Essay Publishing Party

Apparently I didn't manage to write a single blog post since the school year started! Whoops!  I guess that says something about how this fall went... new principal, new schedule, new teaching team, new behavior plans, new student teacher... It's been a whirlwind.  Now that it's Winter Break, I'm going to try to work my way backwards through the year -- sharing some of the highlights, and maybe a few low points, from this crazy fall.

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Just a few days ago, as we wrapped everything up before the break, we had our second official Publishing Party, for our "Boxes and Bullets: Personal and Persuasive Essays" Unit. During this unit, the kiddos learned to craft personal thesis statements such as "My sister and I have a very strong relationship," and then related persuasive theses, such as "Having a little sister is the best thing that can happen to you."  I have an amazing student teacher this year (we call her a Teaching Fellow) who took over some of the teaching during the second half of the unit and really pushed the kiddos to create some awesome pieces.

The unit did end up being a few weeks longer than I'd intended, in part because our schedule during the first part of the year didn't allow for Writing Workshop every day of the week. I know this is a challenge for many schools that have to prioritize certain subject areas over others. For us, this was due to trying to fit in specific typing practice one day of the week and also "Science Lab Writing" on another day.  Of course, both of these other activities are important, but I really felt the affect of not having our true Writing Workshop every day. (I'm working on changing the schedule for when we get back after break).  In addition to the scheduling challenges, in early October one of the other fourth grade teachers quit. While this ended up being for the best, it meant that I had to begin planning writing for a long-term substitute in the other class, in addition to planning for my own class. This required creating some more specific teaching points and moving at a slightly slower place than we would have otherwise.

At long last, we reached the end of the unit.  The kiddos all had a typed essay (we let them choose if they wanted to type their first or second essay).  For the Publishing Party, we had the kiddos do a quiet gallery walk of each other's writing. They stopped at each desk, read each classmate's essay, and then left a short note. Miraculously, it was incredibly peaceful!  The kiddos took it all very seriously and wrote really thoughtful comments to each other!  

Afterward, everyone returned to his or her own essay, read the comments that had been left, and set some goals based on the feedback. I think goal setting is an essential part of publishing in a Writing Workshop! We always talk about the importance of reflection and revision in the writing process, and that doesn't end with publishing. I think goal setting at the end of a unit helps kiddos make connections between units and transfer skills between genres. We are starting our Journalism unit after the break and I can't wait to see the kiddos bring their essay writing skills into this work!

What a great way to close out 2017!

Persuasive Letters

For most of the month of February, we have been working on a unit about Persuasive Letter Writing. I took this unit primarily from Lucy Calkin's Writing Workshop, but make a few tweaks, of course.

I chose a bunch of fun Mentor Texts for this unit, including Click, Clack, Moo, by Doreen Cronin and I Wanna Iguana, by Karen Kaufman Orloff.   Early in the unit, we were fortunate to go see the play version of "Click, Clack, Moo" which just happened to be touring with TheaterWorks USA right here in DC!  It was so fun to see this wonderful book come alive on stage and I think it also helped the kids conceptualize how a persuasive letter could really make a difference.

We started by examining our Mentor Texts to develop an Anchor Chart for the "Features of a Persuasive Letter."  The kiddos were quick to come up with most of these features. I was particularly impressed that they could articulate how a persuasive letter should include "what things are like right now."  For instance, in Click, Clack, Moo, the cows begin by explaining that they are cold - which is why they need to electric blankets from Farmer Brown.

After the kiddos understood the components of a Persuasive Letter, they began brainstorming and drafting their own letters.  I encouraged them to think about who would be an appropriate audience for their letters.  They came up with such great ideas!  Some kiddos wanted to write to their parents to request trips, toys, or pets; some kiddos wanted to write to the mayor about needs for our city; and still other wanted to write to me or our principal with requests for our school.  

Once they had their appeal in mind, the kiddos had to think of reasons why someone would grant the request. Although, most of them eventually came up with at least 3 good reasons why their reader should give in to their demand, this was a very challenging task for most of first grade writers.

As we moved through drafting, we also talked about a number of ways to revise and enhance our arguments, including adding "if...then sentences," and asking questions.  During editing, I created a second, more specific, Anchor Chart about what the kiddos needed to include in their letters.

Publishing for this unit was a little different than previous units because we didn't need to add a cover or think of a title for our writing. Instead, I took pictures of the kiddos with the item they requested.  I'm planning to create a bulletin board with their adorable pictures and letters in the next month.