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Brainstorming Experiences

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Topic:

Brainstorming ideas for writing.

Standards:

ELACC2W3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Essential Question:

How can our experiences help us write?

Duration:

about 1 hour

Materials:

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, chart paper, marker

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson:

Students will learn how their personal experiences help them write a personal narrative.

Mini Lesson:

Students bring writer’s journal to the floor. Tell students we have been writing stories called Personal Narratives. These are stories about things that happened in our lives. Share a new mentor text: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox. Explain this is a personal narrative about experiences of an older lady. Read, then ask students to think about what some of the personal experiences of the old lady were. Turn and talk if you would like then share a few examples. Reiterate that personal narratives are stories about your own experiences. Model how to make a list of Personal Experiences on chart paper. Talk about your ideas as you write them down. Remind students it can be any experience: happy, sad, exciting, scary, etc. You might want to make those categories on the paper as well…maybe an H-chart.

Guided Practice:

Tell students to think about things that have happened to them in their lives. Turn and talk with partner, then share a few. Have students start their list on the next page of their writer’s notebooks in the mini lesson section.

Independent Practice:

Send students back to their seats to continue their lists. Walk around and assist those struggling by asking questions to jog their memory.

Closing:

Discuss what a personal narrative is and share a few examples of personal experiences from lists.



Complete Sentences

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Topic:

Complete Sentences

Standards:

ELACC2L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Essential Question:

How do you make a complete sentence?

Duration:

about 30 minutes

Materials:

chart paper, pre-made sentences on sentence strips-cut apart

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson:

Students will learn how to form a complete sentence and practice building complete sentences.

Mini Lesson:

Today I will use word study time to teach complete sentences, since we are starting to write our stories in writing. Students should bring writing journals to the floor and open to the mini lesson section. I will display a chart of sentences-some will be complete and some incomplete. We will talk about which are complete and which are not and why. With guidance, students will identify that complete sentences have a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a predicate (the verb). Sentences also need capital letters and periods. On the chart I will make notes on the sentences that are incomplete, ie: does not have subject, no predicate, etc. The sentences that are complete, I will underline the subject and circle the predicate. I will make a key on the chart  ____ = subject,                = predicate.

Guided Practice:

Allow students to practice writing complete sentences in their notebooks. Allow students to share and discuss these sentences. Do this by having students identify from the remaining sentences on the chart paper, which are complete and incomplete and why. Also have them practice making their own sentences.

Independent Practice:

At table groups, allow students to practice with pre-made activity. I made 5 different bags of words on sentence strips. When the words are put in order, they create a sentence. Students work in groups to create complete sentences and then write them in their journals, underlining the subject and circling the predicate.

Closing:

Go over the sentences that they completed in groups so students can check their work.



Drafting a Personal Narrative

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Topic:

Drafting personal narratives

Standards:

ELACC2W3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

ELACC2L3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Essential Question:

How do writers organize their writing?

Duration:

about 1 hour

Materials:

graphic organizer from previous day, marker

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson:

Students will learn how to draft a story from a graphic organizer.

Mini Lesson:

Students bring writer’s journal to the floor.  I find that it is very difficult for students to move from a graphic organizer to the notebook. Today we will be focusing on writing the story in our journals. I will introduce the lesson by saying that we have brainstormed, chosen a topic, and used sequencing words to put our ideas for our story in order on our hand graphic organizer. Today we will be writing our story in our writing journals. We are not writing a new story! We are simply rewriting our story onto paper like an author of a book would do. Model rewriting your story from the graphic organizer onto journal paper that is lined. Make sure to point out the sequencing words to keep the story in order. Focusing on making complete sentences during this time, with a capital letter and period. Focus also on writing from the red line, to the end of the line, and show students that we keep writing on the same line, even if we have a period. I always have students who start new lines after they put a period.

Guided Practice:

Have students practice with their first sentence in their journals. Monitor, share good examples.

Independent Practice:

Allow students to finish drafting at their seats. Walk around and help those struggling.

Closing:

Discuss the important things we learned about drafting.



