A Year of Mini Lessons for Growing Writers

Based on the book No More Im Done by Jennifer Jacobson

Lesson

Resources

Focus lesson

Extension

October How will I Organize my Writing?

Introducing Organization (K-2)
FQ: Why do stories need a Beginning, middle & end? Personal writing pieces When ideas are presented willynilly, the audience had difficulty following our thinking When we share our own writing, listen to students questions and come back with a revised piece to share based on their LG: stories need a beginning, middle & end Carmine: A Little More One way to organize our writing is to write a book with a predictable structure (pattern book) Begin a t-chart labeled with {title| and {organization|. As suggestions.

How did the Author Organize the Work? (K-2)

FQ: why would an author write a story using a pattern?

Red by Melissa Sweet

you read pattern books ask students to point out the organizational structure.

LG: to notice how authors write their stories A mentor text with a clear predictable structure like Cookies Use a mentor text to write and interactive story. To write a fiction and informational text using the predictive structure of a pattern book.

Interactive Writing/Organization (k-1)

FQ: How can a mentor text

Week by Cindy Ward

support us as writers?

LG: to write a pattern book A number of picture books about animals written by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page. Invite students to image they are going to write a book on animal facts. How would they organize their book? Students can search the nonfiction section of the library to discover other ways of organizing books about animal facts.

Making Organizational Choices (2)

FQ: How does choosing an organizational style BEFORE your begin writing help you as an author?

LG: Authors decide how they want to organize their writing before they start Personal writing pieces with clear organization Share writing with students. Ask for feedback using the same format as authors chair; pointing out what I did well and asking questions for clarification. Begin a web of organizational structures. Some ideas may be ABC, time order, whats good/whats bad, etc. From

Model the Use of an Organizational Structure (1-2)

FQ: How do you choose the organization of your writing?

circle draw mentor texts that follow these patterns

LG: Authors use a specific structure when they write Anchor chart titled {Things We Know About| from previous lesson (Sept.) Whiteboard & marker When writers take the time to consider the focus of their pieces, organization become much clearer. LG: Writers use a process when they begin a new piece brainstorming, planning is the first part Charlottes Web by Share with the students that Examine beginnings in different Collect a number of books about chosen topic and examine the books to determine organizational form.

Focus & Organization (K-2)

FQ: Why is it important to plan out your writing?

Great Leads

(2)

E.B. White

E.B. White write eight drafts of

books.

Make a chart that

Charlottes Web (remind

students of writing process) LG: Writers use a {Lead| to grab their readers attention 20 books from classroom library Sticky notes Five or six cloth book Read some leads from books gathered and have students look for similarities. Organize the different leads by their styles (dialogue, question, sound) LG: Writers use a {Lead| to grab their readers attention Students will begin often begin their writing with a {safety beginning|. To help students

records the lead and the techniques the authors used to capture the attention of the readers. Suggest that students examine their own work and list the types of leads theyve used.

FQ: What is a hook?

Beginning Book Bags (1-2)

FQ: What are some different ways to {lead| a reader into your story?

bags Duct tape Permanent marker Sample writing that begins with {one day| or {I like|

One Day NOT! (K-2)

Ask students to begin a new piece, but instead of writing one lead, have then write three different leads using three different strategies. They can share their possible leads with peers and then choose the one they believe is most engaging.

apply that theyve been learning about leads or to break the rut remind students to try another FQ: What are some different ways to {lead| a reader into your story? strategy. LG: Writers use a {Lead| to grab their readers attention

November How Do I Write With Voice?

Introducing Voice (K-2)
Several picture books by Eric Carle and Jan Brett Introduce voice through art, beginning with picture books by Jan Brett. Ask what students notice about her art. In the picture book Why Did

the Chicken Cross the Road by

Jon Agee 14 artist offer a punch line to the riddle. This is a great opportunity for showing

different voice about the same subject. Reinforce the idea FQ: What does it mean to have {voice| in your writing? LG: Each writer has a distinct voice or style. I Stink by Kate McMullen Read I Stink and show students that the author wrote with a fun, rowdy, He-Man voice and showed it in the font (writing). FQ: What is one way to show your {voice| in your writing? LG: There are many ways to show your voice in your writing. Brave Charlotte by Anu Stohner Ask students to take turns saying the phrase from the story using different feelings (angry, sad, excited) FQ: How can you add feelings to your writing? LG: Adding feelings to writing adds voice Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley Read the story all the way through, then reread it and have students put their thumbs up whenever they recognize strong voice, discussing the techniques the author used. Leave a stack of sticky notes and invite students to search for voice in our classroom library. Have them mark pages Invite students who have done a good job in expressing feeling in their writing to co-teach the focus lesson the next day. that illustrators also have a unique voice. Suggest that students play with their own print to emphasize their voices.

