Spider Writing

 Hello Everyone!!!

Writer's Workshop is in full swing! We have worked hard on composing with pictures, collected ideas, increased our focus to small moments,worked with writing partners , and are now trying to make our stories come to life.  Lucy Calkins,  in her Writing Units of Study, describes the next steps as writing in “Itsy Bitsy Steps.”  Jennifer Serravallo,  in her Writing Strategies Book,  discusses organizing in sequence.  Working on helping kids unfold their stories in steps is a something that takes more than one mini lesson.  It will take mentor texts,  modeling, re-organizing, revising, and a little element of manipulative fun.  I like to start off by sharing one of my favorite  books, One Day by Rebecca Dotlich. You have to get this book!  It shows kids how important it is to include all the parts of a small moment.   We then talk about spiders and how they build their webs step by step. I like to use Eric Carle’s The  Very Busy Spider!  Every page shows the spider making each part of her web. Then I get busy and begin  modeling a piece which includes step by step organization.  To add some fun and interest to the skill I use little spider rings  to indicate each step.

The kids get ready to tell their small moment stories bit by bit. 

I give each kiddo a small spider eraser to help remind them to write like a spider!  This whole lesson takes a few days, and many hours of trying.  But by adding the right fun elements, kids will embrace this important skill!!  Happy Writing!!

Readily available on Amazon

From One Day by Rebecca Dotlich

From One Day

Eric Carle's The Busy Spider

Model the skill

Fun kid reminders to Spider Write!
Spider rings and erasers are readily available this time of year.  found these at Target.

To get your free downloadable mini unit, take the step! CLICK HERE!!!

I hope you give this a try!  It has already made a difference in my kiddos' writing!!! Anything to motivate them, right??? 

That's it for today!  Have a great week! And Happy Writing!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

firstgradewow@gmail.com

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SUPER SENTENCES! (Mentor Sentences, Sentence Imitating), a little math fun and a lesson plan template!

Hello Everyone!!
This post is a mix of writing, math, and a downloadable editable lesson plan template.So hold on tight and stay with me!!

The case for using mentor sentences or sentence imitating begins with the premise that students are more motivated to organize sentence construction through the use of well crafted sentences from books we read rather than teaching a grammar lesson and using a “find the mistake” type activity.    Mentor sentences serve as examples for students of what good writing is all about.  Mentor sentences can help students identify all those elements of writing you are working on. In the primary grades, they might highlight good nouns, verbs, verb usage, capitalization, punctuation, etc.  Kids can also see how adjectives,adverbs, and other parts of speech are used effectively. In my first grade classroom, I have adopted a mentor sentence component to my writers workshop time.  Before I begin my workshop mini lesson and modeling, we write our “Super Sentence!”

*I have a sentence written on sentence strip displayed in the front of the classroom. The sentence comes from a book we have been reading that might have specific examples of skills we might be working on that week.

*We read and discuss the sentence, including conversation about those specifics. “What are some things you notice about the sentence?” “What kinds of things can we identify?”

*Students write the entire sentence, or imitate the sentence in a notebook. I check it over for correct imitation. Kids highlight specific focus words, word parts, or punctuation marks.

*The next day, I underline the word or a part of the sentence I want them to  change or revise to begin making the sentence their own.  Students write the sentence with their choice word in their notebooks directly under the original sentence from yesterday.

*The next day I choose another part of the sentence for the students to revise, making the sentence even more their own.

*Finally, students revise one more thing and write the sentence one more time. By this time the sentence is almost completely their own. They can change one of the other words, add some words, or change the type of sentence.

Each day, the “Super Sentence” activity takes only about 5-10 minutes.  

If you would like a quick, free, downloadable copy of this little unit, CLICK HERE!!!

Now on to a little math fun from last week.  we have been working hard on expanded notation, and finding patterns in our observations of that type of numeration and number sense.  Last week I wanted a fun way for the kids to show what they have learned.  I found some of the paint chip cards with the little windows in them.  I cut some plain white copy paper the same size as the paint chips.  The kids had to pick a two digit number and write it out in expanded notation to show through the windows. They also had to show what each addend of the expanded form meant. They each did about 5 or six pages and then we punched holes and added a brass fastener.  The flip book became a quick, fun, formative assessment of their grasp of expanded notation!  

Great job, guys!!!

Now, finally, on to the lesson plan template.  I get requests almost daily for my editable lesson plan template.  I shared it a couple of years ago. I think I had the template saved in a storage system that has since gone to a pricey membership system.  I am so sorry about that. I have since loaded it into my googledocs file and have it for you to download for free. It shows you how my day is organized, but it also gives you total freedom to edit to fit your schedule.  I simply print off the year's worth, punch holes, and keep it all in a binder.  I fill in the specs by handwriting them, but you could certainly store it all on your computer and fill in your own specs, because it is just a word doc.

If you are at all interested in this 3 page editable lesson plan template, CLICK HERE!!! :)

Hope this post gives you some ideas for your week coming up.  Please holler if you need anything else!!!  Have a great rest of the weekend!!

 Joyfully!

Nancy

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