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.