Conventions

Conventions, in writing, are what makes the piece. It is the difference between asking a question, reading with excitement, and making the piece understandable for the audience to read.
When teaching conventions to students, there are several questions to keep in mind:
1. Did you use proper spacing? Spacing is important in order to differentiate between sentences.
2. Could another person read my writing? Is it clear?
3. Are spelling errors fixed? Did you use a dictionary or a thesaurus?
4. Did you use capital letters appropriately?
5. Did you use punctuation marks correctly?


Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver.Holiday House, 2004.
"On the hottest day Mr. Wright's class has ever seen, the teacher gives punctuation a vacation! Insulted, the punctuation marks take off, and a few days later postcards arrive from Take-a-Break Lake."


Minilesson:

1. Review punctuation with your students.
2. Read the story.
3. Brainstorm a list of sentences and ask the students to fill-in the correct punctuation marks.

Ohio Academic Content Standards
Writing Conventions: Punctuation and Capitalization
5. Place punctuation marks at the end of sentences.


Another phenomenal book to read about conventions is from the same author:
Nouns and Verbs Have a Field Day by Robin Pulver. Holiday House, 2007.
"The nouns and verbs decide to have some fun of their own while the kids in Mr. Wright's class are away participating in a field day. The nouns pair up with other nouns and the verbs with other verbs, until they realize they must cooperate to accomplish anything."

Minilesson:

1. Review nouns and verbs with your students.
2. Read story.
3. After reading the story, look at cards (noun cards and verb cards). Put sentences together using the cards. Read sentences. Does the sentences sound correct?
4. Have each student write sentences using the cards.

**Noun and verb cards can be made using picture cards or clip art.

Ohio Academic Content Standards:
Writing Conventions: Handwriting
2. Leave spaces between words when writing.

Voice

Voice is the sense the reader gets that a real, honest, and personal individual is behind the writing and is speaking directly to them. When voice is evident in any writing piece, there are many pieces that fall together:

1. The reader feels a strong connection with the writing piece. In order for this to happen, students need to ask themselves, "Does this writing sound like me?"
2. The piece of writing shines with personality.
   
3. Does the paper shine with the writer's personality and confidence?

I have thought about a lot of books that I am reading with my kindergartners. Here are a few of the books I have read to my students that they loved to hear and that are unique in their own way!


Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague. Scholastice, 2002.
A dog named Ike LaRue gets sent to obedience school to learn some manners. He writes letters to his owner, Mrs. LaRue, about his time at obedience school.

Minilesson: Write a letter about a time you were in trouble.

1. Take a picture walk.
2. Read the story.
3. Brainstorm different times that the children were in trouble.
4. While the children are drawing about their experience, conference with each child to help them stay on task.
5. Share stories when they are finished.

Ohio Academic Content Standards Communication: Oral and Visual

1. Listen attentively to speakers, stories, poems and songs.

2. Connect what is heard with prior knowledge and experience.

3. Follow simple oral directions.

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. Harper Collins, 2003.
This is one book of a series of books, in diary form, from the perspective of a worm. Worm and Spider have adventures throughout this book that are from the months March to August.


Minilesson: Write a story from the perspective of choice by the student.

1. Discuss what you would write in a diary...emotions, celebrations, great days, bad days...
   
2. Introduce the story. Look at the inside front cover as well as back covers of the book.
3. Read story. Point out the dates at the top of each page. Point out that Worm wrote diary entries and sometimes he skipped days.
4. Brainstorm a list of possibilities to write about. Write them down. For kindergarten, have the topics narrowed down to four groups. Each group gets one topic to write about. For my class, I had them go by table groups.
   
5. In diary form, have each group write a journal entry.
   
6. Have the students illustrate their journal entry.
7. Publish. Have each group share their diaries.

Ohio Academic Standards
Writing Applications:

1. Dictate or write simple stories, using letters, words, or pictures.
   

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Penguin Publishing, 1998.
This story is told from the point of view of the wolf. He claims he was really not a bad wolf...


