I’ve been reading poetry to my students the last week as we finish our literary nonfiction unit and get ready to start a poetry study. I always start a new unit immersing my students in the new genre that we will study. We spend lots of time just reading for pleasure and then talking about what we notice. I love teaching poetry. I find that even my most reluctant writers like writing poetry once they find out that every line does not have to rhyme. Today, when I went to the library to get some of my favorite books that I used last year, I found a nice surprise. Sprinkled through It’s Raining Laughter were sticky notes left from one of my students in last year’s class. He had chosen several poems because they meant something to him and had marked them so that he could go back to them. I can’t wait to show them to his younger sister who is in my class this year.
It’s Raining Laughter by Nikki Grimes is one of the books I’ll be sharing with my students tomorrow. It’s full of beautiful photography of kids being kids and poignant poems about growing up. I know I can’t go wrong with Nikki Grimes. My students will choose a poem to put in their pockets and carry with them all day since it’s Put a Poem in Your Pocket Day. It’ll be a fun way to start on our new writing journey!
My students are publishing their Wow! Nonfiction books. I read aloud 4 mentor texts to support their writing after they finished their research. I displayed about 20 other examples of literary nonfiction that they could look at to get ideas. I have been amazed at the amount of information each child wrote, even my reluctant writers found many interesting facts. They wrote much more than they would have had we done a traditional animal report (what it looks like, what it eats, where it lives, etc.). They have that information embedded in their text, but they added so much more. I learned many things I didn’t know as I typed their books! Atlantic by G. Brian Karas is a wonderful book. It’s told from the viewpoint of the Atlantic Ocean. ( I am the Atlantic…The moon so far out in space pulls at me and then lets go so my tides go in and out, ebb and flood). Many students chose this structure for their own books. (I am the duck who has orange feet. If I am a boy, I have a green neck with a white stripe. If I am a girl, I have brown feathers all over me). The student who wrote this struggles with getting his ideas down in an organized way. The structure allowed him to focus on writing what he learned about ducks and his story flows seamlessly.
If You Were Born a Kitten by Marion Dane Bauer uses the pattern, If you were born a kitten, then….; If you were born a porcupette, then you… The illustrations are beautiful and give the reader even more information. After describing many different animals, the story ends with “You rode beneath your mother’s heart growing and growing…” The students loved this book because many of them have babies in their lives. One boy wrote about turtles using this structure. “If you were a turtle, you would hide in your shell when there is danger. If you were a turtle, you would lay eggs in the sand.” He wrote 10 more pages, all of them with interesting facts. This student is an ELL student who started first grade drawing detailed pictures, telling elaborate stories to go with the pictures and writing random letters that had no correlation to his story. He knew that writing involved making letters, and that’s exactly what he did. This last piece of writing is clearly written, his text is readable, and he followed the pattern throughout the book. His writing makes me say, “Wow!”
This whole school year has opened many doors for me. One of the most exciting is being able to work with fellow staff members and Dr. David Bloome from OSU in beginning to devlop a model writing school. We work together twice a month after school to write, discuss research, and learn from each other. I first met Dave 2 summers ago when I participated in the Columbus Area Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project. The National Writing Project believes that the best writing teachers are writers themselves. I wanted to participate in the writing project because I felt very inadequate as a writing teacher. It was there that I found my voice and realized that I could make a difference with my kids.
Our after school teacher group has become its own community of writers. At the beginning, it was very risky to share my writing with my colleagues. I felt vulnerable and in conversation with other teachers, they said that they felt the same way. When we put ourselves out there, we worry that it’s not good enough or someone else has the same idea. Our students must feel the same apprehensions. It is so important for our students to feel safe to write and share in our classrooms.
Our small teacher group has evolved over the school year. Because we have written together and shared, we have a stronger bond, we have more meaningful conversations about writing, and we truly trust each other. We are getting ready to share our work with the rest of the staff. I hope that others will want to join us next year. It has been gratifying work and has given me much to think about in my own classroom.
This work has helped me solidify my own beliefs about the teaching of writing. First, I need to be a writer and share my writing with my kids. I need to create a safe environment where students can take risks and grow. I need to challenge my students and guide them to become better writers. My lessons should not focus on fixing the writing, but helping the writer. All of my writers can do something well. It is my job to find that “something” and use it as a springboard to move them forward. Finally, (although I’m sure I could think of more if I took the time), everyone’s voice is valuable and it is my job to help my kids realize that what they have to say is important.
My first graders are writing “Wow!” nonfiction books. Katie Wood Ray describes this genre as one that will make your reader say, “Wow!” when he reads your information. Earlier, we immersed ourselves in reading lots of nonfiction and learned about nonfiction conventions and how they help convey information to our readers. We did small inquiry projects where students researched one question and made posters that used several different nonfiction conventions. Then it was time to do our annual pond animal research project. My teaching partner and I wanted to do something different than the traditional animal report. We wanted to stretch our students and encourage them to make purposeful decisions as writers to share their information. Our audience? Students and parents from our school who will visit our pond museum. We used 4 mentor texts: This is the Tree by Miriam Moss, Atlantic by G. Brian Karas, If You Were Born a Kitten by Marion Dane Bauer, and Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies. We read each book aloud and made a list of what we could try as writers based on the author’s craft. My students have been so intent about their research and writing and they are including some interesting information that they might not have been able to share in a traditional report. Aiden is intent on finding out how much blood a mosquito sucks out of a human and Will has been fascinated with the poisonous mucus on the skin of a newt. I love watching my students be so engrossed as readers and writers. I can’t wait for them to share their writing with everyone!
I have been wanting to jump into the blogging world for some time now. Why Raising Readers and Writers? Two years ago, I moved to teaching first grade from teaching the intermediate grades for over 15 years. At first, I wondered how I was ever going to teach 6 year-olds how to read and write. And as I stepped into this new world, I found out that they really weren’t any different from my 10 and 11 year olds. Read lots of great literature, allow time for purposeful reading and writing, make time for conversation about reading and writing and watch them grow! I have been amazed at what my little ones can do and the deep thinking that occurs in my room.
My goal for this blog is to share my thinking (I know my mom will at least read it) about reading and writing. I have gotten so much information from others through reading their blogs, and I hope that I can do the same for someone else.