Listening for Voice (K-2)

Feelings Included (K-1)

Voice in Informational Texts (1-2)

FQ: How could you add {voice| to nonfiction writing?

that demonstrate voice and present these passages at the next days focus lesson and

LG: All genres of writing should be written with voice. One personal story written two ways; Show students the two stories and ask which of the two

share why they chose these particular places in the text. Take a passage from a favorite book that has lots of

Recognizing Voice

(K-2)
FQ: How will you add voice to your writing?

without voice and with voice Chart paper

passages have more voice.

Then

voice and with the students reduce it to a few lines without voice.

ask what the students noticed about the story that had voice. List on chart. LG: To show voice in our writing.

What Did You Learn About the Writer? (K-2)

FQ: What books have you

Samples of students writing, one with voice, another without

Project a sample of writing that has little voice and ask what we learned about the writer. Then

Have students examine their own writing for voice. Which sentences do they think provides the reader with added information?

show a piece with lots of voice and ask what we learned about that writer. LG: When we write with voice, readers feel a connection to the author. Rain Romp by Jane Kurtz Whiteboard Draw a t-chart labeled: examples of voice and how author does it. Read the book and ask students to stop when they hear a phrase that brings voice to the piece. Write on chart and how author added voice.

read that had strong voice?

Voice T-Chart (1-2)

FQ: What are some ways to show voice in your writing?

LG: There are many ways to show voice in our writing A book written in second person (Time Read the story and discuss the difference between first person and second person LG: Addressing our reader is a way to add voice to our writing

Second Person Point of View (2)

FQ: When would you use first

of Wonder by Robert
McCloskey)

person vs. second person?

December How Do I Choose the Very Best Word?

Modeling Choice (K-2)
A large sheet of construction paper Markers or crayons Write a note or card to someone showing students how when you draw a picture or write a letter you have to choose the just write colors/words. FQ: How do you choose the words you want to write? LG: Writers search for the very best way to say something Any picture book with lively, colorful language (And Heres to You by David Elliot) Read the story twice, on the second reading have students stop when they hear a word that really stands out. Record Read Fancy Nancy and create a {Fancy Words| bulletin board. All year long post dazzling words on the board and frequently incorporate the vocabulary in their writing. If you are making Christmas or holiday cards use {happy holidays| and ask students if they can come up with some other choices for happy.

Striking Words & Phrases (K-2)

FQ: What words help you make a mental image when you read/hear a story?

on a chart titled {Words We Admire| LG: Adding playful language to our writing helps the reader get a better mental image Maxs Words by Kate Banks Index cards with a single hole punched in the corner (5-10 each students) Read Maxs Words and invite students to begin their own word collections. They can cut words from magazines. They

Collecting Words (K-2)

Have students interview family members to find answers to the question {What are your favorite words?| Invite

can use these words in their writing. LG: Adding playful language to our writing helps the reader get a better mental image

students to share the responses during the focus lesson on the next day.

FQ: What words help you make a mental image when you read/hear a story?

Loose leaf ring Magazines Glue sticks & scissors

Sound Words (K-2)

FQ: what sounds words can you add to your writing to help your reader make a mental image?

Mouses First Snow by Lauren Thompson chart paper or whiteboard

Read the story, pointing out the sounds words introduce this writing technique as onomatopoeia. LG: onomatopoeia is a good way to add dazzling words to your writing

Model the use of the editors caret. Write a sentence without a sound, and then show the students how the caret helps a writer go back and add words to a sentence.

More Fun with Onomatopoeia (K-2)

FQ: what sounds words can you add to your writing to help your reader make a mental image?

Snow Music by Lynne Rae Perkins

Read the story and compare to

Read Inside Mouse, Outside

Mouses First Snow. Show them

the difference between how the authors used sound in their writing. LG: onomatopoeia is a good way to add dazzling words to your writing

Mouse by Lindsey Barrett

George. This story does not Invite have sound words.

students to come up with sound words to accompany the text on each page.

Vigorous Verbs (1-2)

To Root, to Toot, to

Choosing specific and visual verbs can transform writing. Introduce action words and how choosing the wring one can make writing pop.

