Writing: Old Yeller, Themes, and Response to Literature

Our grade level really struggled with writing this year, as I previously mentioned.  We asked our Reading Specialist, Emily Diehl, to come and help us out.  We wanted a format, a way to teach writing regardless of the prompt or genre of writing.  At the time we were working on our "Going West" unit in Open Court (2002) and the story we were about to read was "Old Yeller and the Bear." 
The prompt: What makes someone a hero? After reading "Old Yeller and the Bear" provide evidence of heroism in the selection. Analyze the heroic actions of the character(s) in a paragraph.

First the students have to analyze the prompt.  They underline or highlight key words.  We highlighted provide evidence, heroism, analyze, actions, paragraph.

The T stands for TOPIC.  The A stands for AUDIENCE.  The K stands for KEY WORDS.  The students had to identify and write for each. 

Then they had to do ONE graphic organizer.  I color-coded mine to match Step Up To Writing's program (green, yellow, red), but did not have access to a color copier at work so the students saw mine on the document reader, but had a gray-shade version for themselves.  I filled out all three graphic organizers, but told the students to choose which one they preferred. Some actually filled in all three.  This took two days!!

On day 3 we worked with Topic Sentences.  They had a new graphic organizer for this and so I walked them through it.  Again borrowing from Step Up to Writing, we talked about power number statements.  We listed some of those key words: couple, many, some, few, two, three, etc.  Then we reviewed the prompt and came up with: There are several acts of heroism in "Old Yeller and the Bear" and There are two heroic acts in "Old Yeller and the Bear."

We also posed a question for our reader/audience which was lifted right from the prompt: What makes someone a hero? In "Old Yeller and the Bear" two characters act in a heroic manner.

Finally, we did the FANBOYS section: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.  The topic sentence the students generated was: Some peole think of heroes as superheroes or people who lead countries in war, but heroes can also be someone in your family or even a pet.  This page took a day, plus a few minutes into the following day.

Day Four: We took a 12x18 paper and made a folder and glued our graphic organizers down as we completed them. After the topic sentences were completed, we did the "make a plan" organizer.  We chose two topic sentences, one for the topic sentence and one for the conclusion sentence.  Then we found evidence supporting the topic sentence (the "yellow" parts of the stop and think section).  We did the green and yellow parts together, but I had the students work on the red parts, the analysis, on their own after we discussed what it would look like.  This part took about an hour session.

On the fifth day I handed students pre-cut strips of paper: two green, two gold, two pink.  I made the pink ones taller than the others because this is the "meat" of the paragraph and I wanted them to see that this is the area where they will do the most writing.  It seems redundant, but my class is 2/3 EL Learners so they need some extra practice in manipulating sentences for order/organization. Once they had the desired order down, they glued the strips down to the back of the folder.  They took this to the computer lab and typed up the paragraph.

We were fortunate enough to receive this in-service, but the opportunity didn't arrive until the middle of our third trimester.  This is definitely how I will be teaching writing from now on.  It's a nice "recipe" to have!  One thing that we've been doing as a grade level is utilizing our middle school and high school teacher/experts in the different subjects.  We've received in-services from the teachers who work at our feeder schools so there is continuity.  I have come to love this vertical collaboration!!

Figurative Language and a wordle

I have one completed project and one in-the-making project especially for Open House/end-of-year.  One I found on http://working4theclassroom.blogspot.com/2012/04/open-house-pizzazz-project-2.html (and check out the anchor charts there!) and the other came from wordle.net.

The All About Me project is my in-progress activity.  The students are currently writing their autobiographies.  Next week they'll start working on defining synonyms/antonyms, idioms, similes, metaphors, character traits, and theme, and choosing words/phrases that define themselves.  This is a two-fer activity...review of figurative language and something nice to share at Open House.  It's also a good vehicle for some self-esteem building. In the interest of time (and because I'll be out four of the next nine school days to meetings) I did all the cutting of paper and writing on all the outside flaps.  Normally I wouldn't do that for fifth graders, but it's a crazy time right now.  I hate trying to explain what is swirling around in my brain to a substitute via sub plans.  

