How I Became a Writer

I have never used an iPad to write a post before. I just want you to know it can be done. I never intended to write a blog post. I mean NEVER. I never intended to write more than a check and maybe a thank you note or two. I blame it all on my sister in-law. She knows who she is 'cause I only have one...
She told me I had to read a book by Anne Lamott. She didn't care which one. So off I went to my local bookstore and I picked up Bird by Bird because I am a birder. I should have gotten a clue that this was not the book for me when the clerk asked me if I was a writer. No, I replied, I like birds. I am a birder. He explained that this had been required reading for a writing class he took. I still didn't get it! I just thought poor guy he wanted to write and he had to read a book about birds. Guess what! If you want to read a book about birds, this is not the book for you.

By the time I was done reading the book I had gone through a box of Kleenex alternating between laughing and sobbing.  Anne made me want to be a writer. Anne helped me believe I could be. That was important to me because I'd always believed I couldn't write. This is all leading up to something. The something is that I am a guest blogger today over at Books First in Maine. Go over there and find out kinda sorta why I blog...

Bring a Leaf to School Day! (Freebie!)

Leaf shown is larger than actual size!

I loved bring a leaf to school day! The first thing we had to do was give our leaves eyes so they could see what goes on during the day. 

Leaf shown is smaller than actual size!

Some leaves had only one eye...cyclops leaves were very popular!

Leaf shown is greener than actual leaf!

One leaf was lucky enough to have three eyes!

We read to our leaves and showed them what first graders do all day. We used our leaves to help us write detailed sentences about one topic. Every first grader wrote at least two sentences that gave details about their own leaf. No one was allowed to write, "I like my leaf." No one could write, "My leaf is cool!" They were so proud of their work. . . I was, too!

Party Leaves are in the school tonight! I'm not sure what they are up to, but you can read the book  here! I can hardly wait to share this e-book with my students tomorrow and play this dice game....

Click the picture to grab your own copy! I love all of Digital Bakeshop's graphics, but these Thanksgiving Hoots and Tweets are among my favorite!

I'll leaf you alone now! Thanks for stopping by!  Congratulations to the winners of my Give Away....Cecilia, Laurie and Renonda....You are bosom friends! Thanks to all who entered!! Thank you Carson Dellosa for being a "Bosom Friend"!

Currently: No Freebie and No Giveaway!

I did my first "Currently" last month...It was so much fun that I think I'm going to have to do it EVERY month. Thank you Farley for hosting such great fun!!  Farley is also sharing templates for all of our kiddos to do their own currentlies or currentlys . . .Grammar police help me out on this one! What a great idea for sending home as a family activity monthly, or to put in your writing centers.
So here's mine...

It is so cold that we have to run the furnace. At the football game last night we froze. Winter coats, blankets and hats were musts unless you are my 13 year old daughter and wearing a coat, even if it's below zero is fashion no-no. Blue lips must be the fashion with that age group!

I wish I had no place to go all day, but I will be going to a walk that honors the little girl my daughter was friends with and I had the honor of teaching who died of a brain aneurysm this summer. It has been a difficult time for our school, but we have gotten to the place where we can talk about her and laugh over fun times we had with her. I was blessed to know Malauri and my life is richer for knowing her.

Do you insist on your children using pencils? I've noticed that when I let them use markers they write more. They enjoy writing more. I rarely use a pencil anymore for writing. I do most of it on a computer. Why not give them a choice as to what to write with? I'm excited to try this out next week. Maybe you all already do that and I'm just figuring it out, but I'm pretty excited over this idea!

I think that these books by National Geographic are AMAZING! I would like them all. If you work for the company that makes these awesome books...I am accepting donations! I want all of them. I bought this apple book and used it during our apple unit. These non-fiction texts would be a great addition to any k-3 classroom or library. I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures in the book...

I found the mistake on my "Currently" did you? It's too late to do anything about it now!! 

Ideas and Content, In Pictures and In Words

Do you see a theme going on?

I sat down on my new porch to start reading through chapter 7 last night.  "This will be a cinch," I thought.  If I hadn't been distracted by how much I LOVE my porch, it might have made it a little easier. But look at this...So relaxing.  So many windows to look out.  So many birds to see...

It's so peaceful out here!

If I could draw a picture of what I looked like sitting on that porch after I opened the book to get started I might draw this picture:

I shouldn't have waited so long...

or this...

I don't think I can do this...

I love this book.  I can't read it without crying.  It illustrates
the impact a single teacher can make in a child's life.  Patricia
Polacco writes and illustrates books that touch the heart deeply!

Do you know Mercy? Kate DiCamillo created such a likable  character. Illustrator, Chris Van Dusen
captures her emotions as well as the other characters in the book beautifully!

In Pictures and In Words is one of the idea richest books I've come across.  No reproducibles...just tools to help us be teachers of ideas in the classroom.  Tools that allow us to help children think, notice, and wonder.

Technique 9:  Showing, not telling!

