Chapter
4 Chapter 9
Chapter 6
4-Block
Chapter 4 - Emerging Into Literacy
(Summarize)
There's no magic age for
kids to become writers, depends on their environment
FOSTERING YOUNG CHILDREN'S INTEREST IN LITERACY
When kids get to school their
current literacy is based on exposure from parents,
family and others around them.
Concepts About Written Language
experience in the context
of everyday life can be reinforced in the classroom.
> Concept of a Word
kids have
a more concrete understanding of a word that develops into a more
abstract understanding
> Environmental Print
Learning words out of familirar context and manipulating them
> Literacy Play Centers
Using
everday play centers "Doc, Kitchen, etc" as reading teachers by
putting in reading props
Concepts about the Alphabet
the role phonics play
> The Alphabetic Principle
English
alphabet is way too complicated for it's own good with some letters
being superflous
and phonetics not even a majority
> Letter Names
Kids start
learning them before school even if as a patchwork.
Three ways to encourage fillin gin the gaps:
- Capitolize on kids interests - pay attention
- Talk about role of letters in reading and writing
-
Teach routines and provide a variety of opportunities for alphabet
learning
> Phonemic Awareness
I skipped
this - never was something I worried about - Sesame street was weird.
It's rather bothersome.
So dont
analyze it so much just have fun with identification.
> Phonics
relationship
between phonology and orthography
controversial
on what it is and how to teach it.
- Consonants
- Vowels
- Rimes and Rhymes
- Phonics Generalizations
Teaching Phonics
natural,
yet guided, aquisition by students
YOUNG CHILDREN EMERGE INTO READING
Kids notice print in their environments
begin dictating and memorize patterns
in books to reread
Teachers organize and adapt
Scaffolding
Shared Reading
Teachers
and kids reading together
> Predictable Books
repeated elements
valuable
for emergent readers
- Repetition
- Cummulative Sequence
- Rhyme and Rhythm
- Sequential Patterns
> Big Books
So all the class can see
From New Zealand
Can make
them yourself as a class project
> Cross-Age Reading Buddies
Upper grade
students paired with emergent readers
Sharing - emergent students do most of the reading
Buddies - finding books together, talking, etc.
> Traveling Bags of Books
*Very cool idea*
put books in bags for kids to take home and family
helps write a response
can put artifacts in the bags too
Guided Reading
Small groups on their
own level
Teacher instructs and guides
- Placement
of text (consistant)
- Repetition
- Language
structures
- Illustrations
- Content
Language Experience Approach
Dictation to teacher transfered
into reading material but be careful of teacher's "perfect"
handwriting, try journaling
YOUNG CHILDREN EMERGE INTO WRITING
some write before kindergarten
kids love telling stories and narrating their lives and oportunities
are all around to
increase their skills
Introducing Young Children to Writing
naturally comes from talking
and drawing, so draw from what they choose to
do in those two things encourage when given
writing tools (physical ones like
pencils n stuff)
invent spellings, experiment
and get personal with writing
Interactive Writing
a model for conventional writing
teachers and students collaborate
Interactive writing
charts with underlinging and correction tape, boxes, etc
MINILESSONS ABOUT READING AND WRITING
see pages 180 and 181 for topics and
steps for minilessons
can be taught at all different parts
of the day
Chapter 9 - Reading and Writing Stories
Mostly summarized, some connection
and questions
Stories are important in everyone's life and
kids pick up on that and are practicing telling
and understanding stories around them...
they need to be tuaght about stories that are written
DEVELOPING STUDENTS' CONCEPT OF STORY
Awareness of all that's involved in a story progresses
as the individual gets older and has
more experience with it.