The other end-of-year activity was completed in the computer lab.  Before we went, I passed out copies of character traits lists to the students.  We crossed off all of the negative traits and penciled in names of classmates who epitomized the positive traits.  They took their lists with them to the computer lab where they went to www.wordle.net and typed in their own name twice (to make their names the biggest word).  Then they stood up, tucked in their chairs and moved one seat to the right.  They found the classmate's name on their trait list and typed it in, and then moved to the right.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  It was like speed dating with character traits.  They enjoyed it and now the students each have an 8x10 wordle of what their classmates think of them.  The computer teacher only had to go back and erase "hot" and "sexy" for one student. Fifth graders and their hormones.  Such a joy.  I am going to the dollar store to see about getting picture frames for the wordles.  I think it'll be a nice keepsake.  As I type this, it might not be a bad activity to do after the first month of school or so.  The kids will have a chance to get to know the new students, and they'll have a nice, positive start to the year.  Three more weeks of school, two more weeks until Open House.  Not that I'm counting!

Persuasive Writing

I suffer from writer's block.  I have a difficult time coming up with writing prompts for my Fifth Graders.  We do not have a writing program.  Rather, our writing program is not a good one, so we make up our own using the standards.  Persuasive Writing is one of those standards.  I didn't want to do the same old "convince your parents for a (insert golden ticket item here)" prompt.  Hmmm.  What to do?  Read Shel Silverstein!  Because you know, a good poem solves everything.  And in my case it solved my writer's block.  I found "Headphone Harold" in Falling Up and a prompt was born.  The assignment: Write a letter to Headphone Harold to persuade him to not wear his headphones all the time.  Give at least two reasons he needs to stop.

First stop: Stephanie Moorman's blog Teaching in Room 6 for a pre-write graphic organizer.  Then, a read through of the poem and a discussion on why wearing headphones is not a good idea.  I asked the students about long-term reasons and immediate reasons.  I told them they needed to appeal to Harold's sense of self-preservation. Then we were writing!

Before we started editing, we had a discussion on frequent errors in writing: your vs. you're, the fact that were and where are not interchangeable, and most words do not have capitals in the middle of the sentence (or word!).  There were a few others I noticed as I circuited the room and I brought those up as well.  Then I had the students look for those errors as well as other language issues.  It is hard to let students do their own editing.  They read their paper the way they intended it, not the way it actually is.  This is one area of writing where I really struggle as a teacher.  I think next year I am not going to try to do the entire writing process with every piece I assign.  We'll get more writing done with intense focus on particular areas of the process rather than huge writing assignments that seem to drag on interminably!

Social Studies

We did two fun things in Social Studies in the last couple of weeks with foldables...the Indian Removal Act and The War of 1812.  The kids had a good time putting them together.  First we read about the War of 1812 and had our cause and effect discussion.  Those always seem to go well.  I had a friend send pictures of his flag (retired Air Force) being flown at Fort McHenry so I shared those.  I made "matchbook" covers for Chief Tecumseh, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, and Francis Scott Key.  We did a little 3-tab book for the Fort, and a fan book to summarize.  I also printed out the entire poem/song of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that always shocks the kids.  They had no idea it was so long!

The following week we spent two weeks on The Trail of Tears, the Seminole Wars, and the Indian Removal Act.  The students were outraged at the behavior of the President which led me to an activity I hadn't considered: a letter to the editor.  I had them pretend to be citizens in the 1830s and send a letter to the editor of a newspaper outlining their concerns that the President did not heed the ruling of the Supreme Court.  Coming off the American Revolution and the Constitution units, the students were very well aware of the importance of checks and balances.  I was glad to see that message remained with them!  We did a shutter fold main folder and a timeline, letter to the editor, and map on the inside.  Also on the inside, under the letter, the students worked on some math problems in trying to figure out percentages of departures and arrivals, births, deaths, and comings and goings in the various parties on the Trail of Tears.  Math!  In Social Studies!  OMG!  It was a great review on percentages.

I need to give credit where it is due.  Thank you to www.homeschoolshare.com for the lapbook templates/foldables!!

Timing is everything

As usual, I have found something that has revolutionized my teaching at the end of a school year.  I love Pinterest because it has allowed me to network with teachers in ways never possible before.  I am following teachers and their blogs who post from all over the world.

I have learned so much from other teachers in the last couple of months!  I am excited already about teaching next year so I can implement everything.  Interactive Student Notebooks, foldables and more foldables, lapbooks...to name a few. It makes me feel like a new teacher again, and after 17 years, I'm in need of this.

This week we've just finished our state standardized testing.  I'm exhausted and I didn't even take the test.  I cannot imagine how my poor students are feeling.  Tonight I'm charging up my camera batteries, and tomorrow I'll be taking pictures of some activities we've been doing lately thanks to the good teachers on Pinterest.