Ms. Anderson - The Teaching Writing Series - Manipulating Sentence Frames to Meet Needs
Ms. Anderson has been one of the teachers experimenting with Sentence Frames in helping her students move towards independence in their writing. Not that I want to speak for her or anything, but based on her responses to me she seems to feel that this approach has helped her students experience success in organizing their ideas and communicating through writing.
Based on my understanding of the unit she is currently teaching, she is using The Three Bears to teach plotline structure or something. As such, she took the Making Predictions concept of writing sentence frames and manipulated it for the type of work she was doing with her students. They were able to listen to the story audibly and then engaged in the sentence frame activities provided below:
Based on my understanding of the unit she is currently teaching, she is using The Three Bears to teach plotline structure or something. As such, she took the Making Predictions concept of writing sentence frames and manipulated it for the type of work she was doing with her students. They were able to listen to the story audibly and then engaged in the sentence frame activities provided below:
In reviewing the work that the students completed using this format, I was pleased with the quality of work that they produced. These are only a couple of examples of what the students did, but most/all of them were able to complete the activity successfully (filling in all of the blanks with coherent ideas/sentences).
Once the students completed the sentence frame activities, they were able to move to an extension activity where they were required to use illustrations of the story and use writing to recount what happened in the story. Because of the way the sentence frames organized their ideas and had them engage in a number of relevant concepts related to the story and its plot, the students were able to be successful in the extension activity. Here are a couple of student examples of where this is true:
Once the students completed the sentence frame activities, they were able to move to an extension activity where they were required to use illustrations of the story and use writing to recount what happened in the story. Because of the way the sentence frames organized their ideas and had them engage in a number of relevant concepts related to the story and its plot, the students were able to be successful in the extension activity. Here are a couple of student examples of where this is true:
More than anything, I think that the work that Ms. Anderson is doing with Sentence Frames from The Teaching Writing Series exemplifies how the concept activities need to be adapted or manipulated to meet her own teaching needs and the individual/collective learning needs of her students. That is not to say that my activities suck, or may it is, but I think the base concept is rooted in best practice... which is what I'm really trying to get at with the project.
Anyway, kudos Ms. Anderson for a job well done here. Keep the kids writing :D
Anyway, kudos Ms. Anderson for a job well done here. Keep the kids writing :D
Journalling through Sentence Frames
Earlier this week, I had the chance to visit Ms. Hammond's class during her language arts time. It was a very positive experience for me. I was able to see her students engage in a variety of literacy based learning activities. However, the one that I found the most impressive, and the one that happens to relate directly to what we're focussing on in literacy (writing), I wanted to take a minute and share what she has been doing with her students.
On a regular basis, Ms. Hammond has her students engage in the writing process by using sentence frames in journalling. The basic premise of sentence frames consists of teachers providing their students with the fundamental structure of a sentence while leaving key components of the sentence blank so that students can fill in their own words and ultimately complete the sentence to personalize it for the task at hand.
The following are some examples of where the students use sentence frames to complete their journalling, and where they can also communicate their message by adding illustrations. Check out the illustrations; I found them to be the most amusing :D
On a regular basis, Ms. Hammond has her students engage in the writing process by using sentence frames in journalling. The basic premise of sentence frames consists of teachers providing their students with the fundamental structure of a sentence while leaving key components of the sentence blank so that students can fill in their own words and ultimately complete the sentence to personalize it for the task at hand.
The following are some examples of where the students use sentence frames to complete their journalling, and where they can also communicate their message by adding illustrations. Check out the illustrations; I found them to be the most amusing :D
Teaching Writing using Aesop's Fables
Last Friday, I was able to spend some time in Ms. P's room and observed her working with her students on writing. She engaged them in a writing process that has been linked to Aesop's Fables; and even though she is very much a "Balanced Literacy" teacher, she demonstrated "best practice" in how she approached writing with her students. I wanted to take a minute and share some of her approaches so that others can benefit from her success in this area.