Read Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler which is packed with lively verbs for students to enact.

Parachute: What is a Verb

Slips of paper with verbs from the written on them Chart paper book

LG: Writers use specific verbs to help their writing come alive. Read the picture book, pausing to let students visualize some of the strong verbs. Have Have students circle the action words in their own writing. Invite them to choose three words they circled and brainstorm a list of alternative

FQ: What is a verb?

marker Water Hole Waiting by Jane and Christopher Kurtz. Whiteboard or chart paper

{Sun Cartwheels Slowly up the Sky| (1-2)

students add lively verbs to writing that lacks string verbs.

FQ: What verbs did you add to your story to help your reader create a mental image?

Markers Sampling of writing with blah verbs LG: Using vivid verbs helps create mental images in our readers mind.

verbs.

Then have them choose

the very best words from the lists.

January How Do I Make My Writing Flow?

A Sweet Sounding Train (1-2)
FQ: What are some different ways to begin a sentence? Two samples of my own writing, one that lacks fluency and one that sings Guide students to understand that varied beginnings and sentence lengths help make writing more pleasant sounding, like a train tumbling down the tracks. LG: to use different sentence starters to help our writing flow The Night is Singing by Jacqueline Davies Chart paper with example from text Read the story and invite students to clap the rhythm and make observations about the print. Invite students to create works that flow like the words on these pages. LG: to find the {Rhythm| in our writing Chart paper Individual whiteboards for each student Teach students how to use the 5 ws (when, who, where, what, why) to add details to their sentences. LG: to use the 5 ws to S-t-re-t-c-h- out our stories Make a list titled {Words That Tell When| on chart paper and post it up for students to refer to when looking for varied sentence beginnings. Suggest that students try tapping the rhythm of their own work. DO they like the way What changes Read a book with train sound effects, such as The Train

Goes by William Bee.

Discuss

the fluency of the text.

Admiring Fluent Writing (2)

FQ: How does using different sentence starts help your writing flow?

it sounds?

might they make?

Sentence Stretching (K-2)

FQ: What 5 ws did you add to your writing today?

Song Writing (1-2)

Astro Bunnies by Christine Loomis chart paper marker

Working with different language structures helps students break out of the too familiar sentence patterns and write with more fluency.

Investigate different picture books that use song rhythms for their foundation like The

Seals on the Bus by Toni

Buzzeo

FQ: How does using different sentences help the reader?

LG: to use different sentence arrangements to help our writing flow.

Writing With Refrains (1-2)

The Boy Who Cried

Show students how using a repeating refrain in writing can add fluency. Be sure to discuss the difference between a refrain and the use of repetitive language.

Write the text of familiar chants and rhymes on chart paper for choral reading.

Wolf by B.G. Hennessy

FQ: What is a refrain?

LG: using a refrain in our writing can help add fluency A copy of readers theater script for each student Barnyard Slam by Dian Curtis Regan Have students perform a story for classmates. It will improve reading fluency & writing fluency. Suggest students plan a poetry reading. Invite students to write their own scripts to be performed for the class.

Readers Theater (K-2) Poetry Slam (1-2)

February How Do I Include Quality Details?

Focusing on the Details (K-2)
Flotsam by David Wiesner Begin telling this wordless book by making up narration to go with the pictures, pointing out attention to the details in the Remind students that drawing is an excellent form of prewriting. Suggest they try

drawing the next scene of

illustrations. FQ: How can adding details help the reader make a mental image? LG: Adding details to our writing helps it become clear to the reader. The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake Remind students that by selecting details that engage all of our senses we help readers imagine themselves in the place of the writer or main character. LG: to use ALL our senses when adding details to our writing. Whiteboard or chart paper The job of the writer is to create a movie in the mind of the reader. They do this by showing us, not telling. Show several examples of telling vs. showing. FQ: What are some ways to SHOW in your writing? LG: to SHOW details and not TELL them Love the Baby by Stephen L. Layne Instead of telling how a character is felling, show it through his actions. Remind students to stay away from words that tell and use actions that show. FQ: What are some ways to SHOW how someone is feeling? LG: to SHOW details and not TELL them I Could Do That: Read and book and point out how

their work to discover details they might use in the writing.

Another Look at Sensory Details (K-2)

FQ: What sensory details did you add to your writing?

Invite students to search for passages that allow readers to imagine a sound, touch, smell or taste.

