 5 For Friday

    Today I'm trying the "real" teachers of Five for Friday philosophy.  Normally I pick five related things and post how they all go together.   This weak I'm trying the "real' teacher idea of just posting 5 actual things that happened in my week or are coming up. So, here we go!  

     I really pushed myself last week and added a number of new products to my store!  This is part of a group challenge and I'm plugging along!  Here's a couple of the covers.  If you click HERE, and choose "recently added", you can see all my new goodies!   I'm proud of my hard work this past week!  

     

     Weight loss-over break-YE-AH!!  I was totally shocked to discover that I had lost 7 pounds over break!  WHOOT!  How is the next thing people have been asking.  There are a number of ways that I did this.  First, I've been really coving myself in prayer.  I've never done this before and I can honestly say, I think this is the biggest thing!  Next, I started calorie counting right after New Years (in my new planner!!)  And, finally, I've been exercising more.  My husband got a new bike and we've been taking rides together!  So, all of these together equaled 7 pounds!  It is lovely!!  

     I've been working furiously on getting a Fairy Tales unit together for my class.  The goal of this unit is to get my students focused on Point of View and how some characters are lacking it and others have an over abundance!  This will draw an eye to how the story is told-first, second, or third person!  We need a bit of practice in this, so I'm excited by some of the things I've developed. Here's a quick screen shot of one of the documents! 

     Just down the road from my house, this is happening!  It is the Manatee County Fair!  Last year I spent a good amount of time on the weekends volunteering there!  This year, I've started before the Fair even opened!  I helped set up the Arts and Crafts displays and it was so much fun!  I will be volunteering again this year, looking for kids and adults I know as they pass by the cookie booth I work at!  

     I'm excited to be joining Zoe over at Zippadee Zazz to celebrate her blog launch!  Zoe is one hard working Teacher-Author who focuses on clipart in her store!  She runs an awesome Teacher-Author group too! So, take a minute and join this great giveaway celebrating her blog!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Perspectives on the Best Standards Ever Written!

         

 As I wrote about yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend a Key Note presentation by Dr. Jim Cunningham that was held in my district.  If you missed my first post, it is found here.  During this presentation, Dr. Cunningham shared why the Common Core Writing Standards are the BEST writing standards ever written!  He enlightened the audience to some hidden gems right in the standards themselves.  Then, he went on to talk about some very different perspectives than those that most teachers have about writing and the Writing Process-that’s what we will focus on-perspectives!  Here we go!

DON'T Grade All their Writing

Students are reluctant to write because of a lot of reasons, many of which come back to the fact that they are worried about how and what will be grades, even in the very early grades.  My first graders would always ask things like, “How long should it be?” “Is it for a grade?”  The first question I wouldn’t address except with, “What do you think is acceptable to me,” but the second one I would always answer with “Yes!”   How else would I determine how they were doing!  Boy, was I wrong!  We should let kids write and SHARE-lots of sharing should go on!  By sharing, students begin to write.  By writing more, they become less reluctant!  By answering NO to grades, they become less reluctant!  By grading less, we actually practice the Standards, especially in grades K and 1.  Language Standard 1 actually speaks to this very thing!  See, perspective!  By practicing the standards, we can actually open up kids’ hearts to this whole process and eliminate reluctance!  Amazing! (Hang on, because he talked about assessing!)

Write more and in more ways!  

          He talked a lot about Quick Writes, including ideas such as writing DURING learning.  One of the best ways to address rigor in a lesson is to conduct a Quick Write that gets them writing in a different way!  A great question to respond to that adds rigor is “What was the hardest part for you?”  Again, perspective!  How to look at writing in different ways!

            Next, Dr. Cunningham pointed out that the Writing Process is NOT a skill!  We make it a skill, us big people!  We blow it!  Why?  He quickly pointed out that the Writing Process is for TEACHERS not students!  We use it to focus on skills to teach, to guide our instruction.  Yet, we want kids to do it.  It’s like we get it totally backwards and his perspective opens thoughts and ideas about a whole new world of understanding!  And publishing!  According to the latest research, it is over rated!  Students learn NOTHING from publishing!  WHAT!  He has a good point!  Think about how kids REALLY feel about publishing!  Just go there for a second!  Perspective!  What should we focus on?  Dr. Cunningham quickly points towards 1.  Planning, 2.  Revising, and 3.  Editing! 

 Let's Start With Planning!

      “If we are to teach them opinion, informational, and narrative writing, then we better teach prompts.”  Thank you Dr. Cunningham!  Can I say I almost stood up and cheered!  “We aren’t doing kids favors with free writing.”  WHOOT!  I know this breaks the mold of most primary teachers, but I’ve believed this for years!  I’ve tried free writing and it was a mess.  Most kids didn’t have a clue of what to do!  Dr. Cunningham points directly to the fact that if kids are going to grow into writers for the real world, then they better be able to write to a prompt.  Think about almost everything you write right now-prompt writing, isn’t it!  Even this piece!  What is my goal-to communicate information!  What is my prompt-changed perspectives about writing!  Changed perspectives are key!  The nice thing is, Dr. Cunningham points to mentor texts as being a key element in teaching kids to write!  Think about all the fun you can have with prompts based on ideas from mentor texts!  So, kids need to have a prompt, create a plan (used to keep their writing focused) and write, write, and write some more!