In talking with Ms. P about her approach, she expressed a concern that students are not generally familiar with Aesop's Fables when they come to her in grade 3. That could be due to the fact that they are not being read to them at home like they were to us when we were little. As I reflected on that, I think she has a point. I really enjoy reading to my children before bed, but I don't know that I have ever read the actual Aesop's Fables. I think that I have read some variations of the original stories, like Little Red Riding Hood from the perspective of the Big Bad Wolf and Jack and the Beanstalk from the perspective of the Giant. So... as a result, Ms. P has decided to use the fables as a basis for teaching writing in her class.
One thing that I liked was that Ms. P read variations of the fables to her children so that they could see the differences in them. This helped them understand the plot structure of the story. While I was in class, she read a version of Little Red Riding Hood and talked about the plot in that story. Then she watched an online version of the story in cartoon form, and discussed the differences between the two with her students. From there, she gave all of her students a sticky note with elements of the plotline them and had the students identify the elements of the plot and stick them to her story wall. Here is a picture of her story wall:
In talking with Ms. P about her approach, she expressed a concern that students are not generally familiar with Aesop's Fables when they come to her in grade 3. That could be due to the fact that they are not being read to them at home like they were to us when we were little. As I reflected on that, I think she has a point. I really enjoy reading to my children before bed, but I don't know that I have ever read the actual Aesop's Fables. I think that I have read some variations of the original stories, like Little Red Riding Hood from the perspective of the Big Bad Wolf and Jack and the Beanstalk from the perspective of the Giant. So... as a result, Ms. P has decided to use the fables as a basis for teaching writing in her class.
One thing that I liked was that Ms. P read variations of the fables to her children so that they could see the differences in them. This helped them understand the plot structure of the story. While I was in class, she read a version of Little Red Riding Hood and talked about the plot in that story. Then she watched an online version of the story in cartoon form, and discussed the differences between the two with her students. From there, she gave all of her students a sticky note with elements of the plotline them and had the students identify the elements of the plot and stick them to her story wall. Here is a picture of her story wall:
From there, she told a story using students from her own class with the setting in the Maskwacis town site. She followed the same plot line, but changed the characters, setting, problem, complications, etc. It was fun for the kids and highly engaging. It also taught them how to apply the plot line from one of Aesop's Fables into a different story, which is what they were to do next.
At this point in the lesson, Ms. P handed out some graphic organizers and helped her students begin planning their own stories... following the plot structure of the model story - Little Red Riding Hood. Here are the graphic organizers that she used to do that.
At this point in the lesson, Ms. P handed out some graphic organizers and helped her students begin planning their own stories... following the plot structure of the model story - Little Red Riding Hood. Here are the graphic organizers that she used to do that.
As the students engaged in the planning of their own stories, she began to plan one using the same graphic organizers on the Smart Board. It looked like this:
And once the students finished planning their own stories, their graphic organizers looked like this:
From this point forward, Ms. P had her students transfer the ideas that were developed using the graphic organizers into actual stories using a prose format. The end result demonstrates that students are progressing in the writing process and that they are developing stories with a basic plot line structure with a beginning, middle, and end - all of which will be essential for her students as they approach the Provincial Achievement Test in May. The other thing that she did, which can be noted in following slideshow, is that they had fun with the final product by colouring and glueing parts of the wolf to their final products.
Check out the final products that are now on display in the hallway outside her classroom:
Check out the final products that are now on display in the hallway outside her classroom:
Ms. Anderson's Word Tree
While I was at the NES the other day, I had the chance to visit Ms. Anderson's classroom. While I was there, I observed a cool way that she is helping her students with their word wall words. When I asked her about this process, this is what she said:
"With regards to the Word Tree I just wanted to display our weekly Word Wall Words in a different way. We have the daily activities in the journal as well as class participation activities that we do daily to remember the words. The students do quite well on their spelling tests on Fridays. I try to group the words on the different branches either easier words that they understand on the bottom, and the harder words they need to work on top. I'm not sure how effective that is always, they are usually good with all the words by the third day anyway. I am going to group words in other ways to get that visual understanding!"
