English Language Arts Module 3: Writing, From Letters to Literature

1. English Language Arts Module 3: Writing, From Letters to Literature English LanguageArts & Reading

2. ELA Module 3: Generalist EC-6 Educator Standards • Standard VIII. Development of Written Communication: Teachers understand that writing to communicate is a developmental process and provide instruction that helps young students develop competence in written communication. • Standard IX. Writing Conventions: Teachers understand how young students use writing conventions and how to help students develop those conventions. English LanguageArts & Reading

3. ELA Module 3: Grades 4-8 Educator Standards • Standard V. Written Language: Teachers understand that writing is a developmental process and provide instruction that helps students develop competence in written communication. English LanguageArts & Reading

4. ELA Module 3: Grades 8-12 Educator Standards • Standard I. English language arts teachers in grades 8-12 know how to design and implement instruction that is appropriate for each student, that reflects knowledge of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), that integrates all components of the English language arts (i.e., reading, writing, listening/speaking, viewing/representing), and that is based on continuous assessment. • Standard V. English language arts teachers in grades 8-12 understand that writing is a recursive, developmental, integrative, and ongoing process and provide students with opportunities to develop competence as writers. English LanguageArts & Reading

5. ELA Module 3: Grades 8-12 Educator Standards • Standard VI. English language arts teachers in grades 8-12 understand how to write effectively for various audiences and purposes and provide students with opportunities to write in a variety of forms and contexts. • Standard VII. English language arts teachers in grades 8-12 understand the structure and development of the English language and provide students with opportunities to develop related knowledge and skills in meaningful contexts. English LanguageArts & Reading

6. Writing is… • A natural thing to do. All of us have the ability to write. This is especially true when you write to learn and to explore your own thoughts and feelings. • Thinking on paper. • Learning new things. • Making contact with friends and family. • Dealing with bad days.

7. Writing is… • A PROCESS – All writers do a lot of planning, organizing, writing, changing, rewriting, and editing to produce a story. That’s why it’s a PROCESS!! • A skill that must be practiced DAILY. Handbooks and lessons are helpful, but there is really only one way to learn how to write… JUST DO IT!! Practice all kinds of writing: stories, reports, songs, poems, essays, letters, notes, journals…

8. Pre-Requisites for Writing:Fine Motor Skills Children do not usually come to school paper-and-pencil task-ready. Early childhood teachers must provide developmentally appropriate hands-on activities to help young children develop the fine motor skills that are necessary for writing.

9. Activities for Fine Motor Development • Tear art (tear construction paper into small pieces to glue onto a letter, shape, picture). • Trace over pictures, letters, or shapes with highlighters, or colors (place blank paper on top of picture). • Punch holes with thumb tack around a picture. • Rainbow write (trace picture, shape or letter with every color of the rainbow).

10. Activities for Fine Motor Development • Write with shaving cream on tabletops. • Cut with scissors on pre-drawn lines. • Use tweezers to pick up small items. • Write with very small pieces of chalk on mini-chalkboards. • Create letters and shapes with playdough.

11. Pencil Grip and Paper Position Select and use instructional strategies, materials, and activities to teach pencil grip, paper position, and beginning strokes.

12. Interventions—At Any Age • The shorter the pencil/crayon/chalk, the more natural it is for the hand to hold it in the correct tripod grasp. Forget brand-new pencils and crayons…break ‘em! • Have a student who has illegible handwriting or tires easily while writing? Try having him or her squeeze a stress ball or a wad of modeling clay to strengthen the muscle. • Fine motor scavenger hunt: push pony beads or coins into a wad of modeling clay and have the student dig them out with the hand holding the clay. It’s great exercise!

13. Notes on Individual Students Are you… ______________________ Name ______________________ Name ______________________ Name ______________________ Name

14. Clock-Face Chart Procedures (Read The Writing Road to Reading [Spalding & Spalding], page 67) The image of the clock face is a powerful tool for teaching penmanship. Take the time necessary to practice the four points with young children. You will be well rewarded with the development of top to bottom, left to right eye flow and organization necessary for reading and writing English. If you are teaching D’Nealian penmanship, use an oval instead of a circle. Teach the same four points. They can initially be related to the circle of the clock face for positioning.

15. Clock-Face Chart Procedures Before we begin to make any of our letters, we are going to talk about the face of a clock. We will use the face of a clock to help us think correctly as we form our letters (use an actual clock, a model clock, or a chart depicting a clock face).

16. Clock-Face Chart Procedures What is the shape of a clock face? Answer – round, circle What is written around the edge of a clock face? Answer – numbers We will be using the clock face and some of the numbers to help us learn how to make our letters. I have made a very special chart of a clock face to help us. Display the clock-face chart. Use red to mark the point of two on the clock.

