Transition Words in Intermediate Writing

Are you getting a grip on the CCSS in writing yet? I'm working on it. It's good timing for me, actually, because nearly all of my writing instruction is new. It's a whole lot different than writing in first grade, for sure.

Our district has been looking closely at our writing map in comparison to the  CCSS. One area we discovered that wasn't being covered enough was using transtion / transitional words and phrases in writing. Because there isn't really anything in place for shared lessons yet, I worked closely with our instructional coach to teach this needed writing skill to the Fab Fours. After piecing together a series of lessons I went back and wrote up a UBD (Understanding By Design, also known as Backwards Design) unit based on what worked with our lessons and what needed deeper instruction or practice. I'm happy with how it turned out; I think it really covers what the Fab Fours need to know to implement transition words into their own writing.  Here's the unit plan description:


All teachers are in the process of shifting instruction to meet the Common Core State Standards. One of the greatest areas in need of aligning is writing - in particular writing for grades 3-6.

Fortunately for teachers, the CCSS gives us a clear and precise path of what our learners need before they move on from our grade level. When I examined our writing map during our fourth grade team development, one strand we all realized needed defining and more implicit instruction is the use of transitional words and phrases. I developed this lesson kit to meet the needs of my fourth graders this year. This five lesson writing was created using UBD (understanding by design) after teaching it to my students and tweaking it better meet the needs of all intermediate writers.

The Transition Words - Intermediate Writing Lessons unit contains five lessons that will take you from the introduction of transition words and phrases through to independent work.

In this kit you will be equipped with:
PDF document containing the five lesson unit
     *  Understand By Design enduring understandings, essential questions, student outcomes, and evidence of learning

     *  Five complete lesson plans that used gradual release (taking the students from full dependence through independence)

     *  Powerpoint presentation lessons that can be used to introduce each lesson (Powerpoint is not needed to run these, there are instructions included on how to use them by downloading a free Microsoft Powerpoint player)

     *  A full material list for each lesson

     *  Learning Target (learning objective) posters for each lesson

     *  Sample anchor charts to help you create them for your classroom

     *  Rubric for tracking progress during each phase of the unit

     *  Custom written short stories to use with "thinking together" and "independent work" phases of the lessons

     *  Assessment instructions and materials

     * Common Core State Standards (writing) for fourth, fifth and sixth grade that this writing unit meets.

For a full preview of Lesson One and the UBD criteria, download the free preview file. It includes Powerpoint lesson one.

Here are some images and a sample of a Powerpoint lesson:

       

  

The timing in the PowerPoint lesson sample is a little off, because it is meant to be advanced by the user as the speed they need to cover the material. This is just running on an auto-advance for the video sample:

If you'd like to check it out further, head on over to  my TPT store. 

Aligning Editing to the Common Core for First and Second Grade

Before I begin, let me share a photo or two with you.

We just finished shopping for school shoes. I was stressing about the cost of 3 pairs of shoes, and was trying very hard (and not doing very well) to be cheery-and-happy-I'm-shopping-with-my-girls. I was on the floor putting all the unwanted shoes back into their boxes when I happened to see a pair of feet slide into my field of vision. This is what I saw:

TOTALLY cracked me up. I guess Olivia wanted to keep those little nylon footies. She wore them the rest of the night - to Staples, Old Navy and PetSmart. Oh, see her toes that are purple? That's duct tape. She taped them herself because she is convinced that they are broken but mom won't take her to the doctor. Know what? I bet they are broken, too, but can't take the time to take her in for xrays when they won't do anything about it anyways. 

Why couldn't she have broken them during the summer instead of the week before school starts?

As we were paying, I turned around and saw this:

She must have been taking a break from wearing them on her feet. Like I said, they were back on moments later for the night.

I got a request on a product I created last winter. It is a poster set and practice sentence strips for editing strategies in first and second grade. The font that I used was D'Nealian, which I now realize is like sanscript for learners who aren't subjected to it. I changed up all the fonts to more kid friendly balls-and-sticks.

I also aligned the editing strategies to the Common Core State Standards, after realizing that I hadn't thought about it when I created it. The set covers one language standard for first and second grade - Conventions of Standard English. 

If you had previously downloaded it, you can re-download the new and improved version for free. If you hadn't, it's worth checking out.

Editing Strategies

I spent the day creating a new bulletin board for my classroom. I needed an editing station with reminders of what editing strategies were expected with my little ones' writing. It's a lot to remember! I'm excited about it, I'm posting it out there for free. Check it out and see if it would work for your room, too. The part I'm most excited about is the daily editing practice sentences. I can't wait to implement them in my room!

For some reason I'm all about the owls these days. Just like everybody else. Oh, and mushrooms, too. Pretty soon I'll be making Holly Hobby wall hangings for my girls' rooms. When did it cease being 2012 and turn back to 1973?

Oh, and the biggest challenge? Figuring out where the heck I can put this bulletin board. It's going to involve moving my "desk", that much I know.