Shopping for Just Right Books

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Topic:

Shopping for Just Right books in the classroom

Standards:

ELACC2RL10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Essential Question:

How do readers shop for just right books?

Duration:

about 1 hour

Materials:

chart paper, marker

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson:

Students will learn when it is appropriate, and how, to “shop” for just right books from the classroom library.

Mini Lesson:

We have discussed and practiced choosing just right books. Now we need to talk about the expectations for choosing your books. Shopping for your just right books is very similar to going to the store to shop. Think about what you do when you shop at the store. Turn and talk. Share some ideas: look for what you like, carefully pick, make sure you want it, buy it, take it home and take care of it. It works the same way when you shop for books in this classroom. Make your anchor chart: Shopping For Just Right Books. Readers shop in the morning (I have students shop during their independent reading time sometimes as well), readers must have 2 just right reading books at all times, readers may choose 1 easy or hard book, think about what makes the book just right for you, explore books from all genres, protect your books. Discuss each bullet as you go. You may have to talk about the word “genre”, and how they will protect their books. I give each student a book box that stays on a shelf when it is not reading time. Students keep their just right books from my shelf in their book box.

Guided Practice:

Allow students to practice shopping for books and storing them properly.

Independent Practice:

You may also want to start pulling some reading groups at this time to start practicing workshop while students read their just right books. I would probably only meet with one or two groups, about 10 minutes each.

Closing:

Discuss what we learned today and what we could improve on as pertaining to shopping for just right books.



How to Choose a Just Right Book

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Topic:

Choosing a Just Right Book (on the student’s level)

Standards:

ELACC2RL10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Essential Question:

How do readers choose just right books for independent reading time?

Duration:

about 1 hour

Materials:

a variety of texts, chart paper, marker

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson:

Students will learn how to decide if a book is on their independent reading level.

Mini Lesson:

Yesterday we discussed how readers choose books. Today I want you to think about what makes a book to easy, just right, or too hard. Use the selected texts from yesterday to model reading a book that’s too easy, just right, or too hard. Have students turn and talk about what makes the books too easy, just right, or too hard. Share some ideas. Make an H-chart with each category: too easy, just right, too hard. Easy: not many words, small words, I can read all the words, not enough to think about, I read very fluently. Too hard: words are too hard (failed 5 finger test), too many words on a page, I don’t know what many of the words mean, too much to think about, I can’t read fluently. Just right: I can read most of the words, I can understand what I’m reading, I can figure out tricky words, there is just enough to think about, so I enjoy it, I can read most of it fluently. You will have to model fluent/choppy reading, and I usually make a poster at this time explaining the 5-finger rule and I model how to do it.

Guided Practice:

Allow students to work in groups with a stack of books choosing just right books. Walk around and discuss/help students do this.

Independent Practice:

Allow students to choose a just right book to read for silent reading time.

Closing:

Review how to decide if a book is just right for you.



Organizing a Story

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Topic:

Organizing a story- Personal Narrative

Standards:

ELACC2SL4: Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.

ELACC2W3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Essential Question:

How do authors organize their stories?

Duration:

About 1 hour

Materials:

teacher’s brainstorm from previous lesson,  marker, chart paper

Overview or notes pertaining to lesson:

Students will learn how to organize their story events using a graphic organizer.

Mini Lesson:

Yesterday we chose a topic to write about. Today we will be organizing the ideas into a sequence that makes sense. To do this we will use a graphic organizer. Trace 2 big hands on chart paper. We will be putting our ideas into these hands, with one idea on each finger. What does it mean to organize? Have students turn and talk. Share ideas. We organize by putting things in order. When you put your story ideas in order are there words you might use to help? Introduce sequencing words: first, next, then, after that, finally, etc. Model putting your story ideas in order on the hands using some sequence words. Have students trace their hands in their notebooks.

Guided Practice:

Together write First, and have each student write their first event in their story in the first finger. Make sure everyone understands.

Independent Practice:

Have students go to their seats to finish sequencing their story events. words.

Closing:

Have a few students share and review sequence