January is a huge professional development month for me this year. I am either leading or attending some type of training almost every day this month. All of December was spent preparing for this month. Hence, the reason I have not blogged…once again. Someday I will get this into my routine!

Because I am on the giving or receiving end of lots of PD this month, that means I have many opprtunities to learn new teaching strategies and gain fresh perspectives. You would think this learning and new insight would come from the meetings I attend; however, I must say that I learn just as much when I am presenting/facilitating–from the teachers I am with.

Today I led some writing PD in a school district west of St. Louis. We spent some time examining a student writing sample and looking for evidence of the qualities of good writing. We had a discussion about the role these qualities/traits and the writing process and writing workshop play in a writing program. We also asked ourselves what implication this has for our work with our students.

During this part of the discussion, one teacher shared a new perspective for me. I wanted to make a bigger deal of this, but since I had never met this teacher, I didn’t want to put her on the spot or embarrass her. But I still want to celebrate her attitude and perspective–even though she has no idea I am blogging about her.

This teacher teaches music to 4th- and 5th-graders. Yes, she is a music teacher, and she was talking about writing. She said (and I am paraphrasing here) that examining the qualities of good writing can be transferred to the qualities of music. Just like good writing has characteristics such as voice and sentence fluency, music also has voice and phrasing. We realized, through her observation, that we can all help reinforce the qualities of good writing–even if we are not directly responsible for the teaching of writing in our schools.

I loved her analogy, but even more, I loved her attitude. She could have chosen not to actively participate in today’s PD because “it didn’t really apply to her”, but instead she chose to find a way that it does apply to her situation and to find ways to support the teaching of writing–even as a music teacher! So today I celebrate her and all teachers who seek ways to help students make connections across curricular areas.

In my last post I shared some great books that we can share with our students on National Punctuation Day.  Today I’d like to share a few lessons/activities.

• Have your students go on an Error Hunt.  See yesterday’s blog entry for some of my samples and feel free to share these with your students. Start collecting your own.  Here’s another that they might get a kick out of:

Read more about this one here.

• Check out this recently published book:

• Become “Apostrophe Detectives”.  Click here for a description of an investigation I did with my students.
• Try out some of the National Punctuation Day Lessons and Activities listed here.
• Encourage self-editing with these activities and strategies.
• Here are some professional resources I highly recommend:

Did you know that Friday, September 24th is National Punctuation Day?   How are you going to celebrate?  You ARE going to celebrate, aren’t you?  I love that punctuation has its own special day!  I must admit that improper use of punctuation is a big pet peeve of mine.  Is it my imagination or is careless use of these useful little marks becoming more rampant?  And I’m not talking about just typos, but rather real errors that the writer doesn’t even know are errors. I can’t open the newspaper or drive down the street without seeing some glaring mistake.

A few years ago I began taking photos of errors I find.  Here are just a few from my collection.  Some are punctuation errors; others are spelling/usage errors.

Wow!  All of these were published/displayed in very public places with large audiences. I show these to my students and tell them that I don’t want them to grow up and make these kinds of mistakes.  So we talk about the importance of punctuation and spelling—it is a courtesy to the reader, and mistakes distract the reader from our real message.

Here are some great books that we can use to introduce our students to the importance of punctuation in a fun, entertaining way.  These can be used on Punctuation Day or any day of the year.

I borrowed this phrase from BER presenter Diane Murphy.  She uses the phrase to describe the action she wants her students to use as they practice and learn the high frequency words on the word wall—bobbing their heads up and down as they look from the wall to their papers.  The practice activities listed below help students learn to read and write irregularly spelled high frequency words.  As Regie Routman warns in her book Conversations, teachers need to “guard against encouraging even young students to invent spellings of common words such as, come, and like.  It’s not efficient for students to unlearn misspellings of words that they’ve been using over and over again.”  

Write, Clap, and Chant

Call out a word from the word wall.  Have students write the word and then clap and chant to check the spelling they have written.

