"Getting Ready For Bed Directions" - Organization Lesson

Organization Writing Lesson
   - Getting Ready for Bed Directions


My class has been working on organization for the last week.  We've talked about and practiced bold beginnings and catchy endings but I'm still concerned about students putting things in order.  This lesson is to help students practice putting steps in order.

First, I'll ask my students to think about what they do to get ready for bed.  We'll take a minute or two to share.

Second, I'll read at least one of the following three picture books. None of the books are great upper elementary picture books but they apply to the topic in a fun way and get students thinking.


     1.  How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
          -  This book explains how dinosaurs say good night using two parts.  The first part details what    

             dinosaurs do not do.  The second part explains what dinosaurs do to get ready for bed.

  

     2.  Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed? by Barney Saltzburg

          -  An adorable pig does his bedtime routine, but the illustrations show that he is being extremely silly.  

             Finally, after going through six steps, he tells his mom that he forgot one thing.

     3.   Good Night, Monkey Boy by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

         - A young boy in monkey pajamas acts like a monkey while he gets ready for bed.

Third, we'll discuss what the characters did to get ready for bed.

Finally, I will ask the students to write.  Each student will imagine they are a parent writing a list of directions that tell the step by step how a baby sitter would put their six year old to bed.   Each student will be asked to write at least 10 directions in a logical order.

I did this assignment last year and allowed the students to be creative in choosing the 10 steps.  They came up with some very interesting writing.  This year I'm going to require them to use realistic bedtime activities.

Top Ten Picture Books to Read Aloud to Fifth Graders

- Shortcut by Donald Crews


This small moment story is focused on a group of brothers and sisters taking a shortcut home on the railroad tracks.  They have some fun goofing around and experience a little danger when an unexpected freight train shows up.   


- No, David! by David Shannon


In 13 years, I've never met a class that didn't enjoy this book.  You can use it discuss the themes of love and forgiveness or use it to teach revision for the ideas trait.









- Thundercake by Patricia Polacco


This is my favorite book by Patricia Polacco.  Fetching the ingredients to make a cake is a very clever way to solve the problem of being afraid of thunderstorms.  To show ideas, the story explodes moments and uses dialogue. 




- Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems


 I love Knuffle Bunny and enjoy Knuffle Bunny Too but Knuffle Bunny Free is my favorite in the series.  Once again, Trixie loses Knuffle Bunny, but this book isn't just about Trixie finding Knuffle Bunny, it is about Trixie growing up.




- Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee


I'm pretty sure Marla Frazee is my favorite illustrator.  I just love how life like her pictures are. Roller Coaster is a great book for modeling focusing on one small moment of a big trip.  It is safe to assume that the main character did more than ride one roller coaster at the amusement park, but that is all Marla Frazee writes about.  


- The Daddy Mountain by Jules Feiffer


This is another book that does a great job of focusing on a short moment in time and just exploding it with tons of detail.  Instead of writing "I climbed up my daddy," Jules Feiffer stretches the moment out using step by step details of the ascent with funny thought shots mixed in along the way.




- Owl Moon written by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenhaar


Just like, The Daddy Mountain and Roller Coaster, Owl Moon takes a moment that could be written with very little detail and stretches it out into a beautiful book.  A young girl and her father go searching for a owl in the middle of the night.  Students wonder if they will ever spot one. 





- The Three Little Dinosaurs by Jim Harris


I love to read traditional fairy tales to fifth graders because with so many books and TV shows out there, they don't normally know them. While I'm not a big fan of the traditional version of The Three Little Pigs, with the long drawn out ending,  I am a big fan of The Three Little Dinosaurs.  In this retelling, a "big bad Tyrannosaurus rex" tries to eat three little dinos that have left their mother's slde The ending is awesome.


- Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau and Scott Magoon


Ugly Fish is a mean and selfish fish that eats all of the fish that move into his tank.  When he finally comes to the conclusion that he might be happier if he had a friend to play with, his owner decides to buy a bigger meaner fish.  Students love this not so happy surprise ending.


