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Jan 16, 2014

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. 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwZ2gCKHv0o7NTRqZl84dnFmaDg/edit?usp=sharing             https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwZ2gCKHv0o7NGowekJTN2lNajA/edit?usp=sharing
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.



8 comments:

  1. Great idea! Thanks for sharing, and I'm looking forward to any pictures that you take!

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  2. I just did a big push on transitional words yesterday! Great timing and I am definitely going to use this today. I use pictures to learn to retell a story but never thought of this. Thanks.
    Pauline
    First Grade by the Sea

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    1. Hi Pauline! Karma is awesome, isn't she?!? :) I'd love to know how the organizer worked with your firsties. :)
      Maria

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  3. I love the way you explain how to sketch the actual pictures. I would have thought to draw the whole scene again + the next thing. I love that you just draw the eyes or just draw the nose. That just seems so helpful our firsties because they FOCUS on that actual step! So glad you went to that session!

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  4. Love this! I have always felt like I needed help with my writing instruction. this tip is something I can do immediately without having to do lots of preparation. thanks so much for sharing!
    Kelly
    I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher

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  5. Maria-This is awesome! I have struggling readers, and it amazes me how they can have fabulous ideas orally, but struggle to get it down on paper. We use Artist Storyboard for reading often to practice visualizing, but it works very well for writing too I see. I will have to give that a try with our next narrative project. Great post!

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