Common Core Journal of the Week Prompts Power Point-Encouraging Student Writers

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Student writers begin each school year at varying levels and with differing enthusiasm for writing. With the incorporation of common core standards, students now have even greater responsibilities as reflective and responsive writers of text. Last school year, my team and I worked to incorporate a reading/writing intervention/enrichment time into our daily schedule twice a week in order to enhance student reading and writing.  We knew that taking some additional time to focus on our student readers and writers would greatly benefit them in the long run.  

I HEART motivated writers!

As I provided different writing topics, projects, and assignments for my students, I realized just how little many of them wanted to write.  Upon giving instruction, modeling, and getting students ready to begin their work, I was confronted with the same question, "How long does this need to be?"  I HATE that question!!!  I realized that I needed to do my part to inspire my students a bit...So I generated 40 different journal prompts that I believed would motivate my student writers.  Here is a sample entry from the power point.

My purpose for creating this teaching tool was to provide my students with high-interest prompts that encourage enthusiasm for writing, so I would no longer be attacked with the above question.  I utilized the BING, BANG, BONGO strategy to develop my students' paragraph/essay writing and we began tackling journal entries with thoughtfulness, detail, and organization. 

 

If you are looking for a tool that gets students motivated to write, incorporates common core standards for grades 3-8, and offers rubrics for teacher/self-evaluation, check out this resource in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Reader's Theater for the Middle Grades...check it out in my TpT Store!

One of my favorite things to do with my 6th grade students is Reader's Theater.  They "hoot" and "whoop" every time they know they have the opportunity to perform.  Something about having the chance to get lost in a character, read aloud, and take on a different persona for a short period of time really excites my students.

I also LOVE TO WRITE! This past week of not working in a classroom and adjusting to our back to school schedule, has afforded me some time to write.  I have taken on the task of writing a Reader's Theater passage called Speedy Racer.  It is a common core focused, high interest, realistic fiction passage that students will LOVE in the middle grades.





Speedy Racer is a script about a boy who learns the hard way that in order to compete, you must practice and be dedicated.  This 12-character script is one that will have your students thinking about the kind of person they want to be and be friends with.  A must read with your middle grades students.

In addition, I have included 5-reader response questions and a summary organizer.  Ideal tools for work on common core reading literature standards.

My emergency plans always contain a Reader's Theater passage with specific instructions on how to utilize it with my three different classes.   While the students can get a bit "over-enthusiastic" at times with another adult leading the class, I know that it will keep them focused and engaged, which leads to fewer behavior concerns in my absence.

Please leave a comment on how you utilize Reader's Theater in your classroom.

Happy first week of school!

FREEBIE: An Interactive Reader's Notebook Page

Our focus this week is making predictions and hypothesizing about information in a text.  While this is an extension of our learning with inferential questions, it is vocabulary that students need to have to understand what it means to predict and hypothesize. 

My hook...the students will walk into the classroom to find a bucket of water balloons on the floor in front of the classroom.  I will ask them to predict on a post-it what they think the balloons are going to be utilized for?  They will display their post-its on chart paper.  We will then read aloud the different predictions. 

Possible prediction: We are going to throw them at the 5th graders as they head out to recess.

Upon completing their prediction post-it, I will ask them based on their prediction, what they hypothesize might happen if the water balloons were utilized for that purpose?  They will then record their hypothesis onto another post-it and place it on chat paper.  We will share again.

Possible hypothesis: We will have to clean up the mess, we will be in a HUGE amount of trouble, and Mrs. Beers might not be our teacher any longer for allowing us to make this poor choice...

Here is a simple interactive Reader's Notebook flap that I created for students to utilize when discussing this concept and to keep as a tool they can utilize later in the year.   While I don't suspect they will soon forget what it means to predict and hypothesize, we will create an anchor chart with the same terms displayed, discuss the meaning of these words based on our water balloon hook, and add this information drafted on the anchor chart under the flaps. 



While I am NOT planning to bombard 5th graders with water balloons before recess in freezing cold November, it is a way that I can make a concept stick with my 6th grade learners.  The more outrageous-the more memorable!  Happy Cyber Monday!



Authentic Writing in Interactive Writer's Notebooks

Writer's Notebooks are a BIG addition to my language arts instruction this school year.  After reading the Daily 5-I realized just how little authentic writing my students have done over the last number of years.  Years back I implemented Writer's Workshop into my instruction, but with the pressures of our testing and making students the BEST READERS, writing was probably a once a quarter kind of thing, and it was VERY decisive on my end, sadly.

NOT THIS YEAR!!!  I am bound and determined to make my students writers this year! With all of my BLOG STALKING, researching, and personal enthusiasm for the writing process, I am armed and ready with what I believe to be strategies and practices that will enhance my students' writing and creativity.  So far-we are heading down the right path. 

Yesterday was a bit of a breakthrough day-we have done a bit of brainstorming, recorded and contributed to the creations of anchor charts, but yesterday was the day when I really saw some REAL authentic thinking and writing.

I saw on a science teacher's blog how he/she does a Photo of the Day prompt.  The photo is pulled from the National Geographic website http://www.nationalgeographic.com/.  Each day students list observations and inferences about the picture and record them in their science journals.  I LOVED THIS IDEA and decided it was a great one to tweak!  My students HAVE to know the difference between observation and inference as readers and thinkers, so I just extended the task to also TELLING THE STORY OF THE PICTURE.  I decided this would be a perfect morning starter activity on Wednesdays.

Last Wednesday was a S-T-R-U-G-G-L-E.  Comments like, "I don't get this!"  "What do you want us to write about?"  "I don't know what the polar bears are thinking."  Oh dear, hang in there...I decided that I may have better luck with photos from the Travel photography section.

This Wednesday was one of those teaching moments where you want to shout out the classroom window, "THEY GOT IT, LISTEN TO THIS!"  While having each student read their clever stories over a megaphone!  I didn't, however, but they did do an author share at the end, and many wanted to share what they had written!  WOOHOO!

Here are some pics of our work...

 Photo of the Day prompt...

I LOVE this picture! Boy did it invoke some awesome inferences and stories!

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/maho-beach-st-maarten/

Markel was killed by the plane-in his story.

 Catlyn writing away!

Naomi's family escaped the plane crash and never went back to the beach.

 Faith was a passenger on the plane and had to jump out using a parachute to get to safety.

 Jovon listing observations and inferences.

 A student's writing...

Jon had the most clever story about mutant sharks flying the plane out of the ocean onto the beach in order to ultimately take over the earth!  AMAZING, JON!

There is more work to be done with my student writers, but our interactive notebooks are headed in the right direction.  While I know there will be additional creative road blocks, sometimes it just takes that one moment of success for students to realize they can do something!  Today, authentic writing it was!!!  Way to go 6th graders!

If you are looking for an all-in-one resource for writing CCSS, here is my latest creation...

Here is a sneak peek at next Wednesday's Photo of the Day prompt...

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/gingerbread-men-cookies/