In Love With Self-Created Anchor Charts!

Dear Lara,
I LOVE these anchor charts that your students created. Not only do I think they will be more likely to use an anchor chart that they have right at their fingertips, but I believe they will be empowered to use these charts because they designed them. Ownership equals investment. I can't wait to see more examples! I can't wait to try it out in my room too.

I am posting a few pictures of my writing workshop mentor text board during our fairy tale unit. We charted the writing "moves" we noticed authors making, the name we decided upon for that move, why we thought authors used the move, examples from mentor texts, and examples from the students' writing. As you can see from the board, we charted various versions of Little Red Riding Hood, and the students wrote their own versions of the story. We will be writing informational pieces during our next writing unit focusing on insects to coordinate with our FOSS science unit. I will try to post a few pics of that board as well.
Frances

Student Created Symbols

Hey Fran,

Symbols are abundant in my classroom, the hallway, the road, the park, phones, and on and on.  I am on a mission to have each child transform our class anchor charts/rubrics into small hand held tools that have self-created symbols.  Below I have posted pictures of a recent example from my class --  the classic 5 Finger Retelling Hand created by my students.  I LOVE the varying symbols for connections in the palm of the hand.  I believe that the plug, lego, heart and cars crashing illustrate the power of a self - created symbols for making meaning and... making meaning last.

heart

legos

plug

cars crashing

Fractured Stories - Little Red Riding Hood

Hi Lara,
I think providing young readers with concrete symbols can provide powerful scaffolds for reading comprehension. Do you use these symbols in writing workshop as well?
We have been studying fairy tales for a couple of weeks now in our reading workshop and our writing workshop. We began by reading various "classic" fairy tales and charting certain elements from these tales. I wanted the students to begin to make generalizations about the genre. You can check out the anchor chart here. Then we narrowed our focus and began reading versions of Little Red Riding Hood. The kids LOVED all the different versions. Check out our book list. We charted some elements of a few of our favorites so the students could see the connections between the stories and begin to think about how they might change certain elements of the story. I have tried to re-create some of our chart. The students are now writing their own versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and I am so impressed with their creativity. I will post one or two in the next week so you can check them out!
Frances

Century old stories are here to stay!

Hey Fran,

How is the fairy tale study shaping up?  I have been using the book, Fairy Tales in the Classroom:  Teaching Students to Write Stories With Meaning Through Traditional Tales by Veronika Martenova Charles http://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Tales-Classroom-Teaching-Traditional/dp/1554550203 this year.  The author lays out a very concrete path of symbols that take the reader through the common moves(elements) found in fairy tales.  After the class builds a "path of symbols" for a tale that was read aloud, they create their own version using the same symbols (elements).  These lessons have provided the most powerful sense of story to my first graders. Lastly, while my students are engaged in these lessons they are hitting all the bases - Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing!

I wanted you to see some of the sweet Valentine Pattern Cards based off of Honey I Love.
I have posted the lesson on the Corestand site http://corestand.com/valentine-pattern-book-cards.html

Next, I will be posting more about retelling (promise)and I have been thinking a lot about what it might mean to "round out" the curriculum.

Lara

Once Upon a Time....

Dear Lara,
Your pics look fantastic. Thanks for uploading photos of the kids work. I think people really appreciate seeing examples of what the students accomplished. :)
In my classroom, we are beginning a fairy tale study. We started reading different fairy tales such as Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, etc and charting the elements of these stories. I will post a pic of our anchor chart soon. We will be reading fairy tales in guided reading and deepening our comprehension discussions. This exploration will lead into our writing workshop where we will be dissecting versions of Little Red Riding Hood. The students will then write their own fractured versions of Little Red Riding hood. It's going to be a lot of work, but I am very excited. Look for an update in the next couple of weeks!
Fran

Hi Fran!

What a great reading list.  You provided such a nice range of books for many different age levels.

I am posting a few pictures of my students retelling work.  I think grouping the kids in threes was really important, because they talked SO much as they worked.  I think sharing ideas in small groups is a powerful way to apply the complex reading strategies and work young children must do these days.

Our retelling work is never done.  We are developing a Retelling Anchor Chart as a class -- look for a post about that coming soon!
What's been up in your room these days?

Lara

A Few "Peaceful" Titles

Dear Lara,

The pics from our peace writing project look great! I thought I would post some titles in case anyone is interested in exploring the theme of peace as they welcome in the New Year....here are a few titles to get folks started.

• Let There Be Peace: Prayers From Around the World by Jeremy Brooks. Frances Lincoln’s Childrens Books. 2009.
• Peace One Day by Jeremy Gilley. Putnam Juvenile. 2005
• Let There Be Peace on Earth: And Let It Begin With Me by Jill Jackson. Tricycle Press. 2009.
• Can You Say Peace? By Karen Katz. Henry Holt and Co. 2006.
• A Little Peace. Barbara Kerley. National Geographic Childrens Books. 2007.
• No! by David McPhail. Roaring Book Press. 2009
• Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas. Albert Whitman and Co. 1998.
• The Peace Book by Todd Parr. Little Brown Books for Young Readers. 2009.
• What Does Peace Feel Like by Vladamir Radunsky. Antheneum Books for Young Readers. 2004.
• PeaceJam: A Billion Acts of Peace by Ivan Suvanjieff.  Puffin Books. 2008.
• Peaceful Heroes by Jonah Winter. Arthur A. Levine Books. 2009
• Paths to Peace: People Who Changed the World by Jane Breskin Zalben. Dutton Juvenile. 2006. 

 I think I am going to use this study of peace to lead into an exploration of freedom and civil rights. I will be posting book suggestions here soon. :) Frances

Howdy Fran,

Happy New Year!!  

Below you and everyone will see our artistically published peace poems.   Let's put the finishing touches on our Peace Poem Project Mini Unit in the coming days and post it on Corestand.  

I can't wait to share the retelling work - look for it soon!

See you on Monday!

Lara

Creative and Fun Publishing Ideas

 Mentor Text and Small Group Brainstorming

 Writing a list poem using Todd Parr as a mentor. 

  Making water color backgrounds for accordion books.

 A sample page.

A completed accordion book.

A glass bead peace sign cover.

A  "dreamcatcher style" peace poem.

Hi Lara,
I know exactly what you mean. I can't believe it's January already. I would love to see some examples of the work you and your students did together with retelling. While retelling may appear to be a simplistic task, for young readers it is complex. I'm glad you are laying the foundation in first grade and delving into substantial retellings, as we will pull on these skills next year as we ask the second graders to write responses to their reading.
I am gearing up to head back to school on Monday, but I have been reflecting today on the work we did together this past week with our small group of young writers around the theme of peace. I know you took a lot of photos during our time together...how about posting a few pics of the published pieces to give folks a couple of new ideas for creative poetry publishing?
Frances

Hey Fran,

The month of December comes and goes SO quickly - don't you think?!  I left school in a flash on the 23rd leaving all the remnants of a fun filled week of school behind.  I went to school today to tidy up the room a bit and get ready for school to start up again on Monday.  As I was cleaning up I was reflecting on the work that we did with the Gingerbread Unit from Corestand.  First, we made an anchor chart of Things That Should be Included in a Good Retelling.  I had my students work in groups of three to complete the retelling organizer included in the unit after each read aloud. We shared our work at the end of each lesson and talked about whether the retelling included everything it needed to.  At first the kids were not very critical of the work, but by the end they started to notice weaknesses and strengths in each others retelling!

Lara