“With a room full of authors to help us teach, teaching writing doesn’t have to be so lonely. -Katie Wood Ray
" I can't help students write well by myself. I need lots of help doing this teaching work. I have found that help on the shelves of my library." -Wondrous Words, Katie Wood Ray

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Catch The Reading BUG!!

TV.  If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six.  Open your child's imagination.  Open a book.  
                       ~Author Unknown  



 

The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”       `Dr. Seuss



I find television to be very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.  ~Groucho Marx

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Sentence Fluency with Science Verses

Grade Level: 7th
Focus Trait: Sentence Fluency
Mentor Text: Science Verses
Author: Jon Scieszka 
Illustrator:Lane Smith
ISBN: 0670910570

 


Mentor Text Summary:   This collection of poems about science begins with a boy sitting in science class listening to his teacher talk about the “poetry of science.” The next day the boy starts hearing everything as a science poem. Ten parodies of well-known poems follow. The last page lists the famous poems that provided the basis for the parodies. This is an exciting book that can serve as an excellent springboard for teaching both science and language arts.




About the Illustrator:
“In high school I had a great art teacher, Mr. Baughman, who saw some potential in my work. Up until then I hadn't given a career in art much thought. And college was not a top priority in my family. In fact, of all my relatives and immediate family only one or two ever even thought about college. Mr. Baughman personally drove me to Pasadena, an hour and a half away, and introduced me to the school recruiters. If not for him I'd still be painting Christmas windows or doing caricatures at an amusement park.”

Lesson:
  • Read Scieszka's Science Verse as a read-aloud over several days with the students. 
  • Share the songs from the book that your students will already know are impersonations of other songs they've heard, such as the "It's Raining, It's Pouring" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".  Ask the students, "How does the author make sure his new song sounds so much like the original song?" Discuss with the students how keeping the same rhythm and syllables allows the author to write a parody of any song.  
  • Share the definition of parody. 
parody: (noun) -- A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.  
  • Complete this worksheet as a group on the ELMO or overhead projector, so that students understand how parodies are formed and take shape. http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/poetry_prompts/Poetry_Pic_Books/Science_Verse_package.pdf 
  • Have the students run with the parody idea in their writing notebooks.  Have students complete the left-hand side of the notebook page by choosing the opening lines from famous poems; then, give them a week to make parodies of each line they wrote down.  Once the students have finished the parodies, have them share their "parody launches" with others. Have them brainstorm which "parody launch" should be developed into a full parody.
  • Talk about the importance of polishing the rhythm of their parody poems, or challenge them to spruce up their drafts’ word choices with better words that have the same syllable count.

Below is a suggestion for how to partition off a page in the writers’ notebook, or an example of a graphic organizer for the students to use for brainstorming. 
Setting up the Writer's Notebook page:
Parody Launches
Definition of Parody:

Opening line of a famous poem:
My parody of the line at left:



Opening line of a famous poem:
My parody of the line at left:



Opening line of a familiar song:
My parody of the song at left:



Opening line of a familiar song:
My parody of the song at left:





  • Once students have had a chance to play with parody, tell the students they are going to work in small groups to create a parody of the world-famous poem written by Clement Clarke Moore, “The Night Before Christmas”. Their group poems will be called "The Day of Thanksgiving."
Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Lesson:
Standard: Writing Process
Benchmark: C. Clarify ideas for writing assignments by using graphic organizers or other organizers.   
Indicator: 5. Use organizational strategies to plan writing. 

Useful Websites:  

Voice:The Spider and the Fly


Grade Level: 8th
Focus Trait: Voice 
Mentor Text: The Spider and the Fly
Authors: Mary Botham Howitt, Illustrator: Tony DiTerlizzi
ISBN: 0689852894

Mentor Text Summary: The spider uses food and flattery to entice his guest the fly into staying within his walls.  It is a classic tale of predator verse prey, which uses humor to lighten the mood and entertain the reader.    


 

About the Author: Mary Howitt (12 March 1799 – 30 January 1888) was an English poet, and author of the famous poem The Spider and the Fly. She was born Mary Botham at Coleford, in Gloucestershire, the temporary residence of her parents.  Mary Botham was educated at home, and read widely; she commenced writing verses at a very early age. Together with her husband she wrote over 180 books.



     
Lesson: Taking Out the Voice (This should not be used as an introductory lesson.)
  1. Read The Spider and the Fly poem storybook to the students.
  2. Place the passage on the overhead/ELMO.  Ask for opinions about the piece--what did they think about the writing, specifically its voice? See if they can come up with single word descriptions of the voice in this piece-exciting? interesting? emotional? personal? engaging? sincere? What questions come to mind--who? what? when? where? why? how?--as they look at this writing? If they don't have a lot of questions, discuss its strengths. How would they score this for voice using the Six Trait Scoring Guide ?  
  3. With a partner, have students discuss the criteria for strong voice and rewrite the passage, attempting to "voice it down." Their goal is to earn a "1" in voice for this piece.
    Reread the original "voice-rich" writing, then have the groups share aloud their new "voiceless" versions. 
  4. Talk about what was added or changed to take out the voice.  As a whole class, create a rubric for the criteria of voice.  Have students apply this rubric to their own personal piece of writing.
  5. Trade papers with a peer, then peer edit the papers, highlighting where voice is present in the text. 
  6. Students can revise the text then turn it in for a finished product.

Extension: Students can use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the spider’s voice and the fly’s voice. 

Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Lesson:
Standard: Literary Text
Benchmark: G. Explain techniques used by authors to develop style
Indicator: 8. Explain ways in which the author conveys mood and tone through word choice, figurative language, and syntax. 

Additional Resources: