This is a continuation of our book study “The
Daily Five” by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.
We are continuing with Chapter Six, “Work on Writing and Word
Work”.
Work on Writing:
When you are doing the “Work on Writing” segment in your day the students
should be working independently or with a partner. Some of the ideas that I use in my classroom are
persuasive writings. An example of that
would be to persuade me if I should be a “Country Mouse or a City Mouse”. We start with reading the book and the students
have to do a writing piece to persuade me to be either one or why I should be
one or the other. We also have “book
buddies” every Friday and they come in and read to each other the stories they
have written and their book buddies are allowed to help them with their writing. They also work on a drawing together to finish their writing pieces. During
special times of the year we make and create cards for our Book Buddies. Writing in my classroom is so many things it
is difficult to capture in one single post.
You always begin your “Work on Writing” by bringing a purpose to it
and talk about why it is so important to write every day. If you are a “whole brain” teacher this is a
great time to insert “teach, ok” while you are discussing. I have a “share chair” in my room, which is where
each student can share their ideas about why it is important to write every
day. Our “share chair” is also a time
where you can “take the mic” and use it to read a finished piece. (I have a voice enhancement system in my room with a microphone) I always let them make a choice whether or
not they want to share or not. We want
our children to care about why they are writing and people who are reading
it.
Focus Lessons are important because this is a time when modeled
writing is shown to the class on things to do if you get stuck on a word. These simple steps are critical in enabling
our students to be independent writers. We
need to model to our students what to do if they get stuck on a word by
underlining it and coming back later and that it is okay to do so. Talk with your students about what “Working
on Writing” looks like since this is already a part of some of the other Daily
5 elements. Make an anchor chart with
their ideas on it and hang it up in the room so that they have a visual
reminder. In the other components of
Read to Someone and Read to Self they have already built up enough stamina that
a three minute writing time is not that so difficult.
Word Work
I don’t know about you but I think this is one of my most favorite
parts of the Daily 5 because it can be so much fun and highly interactive with
peers and materials. If we are going to
create readers and writers then word work is a critical element in the Daily 5
time. This time allows students to
experiment with words, work on those high frequency words, implement spelling patterns and working on those “break the rules” words. This is a time to focus on spelling and
vocabulary as well as writing. You are
going to want to launch Word Work as a time to go over what it looks like, what
is done during this time and talk about stamina. What can I do during Word Work time with my
students? What are some activities that
I can do to keep it interesting and not run out of ideas?
In my classroom we have an ongoing list of ideas to do during Word
Work and they can go and pull an idea off of the chart. What you will find out as students adapt and
build stamina during Word Work is they can come up with some really good ideas
of Word Work ideas of their own. When
they do make sure it goes on the chart of ideas to make them feel very
important. Oh, this is also a great time
to have parent volunteers in from the beginning so that they learn what Word
Work is and become really good at assisting you by the end of the year. It also teaches them how to teach their own
children. Unfortunately the most
important things in our lives, our children, don’t come with a manual.
All around the list of Word Work ideas we take pictures so that
students remember what it looks like and it is an excellent tool for your
visual learners or struggling readers. I
am in a Title I school so this is something that all of our teachers have to
work on every year. I always tell my students
“practice makes better, not perfect”. Practice is a key word here in teaching your students and modeling with
other students (which they love being a teacher helper) how to do a particular
activity. Word Work for about three
to five minutes and gather back together to make any additions to our chart
that we need to make.
Before I forget, some things that you will find really important to
have on your anchor chart are: clean quietly, if you touched the materials you
help clean them, find the picture of the materials so you know where they go
back in their place and other ideas that will make your closing time
easier.
I agree! I think Word Work is the most fun of the literacy block too.
ReplyDeleteLearning With Susie Q
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Great ideas!
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JennyB
One Berry Blog