Word Wall Chants

Review word wall words by having students chant the spellings in a variety of multi-modal ways.  Below are just a few favorites.  You can find more at the following website:  
http://k111.k12.il.us/lafayette/fourblocks/word_wall_chants.htm 
I write the name of each cheer on a small laminated notepad and place each sheet into a ziploc bag.  When we need to get up and move or when we’re transitioning to a new activity, I will pull a slip out of the bag and practice a couple of word wall words.
•    Snap and Clap – Snap the vowels; clap the consonants.
•    Ketchup – One hand open, the other hand closed; pound hands together like you would pound a bottle of ketchup.
•   Marshmallow Clap – Almost like a clap but you stop just before the hands touch for each letter.
•    Deep Voice – Say the letters and the word in a deep voice.
•    Mouse Talk – Squeaky voice with hands curled up by face.
•    Raise the Roof – Push up toward the ceiling, one push for each letter.
•    Throw the Stars – Throw one hand at a time up toward the ceiling for each letter.
•    Mexican Hat Dance – Alternate feet in front.
•    Motorcycle – Hang on to the pretend handle bars and do wheelies for each letter.
•    Dribble and Shoot – Dribble the letters and shoot the word.
•    Tigger Bounce – Bounce up and down for each letter.
•    Be the Letter – Like doing the YMCA song.
•    Jumping Jacks – One movement for each letter.
•    Frisbee – Throw each letter frisbee style.
•    The Swim – Swim the letters; hold your nose and go down at the end when you say the word.
•    Explosion – Start at a whisper; get louder with each letter; explode when you say the words at the end.

Ruler Tap

Call out a word and use a ruler to tap out several letters without saying those letters.  When the tapping stops, call on a child to finish spelling the word aloud.  If he finishes the word correctly, allow him to tap out the next word.

Daily Fast Writes

Give students a high frequency word to spell on individual white boards.  Have them refer to the high frequency word wall to confirm the spelling.  Then tell them:  “Write it.  Erase it.  Write it again.  Do it fast.”

Word Wall Sentences

After the word wall has quite a few words, dictate sentences that contain many of these words.  Have students write the sentences, referring to the word wall as necessary.

Be a Mind Reader

Have students number a paper or white board from 1 to 5.  Think of a word and give five clues.  After each clue students write a word from the word wall that they think matches the clues.  The first clue is always “It’s one of the words on the word wall.”
1.    It’s one of the words on the word wall.
2.    It has four letters.
3.    It begins with th.
4.    The vowel is an e.
5.    It finishes the sentence I gave my books to ___.

Evaporation

Give each student an individual white board and marker.  Select one student to use a paintbrush dipped in water to paint a word wall word on the chalkboard.  Students at their seats begin writing the word as many times as they can on their white boards.  While students are writing, the child at the chalkboard uses his white board to fan the word, getting it to evaporate.  The student who writes the word the most times earns a point.

Erase

This game is played like Evaporation but is adapted for classrooms with white boards instead of chalkboards.  Instead of using a wet paint brush, the student writes the word in very large letters on the white board and then erases it while the rest of the class writes the word on individual boards.

20 Questions (or however many students you have)

Select a word wall word but don’t reveal it to the class.  Students take turns asking one question each, trying to guess the word.  Each student must ask one question.  If a child knows the word, he may not say it until every student has asked one question.

Swat

Write several word wall words on the board. Divide the class into two teams.  Have one member from each team stand by the chalkboard with a flyswatter.  Dictate words or give clues to words.  The first team member to swat the correct word earns a point for his team.  Students take turns being the swatter.

Flashlight

Just like Swat, only students use flashlights in a darkened room.

WORDO

Give each student a photocopied grid with 9, 16, or 25 squares.  Have students select words from the word wall.  As words are selected, write them on index cards while students write them anywhere on their grids.  When the grid is complete, shuffle the cards and begin calling out the words.  As each word is called out, have students chant the spelling and cover the word on their boards with small objects.  The first student to complete a row wins WORDO.

  WORDO

Circle What You Know

This is a great way to provide a positive “backdoor” into editing.  Instead of having students look for their mistakes, have them circle the skills they used correctly in their writing.  Begin by modeling this in a Morning Message or shared writing piece.  Have students circle what they know before turning in a draft.  This also gets them to reread, and often they will fix mistakes as they go. This idea comes from Teaching Reading and Writing with Word Walls by Janiel Wagstaff.

Proofreading

Teach students to use proofreading marks when editing their own writing.  Have students use a colored pencil or pen to edit.

Writer’s Checklist

After completing a draft, students use a writer’s checklist to guide them through the editing process on their own writing.

Call the C.O.P.S.

Before students turn in a piece of writing ask them to “call the C.O.P.S.” on their writing:
C = Capitalization
O = Overall Appearance
P = Punctuation
S = Spelling

I.F.O.M. Words

I.F.O.M. stands for “in front of me.”  Students should be expected to spell correctly words that appear on a worksheet or assignment that is right in front of them.  (from Writing Strategies That Work! BER Resource Handbook by Diane Murphy).

Rereading

One of the best editing/revision strategies to teach our students is to reread often as they draft.  This needs to be modeled during shared, interactive, and modeled writing lessons.  At then end of daily independent writing sessions I build in a time for rereading.  I ask students to take out a colored pencil, reread what they wrote that day,  and make any editing or revision changes.  The colored pencil allows me to see which students are actually going back, rereading, and trying to make changes.

Words Are Categorical Series by Brian Cleary

World of Language Series by Ruth Heller

 Grammar Tales Series published by Scholastic

• Chicken in the City (nouns) by Maria Fleming
• When Comma Came to Town by Liza Charlesworth

Important Book

When teaching students to write a paragraph with main idea and details, The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown provides a great model.  Read the book aloud and discuss the pattern.  Each page is written about a different topic and includes a main idea and details.  After reading the book, have students write their own “important paragraph.” 

I like to use this book at the end of a science or social studies unit to help students share some main points and details that they learned from the unit.  I have them each make their own “important book”,  write one sentence on each page and illustrate the pages.

Pattern:
The most important thing about _____ is _____.
It ________.   It ________.   It ________.
But the most important thing about ____ is ____.

Sample:
The most important thing about air is that it keeps us alive.
It is a gas.  It is invisible. It contains oxygen and carbon dioxide.
But the most important thing about air is that it keeps us alive.

Paragraph Frames

The following is a paragraph frame that can be used after reading or studying about a famous person.  It helps students synthesize the information learned in an organized manner.  The frame can be adapted for any topic area.

How-To Hand

This is a graphic organizer that can help students organize their thoughts before they do process writing.  See next page for a completed sample.

1. Optional:  Read aloud How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson.
2. As a class make a list of things students know how to do (ride a bike, brush their teeth, make a PBJ, etc.).
3. Make an overhead transparency of the How-To Hand reproducible.
   

   Download How-To Hand Reproducible

4. Select one topic from the list to use for a shared writing lesson and write it in the center of the hand on the overhead.  Eg.: How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Ask students to list (in any order) the steps performed in making a PBJ.  Write a different step on each finger.
   Decide together the order of the steps and number each finger.
5. Introduce or review time order clues words such as first, then, next, finally, etc.  Write a different transition word on top of each finger.
6. Model how to write the information in a “how-to paragraph.” Beginning with the topic in the middle of the hand, write a topic sentence.  Then write the steps in order, beginning each sentence with a transition word.  Finally, add a closing sentence.
   
7. Independent Writing: Have each student select a topic from the brainstormed list.  Be sure that it is something they know how to do well enough to be able to explain it, and make sure there are not too many or too few steps in the process.  Guide students through the process of using the “How-To Hand” to write their own paragraphs.
8. Edit, revise, illustrate, and bind into a class traveling book. Click on pictures to enlarge.
   

Circle What You Know
This is a great way to provide a positive “backdoor” into editing.  Instead of having students look for their mistakes, have them circle the skills they used correctly in their writing.  Begin by modeling this in a Morning Message or shared writing piece.  Have students circle what they know before turning in a draft.  This also gets them to reread, and often they will fix mistakes as they go. (Wagstaff, 1999)

Proofreading
Teach students to use proofreading marks when editing their own writing.  Have students use a colored pencil or pen to edit. During modeled and shared writing lessons I demonstrate how to use these marks when editing my own pieces.  I give each student a copy of the proofreading marks to keep in individual writing folders.

Download Proofreading Marks

Writer’s Checklist
After completing a draft, students use a writer’s checklist to guide them through the editing process on their own writing.

Download Writer’s Checklist

Call the C.O.P.S.
Before students turn in a piece of writing ask them to “call the C.O.P.S.” on their writing:
C = Capitalization
O = Overall Appearance
P = Punctuation
S = Spelling

Reading Backwards
Have students check for spelling errors by reading their drafts backwards.  This forces them to focus on each individual word rather than getting caught up in the meaning of the sentence and possibly skipping over errors.

Rereading
One of the best editing/revision strategies to teach our students is to reread often as they draft.  This needs to be modeled during shared, interactive, and modeled writing lessons.

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."
                                                           –Mark Twain

Verb Charades

Using index card, write a different verb on each card.  Place the card in a bag.  Have students take turns selecting a card acting out the verb on the card.  Classmates try to guess the verb.

Noun Scattergories

Preparation:  Make game sheets that list several categories with a blank beside each.  Photocopy the game sheets. Prepare a ziploc bag with 26 letter tiles or cards—one labeled for each letter of the alphabet.

To play:  Divide students into small groups.  Give each group a copy of a game sheet.  Draw a letter from the bag.  Each group writes the letter at the top of the sheet and works together to think of words beginning with that letter for each category.  Teacher designates a time limit.

Scoring:  At the end of the time limit, each group shares answers.  A point is earned for each word that was not found by any other groups.  Double points may be earned for answers that have two words beginning with the same letter (i.e.:  jello jigglers, cotton candy).

Traveling Books

Class traveling books are a great way to introduce children to the parts of speech. 