Minilesson:

1. Read the original story of The Three Little Pigs to build background knowledge.
2. Read aloud The True Story of the Three Little Pigs to the class.
3. Talk about point of view. In the original story, the three pigs are telling the story from their perspective. In the other, the wolf is telling the story.
4. Use a graphic organizer (Venn) to compare and contrast the two stories.
5. The following day, as a class, reconstruct a different tale, from a different point of view.

Ohio Academic Content Standards
Research
3. Recall information about a topic, with teacher assistance.

Sentence Fluency

When I think of sentence fluency, I think of the flow of the writing piece, like poetry for example. In most forms of poetry, you can envision what the writer is talking about in your mind. The words in the poem sway back and forth. The rhythm of the words make a melody in my mind. Sentence Fluency should include great word choice. When teaching children about sentence fluency, keep these questions in mind...

1. Did I use sentences?
2. Did I use different beginnings to my sentences instead of using "tired words"?
3. Did I use different lengths of sentences in my writing...some long sentences as well as some short sentences?
4. Does my writing sound smooth?

Evidence of great sentence fluency would include presenting clear images to the reader and the sentences are pleasant to the ears as well as to the eyes.

Here is a book I have looked at that I perceive as being great examples of sentence fluency:


Hello, Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher. Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
"In this lyrical offering, the harvest moon rises on a quiet neighborhood and bathes the silent streets in brilliant lunar light. It illuminates corn and wheat fields, inspires luna moths to perform ballet in the crisp air, and casts a silver shadow on the red and orange autumn trees."

Minilesson: Write about your favorite piece of nature.

1. Introduce the story. Have the students close their eyes as you read the story to them. Tell them to listen to what you are reading. Have them imagine the picture you are painting with the words you are reading.
2. Read the story.
   
3. After you have read the story, ask them to tell you about the images they created in their mind as you were reading to them. To help them get started, read the first page to them again. Then ask what they thought about. Write down their responses.
   
4. After going through this lesson, talk to the students about what great writer's do-they give us words to spark our imagination.
   
5. Now, have the students brainstorm their favorite place...without telling anyone, have them write about it (free write). Repeat the process of revisions until the piece sings with details. For the younger grades, have the students draw a picture to help build their understanding of details and fluency.

Ohio Academic Content Standard for Kindergarten: Writing Applications
4. Dictate or write informal writing for various purposes.

Wow!

I think this blog is finally coming together! I am always looking for ways to improve my work, so please leave me a comment! Have a great evening!

Word Choice

Word Choice is all about catching the reader's attention. When looking at your or your student's writing, here are some questions to ask to make sure the right word(s) are being used:

1. Have I used words that I really love? Words are vivid, descriptive, and precise.
   
2. Can my reader tell what my words mean? Words clarify and explain meaning.
3. Have I used any NEW words?
4. Did I try not to repeat any words too many times?

There are many great picture books to use to help teach word choice to children. Here are a few that I have investigated (including minilessons):

In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming. Henry Holt and Co. 1993.
The animals and insects that live on and in a freshwater pond wiggle, waddle, hover, swoop and swirl through the stunning spreads--and through the seasons of the year. Fish, frogs and fowl cavort first in the vibrant greens and yellows of spring and summer, then on through fiery autumn reds and oranges and, finally, amid barren browns and icy whites as winter sets in.

MiniLesson: Write about something in nature that you are thankful.

1. Take a picture walk-empathize on the words that correspond with the animals.
2. Read the story.
3. Discuss the descriptive verbs found in the story. Talk about what the author did to get the reader interested in the story.
4. Brainstorm a list of favorite verbs-running, jumping, climbing...
5. Change the words in the story with a new verb.
6. Students will illustrate a picture of their favorite verb.

Ohio Academic Content Standards: Kindergarten
Research
2. Use books or observations to gather information, with teacher's assistance, to explain a topic or unit of study.

Click, Clack, Quackity Quack by Doreen Cronin. Atheneum, 2005.
The alphabetical adventure begins as the Animals awake and ends 25 letters later with them peacefully snoring Zzzzzzzz….

Minilesson: Class book of animals and association of verbs with assigned letter.

1. Take a picture walk. Point out the way the book is written-Alphabet book with a twist.
2. Read the story.
3. Over the course of a couple days, brainstorm a list of animals. Use the dictionary if you and the students get "stuck". Talk about what the animal could be doing (associate the letter with the verb).
   
