Great Leads and Endings Posters

I have been missing in action for a while.  I have no excuses other than taking care of me for a change! My house is empty for the first time(both girls at college) and I have been getting healthy, both mentally and physically.  I thought I would have more time for blogging but that has taken a back seat.  I hope to get motivated and get back into this…I have missed it tremendously!!!

We are having a snow day and will be on vacation next week.  Just finished up parent conferences(last ones for the year) last night and feel a little relieved.  Today I opened up my computer and created two posters for writing narratives.  I hope you enjoy them!

Great Leads 

Extended Endings

My Lucky Day- Narrative Writing

I started out the lesson reading "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."  we listed all the unlucky things that happened to him during the day.  We talked about how all the things were realistic.  (I have a few friends who get carried away with their exaggeration)

The children brainstormed ideas in their journals about having a "Lucky Day" and all the really good things that could happen in one day.  We broke it down into morning, noon and night.

I had my children use:
a 4-square graphic organizer
six trait writing checklist

We spent several days writing, revising and editing.  They published their stories.  They added a LUCK sign complete with a real lucky penny!(glued over shamrock)  This is a perfect prompt for March.

      

Our MCAS long comp is March 20th.  Finally...we can move on to a new type of writing!!!!

I feel so LUCKY!!!!

Hallwarts School of Writing

We are getting ready for the" MCAS Long Composition" in a couple of weeks.  We have had two practice days as a grade level and over the next two weeks I am reviewing the six traits of writing and empowering writers. (plus many months of writing practice) I don't want to burn out my students so I was inspired by something fun that I saw on Writing Fix http://writingfix.com/traits.htm.  I tweaked her lesson!  We are going to spend the week at "The Hallwarts School of Writing." 

Click on the image:

First, I reviewed the 6 traits of writing by creating anchor charts with my students and using the posters from http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtrait/menu.htm.  I did one trait a day and had the kids do that step in the writing process.

I used the Fourth Grade MCAS prompt from last Year.  Write about a special memory of a teacher, a funny memory, something your teacher taught you, a field trip or a time that your teacher made you feel proud.

Day 1- Ideas (Brainstorming)

Day 2- Organization (organization)

Day 3- Voice and Word Choice (Drafting)

Day 4- Sentence Fluency (revising)

Day 5- Conventions (Editing)

I continued going over these  6 Traits of Writing at the "Hallwarts School of Writing." I put the 6 areas of writing cards into my sorting hat and had the children each draw a trait.  The child read over their final draft and identified where and how they used that trait.  The children became the experts on that trait and highlighted the skill. I had each group use a specific color marker. (The teacher could assign the traits prior to the activity but I am going to take my chances with the luck of the draw)

I took pictures of each child with their trait hat.  (for those with the dreaded bug problems...I cover each head with paper towels for pictures)  I found a star border at Walmart.

I even downloaded some musical scores from the Harry Potter movies to play while the children worked on their writing.  The children enjoyed their magical week!

The Battle of the Five Paragraph Essay

YEAH...we did it.  My class wrote their first five paragraph essay and there were no tears...including mine!  I am so proud of my fourth graders.

 

The first lesson that I did with the kids was discuss  narrative vs. expository writing.  We created a great anchor chart for the room.

Then, the children brainstormed memorable events.  We talked about different feelings to think about memories and memorable events in their lives. (ex. happy, scared, sad, nervous, etc.)  We also talked about narrowing down the topics. (ex. trip to Disney vs. ride on Space Mountain)  They choose an idea and I had them draw a detailed picture that helps tell the story.  I wanted a visual for their memory.  We had read a story called "Family Pictures" in our basal.  The book had great illustration that told stories.  I also read "Tar Beach" which is a personal narrative.  We talked about the story quilts of Faith Ringold.  I had the students draw a quilt border on their illustrations.

Next, we did a mini-lesson on great beginnings using ideas from empowering writers and a unit from Rundee's Room on TPT (has great posters and resources).  We made another anchor chart.  The kids wrote their great beginnings on a Four Square graphic organizer in the center of the paper.  The children used a piece of white drawing paper to create a four square.  

The next step was writing a major event from the beginning, middle and end on the four square.  Then we went back and added details under each major event using bulleted ideas.  After that the children wrote their feeling for the closing  in the fourth box.

Once the organizer was complete we added a transition word to each box and circled it.  There are many lists of transition words on the web and some ideas in the "Four Square" book.  I also modeled how to add details to the introduction and conclusion. The intro might include who, what, where, and when.  The ending could have thoughts, connection, hopes, etc. 

The children had no problems taking their four square graphic organizers and putting them into paragraphs on paper.  They still need reminders about indenting on a new line  when starting a new paragraph.

The revising and editing process involved making an anchor chart.  I had them using two different colored pens for this step.  Revising is blue and editing is green.  They completed this process with a buddy and then by themselves.  I did the final conference in red.  My anchor chart was a mess so I typed up one for the room.  The font is teachers's pet and is size 48 if you would like to make your own.

Click on the images on the left to download:

My children copied over their stories and added creative catchy titles.  They will be saved in a hard cover portfolio book along with their illustrations. 

We spent about 2-3 weeks on our personal narratives.


Now on to the next piece... 

Expository writing here we come!!!!!