Show, Dont Tell (1-2)

Read

Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up

Your Classroom by Kelly

Dipucchio. Project an illustration of Mrs. McBlooms mess. With students write a

paragraph that describes her unique mess.

Imagine That (1-2)

Provide students with sentences that tell how a character feels and invite them to rewrite the sentences to show how a character feels.

Tiny Stitches

Ask students to write about a

(2)

Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by

Linda Arms White chart paper marker

the author slowed down time to show what was happening during a small task. Write a paragraph about a simple task and break it down into smaller actions. LG: to SHOW details and not TELL them

simple task, such as brushing their teeth. Tell them to slow

the writing down to fill an entire page.

FQ: How does adding more descriptive details help a reader?

Quality Details in Expository Writing (1-2)

FQ: What are some ways you can add details when writing a nonfiction piece?

Ice Bear: In the

Details in writing make it more interesting. Readers love to be shown details they might have missed.

Provide students with small notebooks they can write down unique observations they can include in their writing.

Steps of the Polar Bear by Nicola Davies

LG: to add details in our nonfiction writing. One or more copies of writing where there are irrelevant details. Revision doesnt always mean adding more details, sometimes we have to remove details that cause your writing veer off Project your own writing in which you have crossed out words, sentences or even whole paragraphs. Talk to students about the decisions you made and why.

Staying On Track (1-2)

FQ: How do you decide what should stay in your writing and what doesnt belong?

track. LG: to revise by taking out the things that doesnt belong. Chart paper marker Look at the difference between adjectives that add details (yellow rubber boots) and ones that provide NO picture (awesome, good, cool) Remind students of the show, dont tell rule.

Beware the Adjective (1-2)

Post a list titled, {Beware of These Adjectives| and record those that are too general.

LG: to use adjective in our FQ: What adjective help SHOW? writing that provide the reader with a mental image

March How Do I Organize a Story? And How do I End my Piece?

Introduce the storyboard (K-2)
a handful of books read aloud in which the main character is easily indentified Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes blank white paper storyboard graphic organizer Show students how to plan out a story on a story board, thinking about the beginning, middle & end. Use mentor texts that the students have previously read to help the writers come up with a strong main character. {Story is about yearning| We become invested in a character because we want to see him/her succeed. Have students begin a story where a character wants something. Moon Sandwich Mom Often when a character wants something they try and fail several times before they achieve success. Teach young Ask the students to think of all the stories they know with three in the title. Help them Have students look through the classroom library in search of book pairs: two characters who want similar things. For example: Olivia and Fancy Nancy want glamour McDuff and Hermit crab want a home. Suggest students retell their reading selections using a storyboard.

In the Beginning (2)

Pattern of Three (2)

by Jennifer Jacobsen or any picture book that follows a pattern of three (Wemberly

see that these stories also follow a pattern of three (Goldilocks & the Three Bears,

writers that failure is an important part of the story, it keeps the readers coming back for more.

Worried by Kevin
Henkes)

Three Little Pigs)

Writing A Story Together (k-2)

k-1 may take a full week 2 take 1-2 days

Chart paper & markers

Each day write one part of an interactive story that follows the pattern of three. Remind students that writers SHOW and not TELL what a character wants.

Have students search the library for books that demonstrate the pattern of three. You can start a new

book tub for these books.

An underdeveloped

Show students how to take a list like story, cut it up, and add more details. You can tell

During writing conferences, suggest that students who have list stories conduct surgery and have students who have successfully performed surgery share their revisions. Draw 2 bookends on the board. Write a beginning above one and a reflective ending above the other. DO this several times

Cutting Up Bones (k-2)

story, scissors, tape and five sheets of paper.

them you need to perform {surgery| on the story and by separating the bones you can make room for the body.

Wilfred Gordon

Show students how there are some endings that make the reader say {Ah| Show them that a reflective ending or a wrap around ending help create a feel good moment.

Reflective Endings (2)

McDonald Partridge
by Mem Fox, Tacky

the Penguin by Helen

Lester, Miss Birdie

and then have the students try writing a reflective ending, then both.

Chose a Shovel by
Leslie Conner 20 books from the

Read some endings from books gathered and have students look for similarities. Organize the different endings by their styles (repetition, happy ending, surprise ending, etc.)

Have students look at their own work and list the types of endings theyve used.

Book Bag Endings (1-2)

classroom library Sticky notes 5-6 cloth book bags Duct tape & perm. marker