Here's Another Perspective to Think About!

Have students write, share, and store FIRST DRAFTS!  Huh??!!  That was my perspective.  What about that whole great Writing Process deal he was going to be speaking about?  Perspective right!  Well, he explained that since kids are already reluctantly writing, they’re even more reluctant when it gets to revising!  My experience speaks to this totally!  They will edit, but when asked to do more-no way!  And he says research points to this!   There is no benefit to kids revising because they DON’T WANT TOO!  That is so TRUE!  However, there are ways to fix this!  Get ready for some real perspective!!  Don’t do any revising UNTIL you have written at least 3 of a type of writing!  For instance, on your third narrative you can begin to revise.  Kids by then will have learned to write without the fear of something else “coming”.  He also points to providing guidelines for revisions-and guess where they come from?  The Standards also provide the guidelines for revision! I LOVE this guy’s perspective!  Use the Standards to find your guidelines and then have kids go through ONE guideline to improve.  Slowly work through them, with EVERYONE revising-either by adding to the piece or creating a more in depth piece (such as the opening).  Genius!!!  Follow the same plan for editing because, guess what, they are in the STANDARDS! 

One more thing that he really opened a new perspective to was grading-and it was eye opening.  He stressed using Formative Assessments a lot.  It is a relatively simple idea-pick ONE skill and check how students are progressing and changing.  Use that information to guide your instruction with either small groups or whole groups!  This can be used in looking at the type of writing they are doing, focus skills such as organization, steps in revising (one), and editing skills (one).  And, here’s one more real perspective changer-when we do assess kids formally, it should be a FIRST DRAFT document!  Dr. Cunningham stressed that this draft was what the student could really do, really write!  That is where we should be looking, investigating our student successes and strengths!  This is where we should find new perspectives! 

Wow, that’s a lot of new perspectives to share on the best standards ever written!  I am excited to try a lot of these in my class this year, to brighten my students’ views on writing, and to add rigor!  Thank you Dr. Cunningham for sharing such great insights into our current writing trends and The Best Standards EVER! 

Want to read more about my thoughts on writing!  Check out my other posts, including:

Modeling, Planning Style

Giving Up the Writing Program: Here's What I'm Doing      
Instead



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The Best Standards Ever Written-Part 1

           Today I was lucky enough to attend a Key Note Session for my district’s conference.  I was aware that it was about writing and that James Cunningham was the speaker, but that was all that I was aware of.  Dr. James Cunningham is a professor at the University of North Carolina and this man knew his stuff!  The focus was what current research says and what works with the Common Core State Standards-and, in his words, “The Best Standards Ever Written” for writing instruction.  I’d have to say, after hearing him, he is right!  So, let’s dive right in!

            He quickly pointed to the “Bad News”.  The “Bad News” was to point out the reasons why writing doesn’t work in most classrooms.  Rigor demands that we focus on it, but we don’t-research says so, scores point to it being so!  Why is this?  First, and foremost, it mainly points to being the most unimportant in people’s eyes, not just teachers.  Research (I’m going to say this A LOT!) points to the fact that we, the adults, don’t take it serious.  Why?  It is “undervalued by those who remember when it wasn’t important.”  That’s us folks!  Right there, in our classrooms.  Our memories of writing keep us from making it important!  Parent’s memories of writing keep them from seeing it as important!  Yet, the demands in our jobs, and in our students’ future jobs, all point to it being a key element in success!  One of the surprising things Mr. Cunningham shared was that when the Great Recession hit, secretaries decreased while laptop use increase!  More low paying jobs were eliminated, those that didn’t involve writing, while jobs involving writing increased.  Plus, more and more college classes are involving both formal writing and writing online responses.  Writing truly is KEY to our future!  Yet, our assigned writing times in our classrooms lag behind both reading and math!  Not good!  But, there is some good news!

            The “GOOD news “ is something that may be VERY surprising to many of us.  I know it was to me!  Writing is EASIER to teach than either math or reading!  Not only that, but it doesn’t depend on a student’s home background like it does in reading!  That means that it is an equal opportunity in my book!  I can totally see this as fact in my experiences in teaching.  This year one of my struggling students was one of my BEST writers!  It was amazing to me, but this research backs it up!  Plus, as we have always known, it improves reading.  BUT, it also improves content area learning!  Think about all the applications in the content area that writing is applied too!  We just don’t always see that the writing is a KEY element! 

            What makes these the BEST Standards Ever Written?  Dr. Cunningham pointed to three key standards-Writing Standard 4, 10, and 5-and in that order!  Check this out!  Standard 4 is the WHOLE GOAL of writing in life!  Stop looking for goals, because it is RIGHT THERE!  Wow!  That was kinda eye opening!  It has been glaring at us all along, right there!  This man has it going on!  Next, Standard 10 points to a key to get kids writing-ROUTINE!  Writing has to become ROUTINE!  And it is, again, RIGHT THERE!  How about 5??  It is the Writing Process!  But wait-not like we use it, not like we want the kids to use it-but to STRENGTHEN writing in a different way! 

            This is it for right now!  Digest that, because some of his ideas and thoughts and research are kinda MIND BLOWING, yet they are things that we know, have developed an understanding for, but are used differently!  So, stay tuned-more to come tomorrow about these great new ideas coming from the most current research!