A Little Writing FREEBIE!

Don't fall over!  But is the other "M" of "eM&M".  I know Em has been doing it all and I'm not sure how she has done it, but she makes it all look so easy.  I know you all know how creative she is, but if you could see all the stuff she does and is responsible for at school... you'd be blown away. 

Anyhoo.....  I'm going to share about a little thing I like to call.... Writing.  (hehe)  This is me.  This is what I teach.  I.LOVE.IT. kind of like I love ketchup.  I LOVE watching our firsties go from LOATHING writing to LOVING writing.  Now... I'm not talkin' bout (in my best three year old voice) handwriting (that's what some of our parents think writing is).  I'm talkin' bout actual narrative, informational, opinion (not feelin' the love for this guy yet, but I'm workin' on it), research and most recently for us... the HOW TO!

Picture this......  Ohio Literacy Conference...... presenter starts telling a story all the while sketching little pictures to go along with what she's saying.  Then, she goes back and tells the story again and labels the pictures.  I.WAS.HOOKED.  I mean.. starry eyed!  I KNEW this was something I could use IMMEDIATELY when we returned to school because we were starting our "How to be Fancy/Handsome" unit.  So, I tried it and guess what..... the heavens opened and the angels started singing!  The first time we just drew the pictures out at the top of our paper, but then I decided to make an organizer.  We are getting ready to write our "How to Catch a Gingerbread Man" and I'm going to break out these organizers. 

            

Let me talk you through how this will work.  Let's say I wanted to talk about how to draw a smiley face.  In the topic sentence box I would draw a smiley face as I say, "Have you ever drawn a smiley face?"
Now I will talk through and draw the rest of the how to.  EX...  "First, you draw a circle." (I'm drawing a circle in the box as I'm saying those words).  "Next, you add two eyes."(In the box I ONLY draw the two dot eyes, NOT the whole circle with eyes) " Then, draw a small, dot nose." (You only draw a nose)  "After that, put a smiling mouth." (You know what to draw. :)) " Finally, add a little bit of hair.  Now you know how to draw a smiley face."  (I should have take a picture... I will try to take one tomorrow to give you the full picture of how this will look.)

After we sketch, we will go back and retell the story while labeling.  Our firsties will use this guy then to help them write their how to.  :)  I'm pretty sure we will be able to use it for any writing piece we do this year.  I'm not sure if the transitional words will stay, but for now..... they stay.  :)

Thanks for sticking with me on this my first post in the new year! Be sure to click the pictures to snag your freebies!

I'm hoping to be back a little more often... Next time I'll catch you up on what we've been writing.