17. Clock-Face Chart Point out the margin line, base line, top line, and dotted middle line on the chart (use the appropriate color to make these lines on the chart). Next point out the circle that forms the clock face and examine the position of the numbers 2, 10, 8, 4, in relation to the lines and to each other. Examine the curve of the circle between 2 and 10 and point out that it touches the dotted middle-line (at the 12 position). Note that it does not cross over the dotted middle line.

18. Clock-Face Chart Examine the curve of the circle between 8 and 4 and point out that it rests on the base line (at the 6 position.) Note that it does not go under the base line. Point out that the spot for number 2 is the starting place for some very important letters. Mark it with red on the chart. Say, we will call it ‘two on the clock’.” (Note – Be sure you do not say “two o’clock,” you are not telling time.)

19. Clock-Face Chart If you have placed a mini-clock face (made identical to the clock-face chart) on each student’s name tag, draw attention to it at this time. If not, pass out mini-charts of clock faces.

20. Clock-Face Chart • With your pointer finger, trace the base line on your chart in the direction that we read and write. • With your pointer finger, trace the top line on your chart. Be sure to trace in the direction we read and write. • With your pointer finger, trace the dotted middle line on your chart. Which direction do we trace it? (Answer – In the direction we read and write.)

21. Clock-Face Chart Fold your hands and focus very carefully because I have something very important to show you. I am going to put my pointer finger on the spot we call two on the clock. (Model) This place is very important because the first phonograms we will learn begin at two on the clock and curve upward to the dotted middle line and around to ten on the clock.

22. Clock-Face Chart • Watch as I trace the direction we make our clock letters (model by tracing line that curves from 2 to 10, to 8, to 4, and back to 2. Say the numbers as you trace the circle). • Using the clock face on your desk, place your pointer finger on the spot marked two on the clock face (monitor students). • What color is that spot? (Answer – Red) • Why did we use the color red? (Answer – Some of the letters we will learn begin at two on the clock).

23. Clock-Face Chart • Trace the circle line from 2 on the clock to 10 on the clock. Be sure to touch the dotted middle line. Stop at 10 (monitor students). • Now trace from 10 on the clock to 8 on the clock and stop (monitor students). • Good, trace from 8 on the clock and stop (monitor students). Repeat the process several times. Have the students say the numbers with you as they form the circle. At this time do not trace in any direction. Begin at 2, go to 10, 8, 4, and back to 2, lifting fingers.

24. Clock-Face Chart What are we practicing, class?(Answer – Making a circle that starts at two on the clock). Teacher Note – The circle stroke beginning at two on the clock is the first stroke of 8 letters: a, c, d, f, g, o, s, and q. In the rest of the letters, the circle stroke or part of the circle stroke will begin at a different point and may go the opposite direction. For example, the letter “h” is made by beginning tall and pulling a straight line down through the dotted middle line to the base line, pushing back up to ten on the clock and curving to the middle line to two on the clock, then pulling a straight line down to the base line.

25. 10 2 8 4 Clock Letters Always begin at two on the clock.

26. Ready to Write

27. Spelling Development • Stage 1-The Pre-communicative or Pre-phonemic stage Before children know about phonemes (letter and letter sounds). Spelling and writing contains scribbles or random strings of letters. • Stage 2 - The Semiphonetic Stage Words are represented by a letter or two and are usually the first letter of the word or the first and last letters of the word.

28. Spelling Development • Stage 3 - The Phonetic Stage Vowels begin to appear (yet not always the correct vowel). Long vowels are often correct, yet attempts at short vowel sounds are also made. • Stage 4 - Transitional Sounds are represented and spelling is close to correct English spelling. • Stage 5 - Correct Spelling Correct spelling of words will sometimes include very short sentences of which all words are spelled correctly.

29. Working with Words Activity in which children are given some letters and use them to make words Students make little words bigger words final word Final word contains all letters.

30. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Planning • Decide what the “big word” is that can be made with all the letters. In choosing this word, consider books the children are reading, and what letter-sound patterns you can draw children’s attention to through the sorting at the end. • Make a list of other words you can make from these letters.

31. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Planning • From all the words you can make, pick 12 to 15 words to emphasize. • Words that you can sort for the pattern you want to emphasize • Little words and big words so that the lesson is a multilevel lesson (Making the little words help your slowest students; making the big words challenges your most accelerated students.)

32. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Planning • Words that can be made with the same letters in different places (cold/clod) so that children are reminded that when spelling words, the ordering of the letters is crucial • A proper name or two to remind them that names – even automobile names! – need capital letters • Words that most students have in their listening vocabulary

33. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Planning • Write all the words on index cards and order them from smallest to biggest. • Once you have the two-letter, three-letter, …words together, order them so that you can emphasize letter patterns and how changing the position of the letters or changing/adding just one letter results in a different word. • Store the cards in an envelope. On the envelope, write the words in order and the patterns by which you will sort.

34. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Teaching • Place the large letter cards needed in a pocket chart or along the chalk ledge. • Have designated children give a holder and one letter to each child. Let the passer keep the Ziploc bag or paper cup containing that letter and have the same child collect that letter when the lesson is over. • Hold up and name the letters on the large letter cards and have the children hold up their matching small letter cards.

35. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Teaching • Write the numeral 2 (or 3 if there are no two-letter words in this lesson) on the board and have the children hold up two fingers. Tell them to take two letters and make the first word. Put the word in a sentence after you say the word. • Have a child who has the first word made correctly make the same word with the larger letter cards on the chalk ledge or pocket chart. Encourage anyone who didn’t make the word correctly at first to fix the word when they see it made correctly.

36. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Teaching • Continue to make the remaining two-letter words, giving students clues such as “Change just the first letter” or “Move the same letters around and you can make a different word” or “Take all your letters out and make another word.” Send children who have the word made correctly to make the word with the large letters. • Erase the 2 and write a 3 on the board. Have the children hold up three fingers and tell them that these words will take three of their letters.

37. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Teaching • Continue having them make words, erasing and changing the number on the board to indicate the number of letters needed. Use the words in simple sentences to make sure they understand the meaning. Remember to cue them about whether they are just changing one letter, changing letters around, or taking all their letters out to make a word from scratch. When you have them make a name, cue them that it is a name and send a child who has started that name with a capital letter to make the word with the big letters.

38. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Teaching • Before telling them the last word, ask “Has anyone figured out what word we can make with all our letters?” If so, congratulate them and have them make it. Give them clues to help them figure out the big word. • Once all the words have been made, have the students close their holders and direct their attention to the words in the pocket chart. Use these words for sorting and pointing out patterns. Pick a word and point out a particular spelling pattern, and ask children to find the others with the same pattern. Line these words up so that the pattern is visible.

39. A Making-Words Lesson Steps in Teaching • To get maximum transfer to reading and writing, have the students use the patterns they have sorted to read and spell a few new words. Emphasize that good readers and writers need to read and spell many words. Thinking of rhyming words and other patterns will help in reading and spelling lots of additional words.

40. Journal Writing Writing by the Students • Allows students to express own ideas, use inventive spelling, and begin using techniques obtained through modeled and shared writing. • May be written on a plain sheet of paper, lined paper, spiral notebook, folders with paper inside, or several sheets stapled together for each month (January Journals). • May be generated by student or prompted by teacher.

41. Journal Writing Writing by the Students • Early writers may “drite” (draw and write). • Teachers are provided with an abundance of information on student’s writing skills needing additional attention.

42. Creative Writing • Print-Rich Environment • Link Literature to Writing • Concepts of Print • Fluency • Teacher Read Aloud • Teacher Writes

43. Group Writing Activities

44. Shared Writing Objectives • Observe that “writing is talk written down.” • Observe concepts about print in action. • Understand writing as a way the writer records ideas. • Recognize that writing serves different purposes.

45. Shared Writing • Writing with students • Negotiating text • “Sharing the Pen”

46. Model Writing What is it?• Teacher thinks aloud as she writes, modeling writing strategies and techniques. • Students participate with ideas. Purpose?• Reinforces the reading process • Demonstrates conventions of writing • Helps children understand the writing process • Makes it possible for all to participate

47. Shared Writing Ideas • Recounting experiences (Daily News) • Innovation on stories • Making lists • Writing procedures (How To …) • Letters (Morning Message) • Observations • Messages • Newsletters

48. Model Writing Ideas • Wall stories and class books • Story innovations • Story retellings • Morning message • Daily News • Recipes • Lists

49. Predictable Charts • Sentences have a predictable pattern. • Follow a predictable book. • Child gives answer to predictable chart while teacher writes. • Child’s name is written at the end of sentence in parentheses. Example: I like to eat . . . (Student’s Name) I like to eat grapes. (Bianca) I like to eat cookies. (Jacob) I like to eat popcorn. (Aimee)

50. Innovations & Retellings • Innovation uses an original story, poem, or rhyme as a model and is changed by as little as one word in the text. Billy and Betty went up the hill. • May be a rewrite of a repetitive phrase or sentence Then I’ll bump and I’ll jump and I’ll stomp your house down,” said the wolf to the first little pig. • May also involve using portions or most of a story’s framework to make a completely new piece Use parts of book The Three Little Pigs to create a different version of story called The Three Little Sea Horses.