4. Assign a letter or letters to each student.
5. Using the brainstorm list, have each child illustrate an animal and have them write what action the animal is doing.
6. Have a publishing party and share the book with the class. Invite parents as well!

Ohio Academic Content Standards: Kindergarten
Writing Application
2. Name or label objects or places.

Organization

Organization is how a writing piece is put together. Great organization helps the piece make sense, has a powerful lead, strong transitions, and a solid conclusion. Here are some questions students should ask when working on the organization of their piece:

1. How does my paper begin? The sequence of events should flow in a logical pattern.
2. Did I tell things in order?
3. Does everything link to my paper? Remember the main idea...are you staying on task and focused on what the main message is?
4. How does my paper end?

Teachers model organization through the use of graphic organizers. As a kindergarten teacher, I model graphic organizers through whole group instruction.

Here are a few books I have found to be wonderful to teach organization with minilessons:

Charlie the Caterpillar by Don Deluise. Aladin, 1993.
This story is about a caterpillar named Charlie and his search for friendship.

Minilesson: Beginning, Middle, End

1. Investigate your students background knowledge regarding caterpillars. Talk about the life cycle of a butterfly: caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. Connect the life cycle with the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
2. Read the story.
3. On chart paper, label one section for beginning, one section for middle, and one section for the end.
4. For kindergartners, have them draw a picture of their favorite part of the story. Talk about their illustration and ask which section of the story their illustration is from. For older students, have them write about their favorite part of the story (with illustrations) and show case their writing as a classroom quilt.

Ohio Academic Content Standards: Kindergarten
Writing Applications
1. Dictate or write simple stories, using letters, words, or pictures.

If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff. Laura Geringer Books, 2005.
In this story, Pig wants a party! She wants balloons, her favorite dress, and all of her friends to be invited.

Minilesson: Write directions for how to plan a party.

1. Read the story. Do a picture walk and discuss the illustrations.
2. After reading, do a think aloud...If I were planning a party, what things would I need to do to get ready for the party?
3. On chart paper, plan what you would need to do in order to have a party.
4. For an extension, read this story before having a classroom party (i.e. Halloween party...) and use what the students have learned in order to make the party happen. Have them write out the invitations, plan the food (within reason, of course), day, and time!

Ohio Academic Content Standards: Kindergarten
Research
3. Recall information about a topic, with teacher's assistance.
4. Share findings visually or orally.

Ideas

When I start to write any piece, whether it is for grad school, my classroom, or for personal reasons, I have to come up with ideas. A great way to present ideas to students is by asking questions:
1. What is my message?
2. Is my message clear?
3. Did I try to make it interesting?
4. Do I have enough information (details)? The details about the topic "show" rather than "tell".


There are many books you can use to convey ideas for a writing lesson. When you pick a book, make sure you are able to answer these questions.

Here are some books I have looked at that are great books to teach "Ideas" along with a minilesson:

Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel. Roaring Brook Press, 2005.
In this alphabet book, a kitty decides to to very bad when she discovers there is no food in the house.
Minilesson: Make a class book
1. Read aloud to the class.
2. After the story, have each student pick out a letter (die cut letters)to paste onto a piece a paper. Research food that starts with each letter. Illustrate and label a food item.
3. When illustrations are completed, compile into a class book. Have the students help put the book together in correct ABC order.

Ohio Academic Content Standards: Kindergarten
Research
1. Ask questions about a particular topic being studied or an area of interest.

One of Those Days by Amy Rosenthal. Putnam, 2006.
Everybody has one of those days when things do not go as planned.
Minilesson: Write about a day when things do not go as planned
1. Brainstorm a list of reasons why your day did not they way you expected.
2. Read the story.
3. After reading, have each student write a list of of bad days.
4. Have each student pick one of their bad days and write about it. Encourage them to have a beginning, middle, and end.
5. Share stories with peers.

Ohio Academic Content Standard: Kindergarten
Speaking Applications
5. Deliver informal descriptive or informational presentation about ideas or experiences in logical order with a beginning, middle, and end.