- Tadpole's Promise written by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Tony Ross

This is probably my favorite book to read to students because the ending is just done right awesome.  In the three years that I've read it, only one student has ever predicted the ending correctly.  In the book, Tadpole and Caterpillar fall in love.  Caterpillar keeps getting mad at Tadpole because he keeps breaking his promise that he won't change.  They eventually go their separate ways.  Then in the end, after Caterpillar has turned into a butterfly she goes off to find her Tadpole, not knowing he has changed into a frog.  When the butterfly and the frog meet again is  my favorite ending in all of picture books. 

No, David! Writing Lesson

No, David!

by David Shannon

I was in Borders Books in downtown Ann Arbor the first time I saw No, David!  I picked it up, skimmed through it, gazing at the pictures and not reading the words, and thought, "This book sucks."

  

A year or two later, I saw it again, picked it up, read the words, and fell in love.  I've now read this book to 13 straight classes ranging from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade.  It is a wonderful book that shows that people can be forgiven even if they do a bunch of dumb stuff.  

I just discovered that this book is great for teaching students how to revise for ideas too.  If you haven't read No, David! before, David gets yelled at by his mother for a variety of infractions. Each infraction is shown with a two page picture spread and David's mom's words.  Nothing else, so it is great for adding to.

I started my lesson by telling the students that they would be revising part of a story for ideas.  We then discussed possible techniques to use for revision of ideas, such as thought shots, adding dialogue, and exploding the moment.  

Next I read them No, David!  After that I told them to listen to the story again and choose one moment to revise.  Upon completion of the second read, I asked students to write down three word description of what moment they had decided to revise.  

We reviewed the possible revision techniques and students then began to write.  I circled around the room, reading over student shoulders, praising and encouraging different revisions.  

After 10 minutes of writing, students shared with their partners, and then I drew sticks for three students to share with the class.  

We repeated the lesson the next day, and students were begging to do it a third time but I had a different lesson planned using a benchmark text from Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits. My guess is that we will come back to No, David! in the future.

Published: 1998

Locations: My Library, School Library, Public Library, and Amazon

I Can Write Like That!: A Guide to Mentor Texts and Craft Studies for Writers' Workshop, K-6

I Can Write Like That!: A Guide to Mentor Texts and Craft Studies for Writer's Workshop, K-6
by Susan Ehmann and Kellyann Gayer

I Can Write Like That! is broken up into three parts. Part 1 introduces 27 craft elements, such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, and simile.  Part 2 provides sample lessons for 10 of the craft elements. Part 3 provides picture books to use as mentor texts for instruction.  Each mentor text is connected to multiple craft elements. 


I'll be honest, when it comes to teaching writing I love to teach ideas. I could spend all year focusing on ideas: adding dialogue, exploding moments, adding thoughtshots, and taking out unnecessary information.  


But I know my students need more than idea instruction and I feel I Can Write Like That! is going to help me teach other traits more effectively.  So far, I've only tried one craft from the book, point of view, but I had fun teaching it and my students had fun doing it.  


We've done a number of different activities where I've asked the students to tell the same story from different points of view.  One activity asked students to tell a story of playing catch with me from their point of view, my point of view, and the football's point of view.  Many students have since written independent pieces from unusual point of views, such as a time they lost a shoe from the point of view of the dog that stole it. 


Published: 2009

Location: Amazon

Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits

Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits: Grades 3-5
by Ruth Culham
with Mike Freborg and Pat McCarty


This book is awesome and has a lot of potential uses.  It can be used to help teachers become better scorers of writing and students (and teachers) to become better writers by scoring, discussing, and revising each piece.  


The best part of this book are the thirty-six benchmark papers.  There are six papers for each of the six traits, ranging in score from 1-6.  Each paper is typed and under one page long.  


The pieces are scored for all 6 traits.  The piece that received a 6 for Voice, received a 5 for ideas and a 2 for conventions.  The score for the paper's focus trait is then explained in detail.  Finally,  comments you could share with the writer are provided. 


The book also contains a 6 point teacher rubric for scoring each trait. The rubric is broken up into three parts: High, Middle, and Low.  You can then have a high High, a 6, or a low High, a 5.  It is one of the better rubrics I've seen. 