Katie connected with me right off the bat when she used the book Birds  for an illustration examples.  If you don't have this book you should stop right here and go to your favorite place to order books on-line and order it.  It's that rich in text and illustration.  It's become class favorite. It will become a "go to' book for me as I put into practice all I'm leaning! I'll wait here while you order it.  While I'm waiting I'll look at my favorite page from the book.  Maybe I'll head over and visit my friend Laurie who introduced me to this book!


Welcome back...You'll be so glad you ordered it!

Once I finally got started last night it was hard to quit!  I had brought home a stack of books from school because all of my children's books are there.  As my children grow, their books find a way into my classroom!

Dogku by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Tim Bowers
is a wonderful story written in haiku.  Technique 2... Here the
central image is pictured from behind.  He looks lonely and we
know why...His boy is going off to school.

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton is one of
my "go to" books.  Here the rising and setting of the
sun illustrates the passage of time. (Technique 6!)

I think this illustration, also from The Little House, 
shows more than one tequnice.  Crafting a "backstory", Manipulating point of view for effect and
Crafting with distance perspective to name just three!

 


I'm guessing you felt as I did...So many Techniques, so little time!  To help me organize my thoughts and ideas I came up with a way to help guide my classroom study.  I've made a chart that I can put in my planning binder and keep track of each technique as I use it.  I've only made this chart to cover Chapter Seven, but I'll share the others next week.  Click on the picture to get to the document!

I just realized I had another day before this was "due"!  Well , with company coming for dinner tonight I think I better post now.  My ADD(Attention to Date Disorder!) strikes again.

Thank you so much, Deedee for hosting such a wonderful study.  It's so much fun to hop around seeing what others have to say about this book.  You are a champion for educators everywhere! 

In Pictures and In Words: Book Study

I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten to study the book .


On the last day of school many of my children brought me gifts.  There was no need for any gifts. Having these precious owlets in my classroom all year has been a gift.  Having the love, trust, and hearts of these children is a gift that only you understand, my blogging friend.  One of the most treasured gifts that was brought in was the writing that a child had done during the year.  She had gift wrapped an informational piece that she had researched and illustrated.  It happened to be a research project we had done about birds, of course!  What really touched me was that she knew that I valued her writing. I knew she was an author.  She knew that this would be a gift to me.  I was touched.

In Pictures and In Words is more than a resource.  It is a treasure chest.  I would like to share some of the thoughts that I have had as I've studied these chapters.


Why does illustration study matter to the development of young writers?  I have always used the illustration part of writing as the carrot.  When you finish writing then you may illustrate.  I have used the right language, but probably not the right way.  This chapter opened my eyes to the idea that illustration adds to the meaning.  One thought that keeps coming back to me is that if we teach children to read by using picture cues, shouldn't we allow them to use picture cues when they are writing?  For young writers, illustrating is part of composing meaning.


How does building stamina for writing support children's work as illustrators?
Sometimes teaching writing is scary.  It is so much easier to give a worksheet.  It is not as satisfying to give worksheets.  Writing is work.  Writing is hard for me.  I've never thought of myself as a writer.  I'm trying.  I started blogging to develop my writing skills.  I have a confession. I don't like writing.  It is hard work.  As I've developed stamina I've found a bit of joy in it.  I do it because I want to know what it's like for my students.  They know about my writing.  They like my writing, so I write for them.  I like my interaction with you so I will keep writing. I use photographs to keep me going.  I see my students illustrations now in a whole new light.  It helps construct meaning and it will help them keep going...Stamina.


Are writing and illustrating a parallel composing process?
I never thought so before, but YES!  Give a child a blank piece of paper and pencil - they'll do something.  They'll take their thoughts and show them in pictures or words, so to speak!  They'll think ahead.  They'll plan.  They'll put their ideas on paper.

How can I teach my students to think like a writer?
Before you can write anything you have to know what writing is.  Writing is thought written down.  Read, read, read thoughts of authors.  I love Ted Kooser's advice, "Before you write one poem, you need to read at least one hundred"  For the first time ever, I have started looking at books as a writer.  Thank you for that gift, Katie.  


How can I support the illustration-writing connection?
One may use words.  One may use pictures.  They may both construct meaning. Notice, question, encourage both the writer and illustrator to bring ideas and meaning to paper.  

The illustrations in this book add so much
meaning to the text.  It is so much fun to get
to the end and find all the characters that
have showed up through out the story.  At the
end they are all depicted a bit differently than they
had been earlier in the story!

How can I more effectively plan and implement my Writing Workshop?
This last chapter may have been my favorite.  Through the first five chapters I felt like I would never get there.  I might never become the teacher I want to be.  Part of being a good teacher is the willingness to learn and grow too. The day I feel I've learned everything there is to be a good teacher, is the day I'll retire.  I want to keep growing and learning with my students.  Guess how old I am...Go ahead.  I'm fifty.  I've been teaching for over twenty-five years.  I still have so much to learn.  I still want to learn about how kids learn, so I can help them learn better.  I want them to learn how to learn. As I study this text I will gather, expect, immerse, study, and write.  I can hardly wait to get into section two.  

