The Writing Block in the Four Block Classroom

Grade Level: K-12

      This presentation provides an overview of the Literacy Model.  This four-block model was developed by Pat Cunningham and involves rubrics.  The presentation uses student samples to illustrate how the model works.

The Writing Process  

            This presentation models a way to introduce and carry out the writing process.  It adheres to the different learning styles with the use of an interactive bulletin board.  This approach creates an opportunity for the students to monitor their own learning and work at their own pace.  It also provides the teacher with an opportunity to track students’ progress and facilitate their different needs.

Writing in a Four Block Classroom

            Using the Four Block writing method, students implement the steps necessary to create a final project. In this lesson, students develop characterizations for two characters, paying attention to descriptive writing. They use a graphic organizer to collect pre-writing data and then formulate what is called a “weave book” that highlights their completed writing pieces as well as gives them a chance to show off their artistic and creative talents.

Writing Dramatizations of Narrative Fiction

Grade Level: Elementary/Intermediate/Secondary

      Students read a short story or novel (a narrative poem or interesting piece of non-fiction will work as well).  Students then complete an "Interview with an Author" exercise in which they are the authors of the pieces they have just read and provide answers to questions written in a dialogue format.  Students then work in groups of 3-5 students to write a script dramatizing the events of the story they have read.  Finally, with scripts in hand, students perform their dramas for the class.  Topics for discussion also include Chamber and Readers Theater.  

Extending Activities for ANY Text: Multi-Age Writing and Art Projects

Grade Level: Elementary/Intermediate/Secondary  

      This presentation introduces ideas for extending a writing lesson to include reading and thinking skills and to apply to multiple intelligences.  Although the demonstration is aimed at secondary students, the activities are easily used or modified for any grade level.  Teachers can walk away from this presentation with more than forty activity ideas that connect reading, writing, and creative projects.

  Creating Books in First Grade

      This presentation is a workshop about creating individual and class books through (the use of) music, art, science, and social studies, using thematic units.  Students use inventive spelling and a dictionary during their pre-writing.  They edit, then use the word processor to type their books, save to their own disk, and print their own works. 

                                                       Fairy Tales

            Students recall the fairy tale The Three Little Pigs. Then I share the picture book The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. This book is an excellent model for introducing writing from a different point of view. After a discussion of the book, students select a familiar fairy tale. Imaginations soar when creating their own fairy tales from a different character’s perspective. Students love to write and illustrate stories that will be shared in the class anthology. The class enjoys listening to new creations as their peers read aloud. Students are given a copy of the completed anthology for their own personal library.

Folktales:  A Multicultural Activity

      This is a lesson on folktales beginning with Tomie dePoala's, Tony's Bread.  Students listen to a tape and eat panetone (bread from Italy).  They are asked to think of their own cultures as they listen. 

      Students write a folktale incorporating features of their own culture into it.  A worksheet lists common characteristics of folktales and students may incorporate some of these features as well.  At the conclusion of the activity, students can illustrate and share their folktales.  

Point of View

            This presentation helps students understand how to write from different points of view.  Students listen to a story and then choose a mystery object out of a bag.  They write stories from the object’s point of view, draw a picture representing their story, and share their stories with each other. 

The Writer's Club

      The idea for the Writer's Club came from an article written by Frank Smith entitled "Reading Like a Writer."  He said, "…teachers must show the advantages that membership in the club of writers offers, and ensure that students join."  This workshop demonstrates practical ways to implement this philosophy by setting up a Writer's Club in the classroom.

Writing and Reading

      This is a lesson on writing and reading beginning with Where the Wild Things Are.  Students listen to the story.  They then think of their own experiences with monsters. 

      After listening to the story, students create and name their own monsters.  Next, they write a story about themselves and their monsters.  Finally, students share their monster creations and stories.  

Class Books

Grade Level:  Elementary/Intermediate   

      This presentation teaches students how to create a class book.  Students learn to sketch out their stories before writing them.  The sketches allow students to "see" that their work contains the four elements of a story and provides a concrete way to develop details in their stories.  Other elements of this lesson include studying children's books, story boarding, and publishing.  Story structure, grammar rules and cooperative learning are added bonuses of this lesson, which can be adapted for the secondary level.  

Using Books to Inspire Writing in the Elementary Grades

Grade Level: Early Elementary

      This is a lesson for developmental readers and writers.  The presentation includes ideas for using books and writing across the curriculum in the primary grades.  Books are read to stimulate writing among young readers/writers.  Activities include a shared reading and a short writing activity.  

A Day at the Beach:  A Thematic, Multidisciplinary Unit

      This presentation introduces an approach to initiating and organizing a thematic unit with emphasis on multiple learning styles and whole language.  Examples of integrating content areas within a theme, in this case the ocean, are presented.  Students work in a variety of genres, including technical writing, fiction, research, poetry, and journals.  Students establish and expand a word bank, enabling them to learn language and vocabulary skills within the context of learning the theme.  This presentation can be adapted to any grade level.  

The ARTS of Writing

      An excellent, non-threatening route to learning how to write with the use of music and visual arts, media which promote student involvement and achievement in writing.  This presentation can be adapted for all grade levels, K-12.  

Writer’s Workshop

The Post Office:  An Authentic Writing Experience

            This presentation creates authentic writing experiences and a real audience by setting up a post office within the school or classroom.

            There are four activities within the lesson plan: webbing, writing letters, writing stamp descriptions, and designing stamps. Each activity focuses on a different skill. The webbing allows students to practice inventive spelling and opportunities to “adopt” conventional spelling. Writing letters provides the opportunity for students to discover a personal use for the function of writing. Encouraging young students to describe stamps promotes vocabulary development.  Designing stamps and requiring students to submit a brief expository piece on the topic allows them to gather, observe, evaluate, and synthesize data.

            These exercises also offer students the opportunity to work in cooperative groups as a means for sharing and supporting from peers while writing. 

The Importance of Sensory Experience in Descriptive Writing

      Students begin by manipulating objects that involve all of the senses.  After their senses have been awakened, students listen to a rhyming story, concentrating on reference to the senses.  Group modeling is used in a prewriting strategy, helping students move from the abstract to the concrete.  Students complete the activity by writing to other students, inviting them to join them in an activity. This invitation includes what they will see, hear, taste, touch and feel! 

Using Cooperative Group Activities to Enhance Student Writing

      All pre-writing activities include hands-on group activities to involve students in subject matter.  Students write from their experiences in a "team" setting.  This presentation includes discussion on how to set up a team environment in the classroom, initiate cooperative writing throughout all curriculum areas, and how to evaluate a group project. 

      Example: a social studies presentation on pioneer travel includes related readings, background information, and hands-on cooperative activities that provide students with the information and experiences to write a historical journal about that time in history.  

Thematic Units:  Moving West--Creation of a Chapter Book

Grade Level:  Elementary/Intermediate   

Last updated 18 Dec 2003