Furthermore, the High, Middle, and Low scores have the same 4 titles. For example, ideas has: "Finding a Topic", "Focusing the Topic", "Developing the Topic", and "Using Details."  High, Middle, and Low then have their own descriptors for each title to help differentiate between them. 


3 sample lessons are also included.  Each lesson involves discussing/scoring the piece and then revising the piece. The revision of the piece is an awesome idea. Students can say what is wrong and then actually make the story better. 


The book also contains a CD.  Each of the benchmark papers is available on the CD.  Extra resources that are mentioned in the book but not shown in the book are also included on the CD.


While this book is great, I wish it had 3 examples for each score, so buildings could divide the papers up among the three grades.  It would also be nice if all of the resources contained on the CD were also printed in the book.  For example, student friendly rubrics are only available on the CD. 


Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits is a valuable resource that will make teaching writing easier for you and learning to write easier for your students.


A lower elementary version and middle school version are also available. 


Published: 2009

Locations: School library and Amazon

Igniting a Passion For Reading

Igniting a Passion For Reading
Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers
by Steven L. Layne


This book's goal is to get kids to enjoy reading.  As a teacher that loves to read, I sometimes struggle to understand why kids who can read don't. According to Layne it's because they don't think reading is fun. Igniting a Passion for Reading provides teachers with strategies to help students see that reading is fun.   


The book follows a three part format:

1. A famous author discusses a teacher that inspired them to read
2. The chapter
3.  From the trenches: Layne tells us about one of his teaching experiences

The book also contains very useful appendixes. I felt the chapters were the best part, so I'm going to give a brief overview of each one.

Chapter 1 sets the tone for the entire book and discusses how we need to help aliterate readers: students who can read but choose not to.  

After reading this chapter, I've decided to change my book requirement, based on The Book Whisperer, for the second marking period.  I'm still going to challenge each child to read eight books but I'm going to loosen up on the specific genres.  I'm going to require two chapter books, one picture book, and one non-fiction book.  Students can fill the other four required books with chapter books or non-fiction.  I won't specify any genres.  I think allowing more choice will ignite more passion for independent reading. 

Chapter 2 addresses the need to get to know your readers because if you know what they like, you can help them to choose books.  The chapter contains examples of interest inventories that teachers may use.

Chapter 3 presents the importance of teachers reading books appropriate for their students and then sharing them with students using book chats.  Book chats are "ads" meant to get kids so excited about books that they decide to read them too. Layne provides a format for doing book chats but I really believe each teacher needs to develop their own format that matches their unique voice. 

Chapter 4 extols the benefits of read aloud.  Read aloud can be used to expose students to a variety of genres and authors while being fun.  Instead of exposing students to genres by requiring them to read them independently, I will expose them to genres through my read aloud books.  Teachers are using read aloud to advertise different genres and authors, and hopefully inspiring students to try them out on their own. 

Chapter 5 demands that teacher demonstrate they are readers to children.  It doesn't ask you to read in class, but asks you to share with students what you are reading by filling out a reading log.  Students will often want to read what you are reading, so once again the teacher is doing another form of advertising

Chapter 6 provides possible ways to have students discuss books.  My favorite is Buzz about Books.  In this activity students meet in small groups and share what book they are currently reading.  Each meeting has a focus question.  Layne provides  numerous potential focus questions. Status of the class is also discussed.  Both activities are really ways for students to advertise books to other students. 

Chapter 7 is about creating a reading lounge.  I skimmed this chapter.

Chapter 8 discusses the many ways we can celebrate books.   The golden recommendation shelf, read around, and picture book of the month.  Once again, advertising books is the theme of the chapter. 

Chapter 9 teaches how to organize an author visit.  I didn't even skim this chapter. I simply skipped it.

Chapter 10 provides a model for how to implement Layne's ideas into your classroom.  

I loved this book. While I need to reread The Book Whisperer, which I also loved, at this time I think Igniting a Passion for Readers was the better book of the two. Its message will help more teachers get children to read well.   In appreciation to Steven L. Layne, this blog was my advertisement for it. 

Published: 2007

Locations: Amazon