Check out this cool way to help students learn by viewing the pictures of Ms. Anderson's Word Tree below.
"With regards to the Word Tree I just wanted to display our weekly Word Wall Words in a different way. We have the daily activities in the journal as well as class participation activities that we do daily to remember the words. The students do quite well on their spelling tests on Fridays. I try to group the words on the different branches either easier words that they understand on the bottom, and the harder words they need to work on top. I'm not sure how effective that is always, they are usually good with all the words by the third day anyway. I am going to group words in other ways to get that visual understanding!"
Check out this cool way to help students learn by viewing the pictures of Ms. Anderson's Word Tree below.
Word Walls - An effective learning tool
As I have been in a number of different schools and classrooms, I have witnessed a number of teachers that are actively and effectively using word walls to facilitate language acquisition and mastery. However, I would like to give a shout out to Mr. Zirkwitz because of the high level of engagement I observed as his students played a word wall game where they had to follow certain word making rules in order to find the right words and generate points for their class groups. Check out the photos below to see the word wall and some of the words students had to find and write on their portable whiteboards!
Ms. Hammond - Making Literacy Learning Fun
I had a great visit with Ms. Hammond today where she showed me ways that her students are having fun developing literacy skills. The first one has to do with making words - once the students have demonstrated a certain level of understanding through a variety of other word making activities, they are then invited to make the word using the letter pattern that is taped on the floor. What a valuable learning strategy for kinaesthetic learners!
The second strategy involved the usage of literacy games and manipulatives. So often do we see manipulatives being used in mathematics, but rarely do we see it used effectively for literacy development. Check out some of the things she has in her classroom that allows students to utilize their free time to further develop their literacy skills!
The second strategy involved the usage of literacy games and manipulatives. So often do we see manipulatives being used in mathematics, but rarely do we see it used effectively for literacy development. Check out some of the things she has in her classroom that allows students to utilize their free time to further develop their literacy skills!
Check out Mr. Soifer's 3R Silent Reading in Grade 4
While I was at the NES yesterday, I was able to spend some time in Mr. Soifer's grade 4 classroom. I was lucky enough to be there first thing in the morning when the students were engaged in the daily routine of silent reading. In observing the class, I was happy to see 100% engagement from the students! I believe this was the case because of the approach that Mr. S takes to this classroom exercise. First off, he is utilizing one of our district programs - Accelerate Reader. His students are able to go to the library and choose books that are linked to the AR program and are at there level.
I was able to a variety of students reading at different levels of difficulty, but all of them engaged and demonstrating understanding of what it was that they were reading. They showed this in two ways: 1) they were all completing a Reading Log (which I will share below), and 2) they were coming up to Mr. S's desk and asked specific questions about their reading and how to apply it to the reading log.
For those of you that have independent reading programs in your classrooms, check out Mr. S's 3R Reading Log activity:
I was able to a variety of students reading at different levels of difficulty, but all of them engaged and demonstrating understanding of what it was that they were reading. They showed this in two ways: 1) they were all completing a Reading Log (which I will share below), and 2) they were coming up to Mr. S's desk and asked specific questions about their reading and how to apply it to the reading log.
For those of you that have independent reading programs in your classrooms, check out Mr. S's 3R Reading Log activity:
Balanced Literacy in Ms. P's Grade 3
I had the good fortune of visiting Ms. P's grade 3 classroom yesterday and was able to observe balanced literacy in action. I was also able to take a number of photos of classroom artifacts that exemplify balanced literacy such as word walls, student reading progress charts, levelled reading tubs, big books for read alouds and/or shared reading, and evidence of exemplary student writing showcased on bulletin boards outside the classroom. Please check out the following slide show of some of the pictures I took when I was there.