Dramatize Verbs

Read aloud a book such as Denise Fleming’s In a Small, Small Pond.  Discuss why Fleming chose the verbs that she used.  Have students “become” the pond creatures as they “wriggle like tadpoles” or “hover like dragonflies.”  Repeat with other books such as In the Tall, Tall Grass. This activity not only introduces them to many new verbs and rich vocabulary but also helps them learn the meanings of the words as they act them out.

Adjective Activity

Read aloud Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas.  Reread the book without using the adjectives.  Which version sounds better?  Why?  Optional: put the text on the overhead and cover adjectives with sticky notes.

Cracking Open Words

Georgia Heard uses the analogy of cracking open a geode to describe one of her word choice mini-lessons.  (She even cracks one open in front of the class). On the outside a geode looks like an ordinary rock.  You have to crack it open to discover the beautiful crystal hidden inside.  Words are like this.  Words like fun, nice, pretty, wonderful, and scary are ordinary, generic words.  Have students compile a list of these tired, overused words and phrases.  Then have them “crack them open” to reveal the deeper meaning behind the word/s and provide mind pictures for the reader.   Encourage them to close their eyes and picture the person, place, event, etc. that they are describing.  They should think about what they see and how they feel as if they are really there.                   

Thesaurus Activities

• Create a thesaurus section in a Quality Writing Notebook for tired words like nice, fun, like, said, went, walk.  Teach them that the word “thesaurus” comes from a Latin word meaning “treasure.”  This ties in well with the geode analogy described under "Cracking Open Words."  As students encounter synonyms for these words, encourage them to add the words to their thesauruses. 
• Do whole class word hunts.  Create posters for these words and make class lists.  Read-aloud is a great time to collect these words.
• Have students read through a piece of writing they have already worked on.  Have them look for tired words and replace them with “treasure” words from their thesauruses.
• Give students a two-word phrase.  Have them work in pairs, using a thesaurus to find synonyms for the words.  At first just ask them to change the adjective.  Eventually, have them change both the adjective and the noun. 

Examples:
funny movie  =   hilarious flick
nice house =  cozy bungalow
pretty dress  =  stylish gown

Be Specific

The more specific the verb, the more accurately the writer can convey an image or create a scene.  Give students a sentence with the verb blanked out.  Have them brainstorm a list of verbs that could be used to complete the sentence.

The car _________ down the road.
skidded, raced, swerved, putzed, flew

I explain to students that each time we change the verb, I get a different picture in my head.  Writers want to create mind pictures for the reader through their word choice.

Nouns need to be specific and concrete, too.  Have students brainstorm specific nouns for a list of vague ones.

bird = cardinal
dog = German shepherd
things = paper clips
flower = chrysanthemum
boy = student

Then have students look at a piece of their own writing and find some vague, generic nouns that they can replace with more specific ones.

Retire “Tired” Words

“Don’t be kind of bold. Be bold.”

                                                             –Wm. Zinsser

Creating “word aware” classrooms is an important first step in building students’ vocabulary skills.  We need to intentionally focus on vocabulary and make word learning a part of every day, not just during formal vocabulary instruction (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2002).

Word of the Day

This concept has been around for years, but it is still a great way to foster word awareness in our classrooms.  To add spice to this activity, try introducing the word of the day by giving several clues throughout the day or by having students guess the word in the form of 20 Questions.  Many websites offer a “word of the day” feature.  Here are a few:
Word Central
Dictionary.com
Merriam Webster

Daily Word Hunt

Designate a bulletin board, chart paper, or section of the chalkboard for students to record new, interesting, or unusual words.  Set aside a few minutes daily to discuss these words.  Awarding points to teams whose members add words to the chart provides incentive.  Additional points may be added when students use the words in context throughout the day.  Younger students enjoy ringing a deli bell when they add words or use the words in context.   A good way to introduce this daily activity is by reading aloud Donavan’s Word Jar by MonaLisa DeGross.  Donavan collects interesting words and stores his collection in a jar.  He runs into a problem when his jar becomes too full.  He eventually solves his problem and discovers the power of words.  A study on word learning in the middle elementary grades suggests that this intentional focus on words has great impact on students’ overall word learning (Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982).

Vocabulary Parade

Read aloud the book Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frazier.  Then have your own vocabulary parade.  Visit Debra Frasier’s Website for suggestions.

Word-Catch

This is a tool to help students improve their word choice in their own writing.  In a writing notebook or writing folder, have students designate a section for “word-catches.”  Before introducing a new genre of writing or a writing topic, have students brainstorm lists of words from a designated category. This activity could also be completed on chart paper or overhead and then transferred to one page that is added to a Class Word Book or to a Quality Writing Notebook.  This book becomes a wonderful reference for students when they are looking for interesting words to add to their writing.

Example:
Mystery Words and Phrases

Word-catching category suggestions: