I teach 2nd grade, and our school uses Lucy Calkins' Units of Study. During the first couple of units (Launching the Writing Workshop, and Small Moments), kids are taught to write about something they did or something that happened to them. I've asked kids before: "Did you play with the butterflies and rainbows?" or something similar. Of course, they haven't. We use mentor texts to model things that happen to us, like A Chair for My Mother.
I have a group of boys this year that write about the computer games they play (non-violent, thankfully). I let them write one, but then they have to come up w/ other things to write about, and then publish. As a class we make a list of things we can write about. Here are some examples: A time when I went somewhere (beach, Walmart, field trip) A time when I did something with someone special (cousins, mom, grandpa) Something I saw, smelled, tasted, touched or heard Something I've done once and would like to do again Something I've done once and never want to do again Something I did that made me happy, sad, embarrassed, angry, excited, surprised etc. We worked on this list during a couple of minilessons. The next step is to "zoom in" on a small moment. For example, say a child writes about his week at Outer Banks beach. We talk about how to zoom in on the putt-putt game, or the water slide, or when the wave knocked him over, etc. Makes for MUCH better writing! We do get into creative writing later, but this is a nice way to start, because you can refer back to it when starting the creative writing. Melissa/VA/2nd On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 3:34 PM, Waingort Jimenez, Elisa < elwaingor...@cbe.ab.ca> wrote: > Hey Sue, > I'm glad you brought this up. I don't have much time to write a response > but I am a bit uninspired with what I see some kids writing and have decided > to make changes to my writing workshop; I'm still in the thinking stage. > While there will still be an element of choice I don't feel I can let days > go by with kids writing about the same 'ole butterfly and flowers theme > without intervening. In the past, my response has been to just put a stop > to it but this time I am doing some writers' notebook lessons instead. > > I am looking forward to reading others' replies. > Elisa > > Elisa Waingort > Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual > Dalhousie Elementary > Calgary, Canada > > The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even > touched. They must be felt within the heart. > —Helen Keller > > Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. > http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ > > Hello everyone, > > > > I teach 3rd grade and every year I go through students writing stories > about > guns/violence or scary "not Halloween" stories. I teach in a rural area > and > students do hunt and we talk about the difference between writing a story > with a gun that is about hunting or "video game" violence. Last year I had > a child obsessed with writing scary stories and I eventually let him write > but he could not share with the whole class because I had kids that would > get scared. > > > > I am wondering how you handle this in your room. I don't want every story > to only be a "happily ever after" story or stop them from writing but I > need > to have some limits. > > > > I just had a little boy write this story and he is SOOOOO excited and he > wants to share it. I don't want to dampen his enthusiasm for writing but.. > > > > "Scary" is presumed here because they are Halloween prompts and we talk > about the difference here as well. Although maybe I shouldn't even > encourage this with the prompts. > > > > It began with a prompt I got from Laura Candler: No one was ever seen going > into the old house at the end of the street. No one was ever seen coming > out. So when my friends and I saw lights flickering in the attic, we just > had to go check it out.. > > > > Here is what he wrote: When I went in I had to climb a creaky staircase. > Creeeeeeeeek. Finally I got to the top. I looked over to the other wall. > I saw a AK47. I grabbed it. When I looked back I saw..dancing skeleton > dragging a chest full of candy. I ran up to the skeletons and said "eat > led" BBBBBBBBBB Bones were scattered all over the place. I went home and > ate all of the candy. Buuuurp. The end. > > > > Should I go back and help him think of "another way, without the gun to > get > the candy" > > Just not let him share it with the whole group. > > Let him share it and use it as a lesson about not using the guns- maybe > have > the class brainstorm other ways to get the candy. > > It is early in the year and I want to get this under control now. > > > > The other problem I have is kids writing something that happened in a movie > or tv show. Sometimes I think they have a good story but when they read it > to the class the kids are like.that happened on "blah, blah, blah"... > > > > HELP>>>> Sue > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