Elements of Story Structure
- Plot
basic
three part plot
involves conflict that involves
4 parts (Problem, Roadblocks, High point, Solution)
- Characters
one or two well-rounded chraacters
and several supporting ones
well-rounded characters have
lots of good and bad character traits like real people
developed four
ways, appearance, action, dialogue and monologue
have to get
into the heads of the characters
- Setting
backdrop settings where
barely sketched - relatively unimportant
if important then elaborate
on setting
Location, weather,
time period, time
maps of the story
- Point of View
first person, omniscient,
limited omniscient (third person), objective
younger kids can start working
with these instead of waiting until their older
practice
- Theme
underlying
meaning of a story, general truths about human nature...
character's emotions and values
explicit or implicite
sketch - to - stretch
..using diagrams and sketches, giving importance with
shapes and drawings instead
of words
symbolism
Teaching Students About Stories
refine their concept of a story
by reading and writing stories...practice makes perfect
teacher guided "Oh hey, this
is the theme"
> Teaching Minilessons About Story Structure
pages 392-393
teach
during exploring stage of reading process
Adapting to Meet the Needs of
Every Student
list of suggestsions on page 394
respond before exploring stories
Assessing Student's Concept of Story
observe, note if sensitive, what character is
related to, terminology, clusters and diagrams
READING STORIES
pleasureable and informative gathering of information
Comprehension
multifaceted process engageing
with the text
invisible process
finding
meaning
the reader, text and purpose
different stances and approaches determined
by purpose of reading
> Comprehension Processes
there are different tactics readers use to
understand what they're reading
- Microprocesses - chunk ideas and keep the important
stuff in short term memory.
Fluent readers
- Integrative processes - relationships among
stuff. inferring cause and effect,
also, howeever, etc
- Macroprocesses - big picture, elemnts of story
and structural patterns, remember
most important stuff
- Elaborative processes - personal connections,
TS, TT, TW, predictions, visualize,
identify with characters
- Metacognitive processes - monitor comprehension
I use all these when I read - does that
mean that as reader's progress they use more of them?
>
Intertextuality
connecting
to books they've read already
- Individuality and uniqueness
- dependence on literary experiences
- metacognitive awareness
- links to concept of story
- reading=writing connections
> Literary Opposites.
help to create excitement in a story
can be
between settings, characters or events. Can be more than one
opposite
Assessing Student's Comprehension
of Stories
listen to them talk
read their entries
note their strategies
observe participation
examine projects
WRITING STORIES
as they read and talk they learn how
to write
When I get done reading a Sherlock Holmes
book, I find myself thinking just like
they speak in the book.
My art teacher once said that nothing we drew
was comlpletely original, it came
from something we'd seen before, is it the same with
writing? Nothing we write is
completely original, it comes from something we've
read or heard before...
Writing Retellings of Stories
paraphrasing
Writing Innovations on Texts
using another story to springboard ideas into
the student's own story
my dad wants me to re-write
a story I wrote and published when I was in 2nd grade
Writing Sequels
well, yeah, self explanitory I think - then
you have Star Wars and their pre-quels... eesh
Writing Genre Stories
one time we were in walmart playing this game we
made up... we made a list of clues
then split up and the first person to find an object that was an
answer to each clue won...
and one of them was something from the genre of music, and I
brought a CD, but the
guy who wrote the clue brought those black and white
shoes..what're they called?
This would probably be a cool activity to use with your kids
too...
Assessing the Stories Students
Write
more than just judging the final story
look at structure knowledge
why'd they use little
diamonds? Why didnt they use little ducks or dots?
I wonder if there was a committee?
Are all the little steps
outlined by the diamonds really important? what if they
go mostly by intuition?
Some of the points seem a bit common
sense
Chapter 6 – Personal Writing
A little bit of everything
Assassins…
assassins write… of course they do, but who’d have used them as an
example
of all sorts of people who write, especially in a childrens..book!
kindof..gasp I would think it would
be better to say like written about them. Oh well.
Grocery lists are writing too. It’s really amazing
how much personal narrative shows other people the author’s personality
and how they think, their
intelligence even.
I tried keeping a journal several times, but sometimes I just get too
tired to write in it every night.
But now I carry a tiny little one that I can keep in my
pocket, then I can write down thoughts and
stuff whenever I want to.
I remember reading about Anne Frank; actually I think
it was a movie.
I think chatting has changed the way I write a lot,
it’s more free thought type thing instead of actual
proper grammatically correct stuff and it ads to dialect I think.
WRITING IN JOURNALS
There are many reasons to write in a journal. See page 233
- Record experiences
- Stimulate interest
in a topic
- Explore thinking
- Personalize learning
- Develop interpretations
- Wonder, predict, and
hypothesize
- Engage the imagination
- Ask questions
- Activate prior knowledge
- Assume the role of
another person
- Share experiences with
trusted readers
I think having all those things mixed up into one journal is
fun. Use what suits the
situation best. Eventually things do grow more personal. And you
can experiment.
Later things you could show other people.
Personal Journals
Grammar’s not the main idea. Right now I’m
doing a journal for the guy I’m
seeing who’s in Bhutan hiking the Himalayan Mountains.
I just write down things
during the day that are interesting or silly
or whatever I feel like
Privacy’s more important as kids reach 3 or 4th grade.
Keep legal obligations in mind when reading student journals.
Dialogue Journals
Writing between student and teacher,
etc
I never did this; I think it’d be fun. It takes the immediate
pressure off of trying
to think of something to say right away.
You can kind of think about it and then respond.
- Acknowledge ideas and
encourage to continue writing about interests
- Support by complimenting
re behavior and schoolwork
- Provide new info about
topics to keep their interest
- Let them write more
than you do
- Be specific in your
comments
- Try to get them to
ask you more questions than you ask them.
But keep in mind that making requests helps kids
write more than if you just kind of
drop the situation/conversation etc or whatever.
I usually find that if I get my initial reactions
out, by speaking or writing, or by
whatever other means, then I can write with a “higher
intelligence” about the book
etc that I’m supposed to be reflecting on.
But first I have to say, “What were those
idiots thinking?!”
Reading Logs
- Questions related
to understanding the text
- Interaction with characters
- Empathy with characters
- Prediction and validation
- Personal experiences
- Personal feelings
and opinions
- Simple and elaborate
evaluations
- Philosophical reflections
- Retellings and summaries
Plot always reminds me of a way of walking, I guess
I think of it as “plod” and
how people sneak around when they’re in a story
being...sneaky… and you
have to have a plot for a story… well I’m sure it’s
connected somehow.
Yesterday in class our teacher kept saying the “bus
boycotts” but
the way she said it made it sound like the
“busboy cots” and I’m thinking what
does the place young men who clean tables sleep
have to do with civil rights?”
See page 241 for patterns
Double-Entry Journals
Two columns…write quotes on right from book and relate to their life
or lit in the other column…
Neat idea, I like it. It’s like our connections, only better
organized
Or make them “reading” and “discussion” notes - one in each column
Language Arts Notebooks
What are affixes…?
Sounds like more technical stuff for the journal than random wanderings
of the mind.
Notes on how to remember grammatical rules, etc.
Learning Logs
Reactions for what they’re learning in other subject areas other than
language arts
Cool!
- Write
about topics re the war
- List
words related to the theme
- Chart
major battles
- Venn
diagrams
- Time
lines
- Maps
- Notes
on films
- Quotes
- Responses
to chapters
I wonder questions too!
Simulated Journals
Assume an alias…a new identity…oo...fun. Write as if you’re
that person and give details
and information that have to do with
that time period, event, etc.
I keep relating this stuff to mystery novels, maybe from all the mysteries
I read as a kid.
Use it as a tool for learning or as a journal
As a learning tool… explore concepts and make connections…
Simulated letters
Young Children’s Journals
Drawing
Drawing and writing
Invented spelling
I remember
this photo album I did one time and for the picture of the giraffe,
I wrote “Meat
Mr. Giraffe” it was all very neatly printed out and in colored
markers and everything
but today it rather horrifies me that I would write
that… meat? Ew
Teaching Students to Write in
Journals
Notebooks or booklets
Keep in the classroom but at home
too
Write a at certain time each day
I wonder if kids get confused about all the different types of journals
there are?
>
Quickwriting
“Rambling on paper”
Yes! Good stuff
10 minutes
Done before actually learning about info, find out what info they
started with
> Teaching Minilessons
Page 254 and 255
Important tot each before new
stuff
Adapting to Meet the Needs of Every Student
Work on their
shortcomings, extra practice, etc.
I remember with
my spelling journal one time my teacher wanted me to redo
some of my S’s and I thought
since it was on the last page and you couldn’t
see it, she wouldn’t notice if
I Didn’t do them, but … I was wrong
Assessing Student’s Journal Entries
Find the way that works
best for you, they say.
“Read Me”
“Private”
Hard to be
objective
LETTER WRITING