The illustrations in this book are superb!
Judy does a great job making you wonder
 about the main characters first day at school.  I
don't want to spoil anything for you!  This
is a great book.  The illustrations make
are great for studying.

A couple of years ago my sister in-law recommended an author to me. Her name is Anne Lamott.  Without reading a description of the book I ordered the one entitled, Bird by Bird.  I ordered the book for its title.  When I picked it up at my local B&N the clerk said that he had read that book when he first started writing.  I had bought a book about writing? Why would this guy buy a bird book if he wanted to be a writer?  I had no intention of writing anything. Ever. I loved the book and since I've read it have seen myself a little differently in terms of having a story to tell.  I have something to say and I can say it in pictures and in words!  Photos and blogs, anyway!

A great read for any writer!

Thank you, Deedee for hosting such a meaningful study.


Hugs, Handshakes, and High-fives,

This Joyful Eastertide!

Music has always had an incredible presence in my life.  My father, whom I adored, was church organist and choir director.  He loved music and our house always reverberated with sounds from Bach to James Taylor.  The love of music was passed on to all six of his children and we all think of him any time we hear the song "Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelberg.  Easter was a big time for a church musician and he loved the hymns of Easter.  All morning I have been humming a favorite hymn of his and I can almost hear his voice singing...

This Joyful Eastertide

This joyful Eastertide,

Away with sin and sorrow!

My love, the Crucified, 

Has sprung to life this morrow:

Had Christ, who once was slain,

Not burst his three-day prison,

Our faith had been in vain:

But now has Christ arisen, 

arisen, arisen:

But now has Christ arisen!

My dad died almost eighteen years ago, but sometimes it seems as if I saw him yesterday because of the love and memories he and my mother gave to us.  Because of Easter, I know I'll see him again.

My students made Easter eggs before spring break which, sadly, is coming to an end.  I asked them to write a psalm of praise for Easter.  Many of them turned them into letters, but their messages to Him are what I was hoping for.  I can't say I have a favorite because each child worked so hard and really put their hearts into the project.  I'll share a couple with you!

I love that she tells Jesus about how her dogs died.

Amen!

I didn't ask her to include me...but I was touched she did!

I wish you a joyful Eastertide!  May all your Easter bunnies be dark chocolate!!

Jenny

Let There Be Peace

We read this book in class today.  The students enjoyed it and it was a great conversation starter.

     Martin Luther King Jr. has always been a favorite day of mine.  No presents, no gimmicks.  It's just a day to commemorate a great man who was not afraid to stand up for what was and still is right. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter," said Dr. King.  His birthday is a great day to talk about the things that mattered to Dr. King.  Peace, and brotherly love were our topics today.

   Following our discussion of what peace looks like we made a chart recording our ideas about peace.  We shared the pen to write ing, ed, and s endings.  Then each student wrote about what they thought peace was while I worked with small groups to make doves, a symbol of peace.  I was pleased that most students did not copy the chart!  They came up with even more ideas on their own.  Here are a couple of their thoughts:

Peace is a quiet house. (Isn't that true...I like that kind of peace.  Although there's sometimes something
                                        suspicious about it!)

Peace is relaxing on my bed.
Peace is not being mean.
Peace is not calling people fat.
Peace is a happy heart.





   Here is a sample by one of my students who is a peace loving child!  Writing has not always come easily for him, so I was especially happy when he did the whole assignment without using the word "can't"!

Peace is a quiet room laying down and relaxing and a loving heart being nice not mean.  It is not yelling , not fighting, not hurting.  It is using kind words.

Finally I have to close with my favorite MLK quote:

“We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not yet learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”

The hand print idea came from The Mailbox Organize January Now!

It Could Have Been a Snow Day!

It could have been a snow day today.  Everyone went home from school yesterday sure that it would be.  Part of me would have liked staying in my cozy bed a few extra hours and rising to drink coffee and play with fabric and paper.  I even went to Joann's last night to make sure my craft supplies were well stocked!  No phone calls. No posts about school cancellations for MY school.
     It was a day filled with great moments.  After a week of learning how to take notes from nonfiction, we wrote our first paragraphs.  Even my lowest achieving student was able to complete the task without a tear or the words "I can't".  Their excitement at realizing they had "Paragraph Power" was unreal.  It was a day that confirmed to me that yes this is what I was meant to do.  It seemed like a good day to start posting!

     We made our chart....I'll post pictures later....with three headings:  Can, Have Are. After reading books about polar bears we would fill in new information that we learned that started with the words can, have or are.  Then, when it was time to write paragraphs, we used those same words to begin each of our supporting sentences.  Writing the opening and closing sentences was easy!  Polar bears are pretty amazing, but I like first graders even more!