To talk or write effectively, a child need to be very familiar with language by using it and hearing it often, so children who read or are read to are often better writers.  They have more exposure to stories, story language, story elements, and vocabulary.  By being exposed to models of good language, students have better banks of knowledge to draw from to imitate.  Imitation is an important part of learning.

I try to provide effective story models for my students to imitate.  I like to use examples from published stories and books to effectively get the point across and make it memorable for students.    For example, one way to begin a story is to use a sound effect to capture the reader’s attention.  In class students search through books I have provided to find beginnings that use sound effects and then attempt to write a beginning imitating that feature.

Another way to start a story is to immediately put the reader in the middle of the action.  The beginning of Because of Winn-Dixie (chasing the dog through the grocery store) is a very effective model of this story element.  After discussing this with students, I will challenge them to look at the beginning of the stories they write to see if it is full of action like that one.

The thoughts reflecting back on the story at the end of Charlotte’s Web and The Mouse and the Motorcycle can be used to demonstrate effective ways to end stories. I encourage my students to imitate or follow the models of good authors when they write.

There are lots books on Big Universe that can be used as good models of writing. Can children find some that have good beginnings to imitate? Can children find some that have fun sound effects to use as models for their own stories?

Can children find some characters that they like in stories on Big Universe and write more about them? What if you have children write a “what comes next” story after you finish reading a book on Big Universe?

There are lots of great ways to connect reading and writing!

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This week I’ve been sorting through pictures. I’ve got thousands – the old fashion kind – taken with a 35mm camera. It’s funny how quickly things change and become out dated. I bought a converter specifically designed scan photos directly into a computer. 

The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” has come to my mind many times this week. Each picture is a special time in place. A picture has the power to make us smile, laugh, or cry. A picture has the power to place us at the beach, in the mountains, in a cozy country kitchen in front of a warm, crackling fire, or in a contemporary living room, lounging on a white leather sofa looking out through a wall of glass windows at a yard of wildflowers. A picture can tell a whole story without one written word. 

The magic of pictures combined with the written words holds immeasurable power in books! The right picture, with the right words can bring to life a whole world for a child and activate neurons in the brain that will enrich the learning process. Unknown vocabulary is easier for children to figure out with good picture reinforcement. Reading comprehension is deeper and more meaningful with the enhancement of quality illustrations.

 There’s a series of things that need to take place in order for complete comprehension to take place. The best way to demonstrate this is through pictures:

8 Strategies for Reading Comprehension

Reading is Fundamental or RIF has a list of tips for using picture books successfully. Being able to interpret illustrations, use illustrations to decode unknown words, tell a story from an illustration, put a story to an illustration and even create stories using pictures are all things that RIF outlines in the attached literacy skills.

Tips for Using Picture Books in the Classroom

As a teacher my problem has always been finding classroom sets of picture books. Now, thanks to technology and Big Universe that’s not a problem any more. Big Universe has 1,000 quality publisher picture books online! These books can be projected to a SmartBoard or other interactive white board for teaching and they can be used on any computer system 24 hour a day. Plus, there is a very high tech, easy to use authoring tool that let’s members design their own picture books. Now everyone, children, teachers, parents, can be a published author. There are almost 7,000 clipart pictures online and a user can import their own pictures and art. 

Picture books are a wonderful way to teach reading and writing. In fact, using picture books to teach any academic subject is the best way to engage both the left and right sides of the brain ensuring you reach all learners in the classroom.

Did you know the olfactory sense is capable of discriminating over 10,000 scents?  Some of the words we use to describe scents are: fruity, flowery, spicy, putrid, burnt, and rancid.  The goal of this lesson is to go beyond the limitations of the words listed above.  First, demonstrate with students how the olfactory senses flavor, by having students pinch their nostrils shut and taste a pinch of cinnamon – they should taste only a fraction of sweetness.  As soon as the nostrils are opened, they can taste the cinnamon – rather, smell it.  Next, have the students smell sulphur and ask how the odor affects them.  As the students try to describe the odor, the teacher writes those descriptions on the board, pointing out the limits we place on describing smells. Now, pass around vials of various scents and have the students describe each odor in terms of other sensory perceptions.  How does the smell feel? What are its dimensions? What is its temperature? How does it move?  Students should practice writing descriptions about 10 or 12 different smells.  Finally, students should visit some place of their choice, and write about their impressions of the place and the odors they find there.  Relaying sensations to the audience is the goal.

Are you a reader? Are you a writer? Were you able to truthfully answer, “Yes!” to both questions? Although both reading and writing are taught in school, most adults today identify themselves as readers, but not writers. Through the writer’s workshop, student writing is valued; students learn to write well and become comfortable thinking of themselves as writers. As they see the power of their writing, students of all writing skills levels desire to work earnestly in order for their audience of readers to appreciate their writing. The kind of motivation possible for student performance is rarely found in standard classrooms utilizing teacher led writing instruction.

Students are initiated into writer’s workshop by noticing how writers write. The teacher shares wonderful books and other texts, letting the students know that a writer wrote the text the students was reading. As students begin to appreciate the reading/writing connection, they begin to see reading and writing as complementary activities.

Students find that the workshop environment inspires them to want to write well. Writers have autonomy; they choose their own topics, writing instruments, and seating arrangements. Students who are hesitant to write can enter the process from many routes. The workshop holds many motivations: books, animals, natural objects, conversations with a friend, all could be utilized as part of the prewriting stage, as the writer researches a topic—just as “real” writers do. Once the students selects and researches a topic, the student may choose a preferred place to sit: at a table, on the floor with a pillow and clipboard, or near a secluded corner with earphones to muffle distracting sounds. A writing center provides the student with more choices: pencils, kinds of paper, pens, staplers, clipboards, and reference texts such as charts, dictionaries, word banks, and thesauri.

Lastly, writer’s workshop dignifies the student’s efforts. Naming the student a “writer”, the teacher listens with respect and she engages in dialogue with the student about his writing. “What did you mean by…” “I’d like to know more about…” “What will happen after…” The teacher demonstrates an honest interest in the student’s writing; the writer wants his reader to understand his writing. The relationship built by the teacher’s respect for the writer allows the teacher to shape the skills that develop within the student’s writing while the student works hard to create writing worth publishing…the last step of the writing process!

In the Writer’s Workshop model of instruction, pioneered by Lucy Calkins, Nancy Atwell, and Donald Graves, among others, students are encouraged to see themselves as writers. Helping students to accept the reality of their own authorship can be a difficult task for some children for whom writing may be a difficult task.

One of the benefits of the writer’s workshop approach, especially for students having difficulty with writing, is the idea of a “mini-lesson.” Children are presented with a “bite-sized” piece of guidance at the beginning of each workshop. They are encouraged to practice the skill introduced in the mini-lesson, eventually becoming skillful at applying the skill in their own writing.

We can use the idea of a “mini-lesson” as we work individually with students to support their identification as authors. The idea is to choose a small writing task that can help the author create a larger piece of work. Over the next few months, I will be sharing a number of small lessons designed to help reticent writers feel immediate satisfaction.

The first and most easily accessible kind of writing is poetry. In a beginning poetry mini-lesson, one could introduce the idea of repeated patterns. Poetic patterns can be ending sound patterns, such as rhyming, repeated consonants (alliteration), or internal vowel sounds that are repeated (assonance). Patterns can be whole lines that are repeated or individual words that are repeated. What could be a better way to end the lesson than by recording into an ipod to hear it in your own voice?