Thursday, September 6, 2012

Writer's Eye and Reader's Cafe

Today was the first day this year for me to be away from my sweet kiddos. I spent my day in Common Core  training, secretly wishing I was in my classroom reading and writing with my kids. I am anxious to see how my first day with a substitute went. 

While I was out, I left a fun writing activity for my kiddos. I cannot wait to see their finished products! Before hand, I created my "Writer's Eye" (I) as explained by Jeff Anderson in Mechanically Inclined. (I also have seen it on Julie Ballew's amazing website A Literate Life.) This will be one more resource for them to use as begin working our way to writing our narratives. As we have launched into writing, we have spent many hours talking about where writers get their ideas! Using our writer's eye to look closely at ourselves is a perfect way to gather the ideas that just may lead to that perfect story. 





Yesterday, we revisited Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter.  We discussed how the character Eva had to really be observant to help her become a better writer! Sometimes it is the little things around us that can make the best story. Another great example of using observation in our writing is Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher. LOVE, love me some Ralph Fletcher! Such an amazing writer and teacher of writing! I share so many of his ideas every year!





I am really looking forward to the coming weeks as we focus on sensory detail and figurative language. So many great mentor texts ahead of us as we continue adding ideas and strategies to our notebooks. 



OK...so I know I am a little late in the game, but I have finally started my Reading Cafe board. It is not exactly where I would prefer it, but with limited space, I am glad to have it up at all. :) With hardly any wall space in my room, I tend to take over the hallways...
Well, ready to call it a night! Off to steal pin a few more ideas from Pinterest as I drift off to sleep.

Happy Reading!

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6 comments:

  1. I love your writer's eye anchor chart! I'd also like to invite you to join my new linky called "Fun Friday." It is all about the fun things we do in our classrooms. I'd love to have you join!

    Kelly
    Teaching Fourth

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    Replies
    1. Kelly,

      Thank you...I would love to join your linky Fun Friday. I might have to wait until we can actually do something fun lol...at this point, I am trying to get through DRAs and DSAs and DIBELS. We NEED to have some fun :)

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  2. I seriously LOVE your blog. Teaching reading and writing is definitely the hardest for me (I'm a math and science girl!) and I almost just want to copy every single thing you do and read every book you share. No joke.... I won't, but boy is it tempting. I will definitely be "stealing" some ideas so please, please keep sharing. How do you not have a million followers?? :)
    Bee
    Bee Teaches

    ReplyDelete
  3. I seriously LOVE your blog. Teaching reading and writing is definitely the hardest for me (I'm a math and science girl!) and I almost just want to copy every single thing you do and read every book you share. No joke.... I won't, but boy is it tempting. I will definitely be "stealing" some ideas so please, please keep sharing. How do you not have a million followers?? :)
    Bee
    Bee Teaches

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bee,

      You are entirely too kind, but THANK you so much! This blog thing is so new to me; half the time I feel as if I have no idea what I am doing. But I love sharing with my kiddos, parents, and teacher friends! Steal away, because Lord knows I haven't had an original idea in forever! I steal from just about everyone. My only hope is that I have given everyone credit! There are so many amazing teachers out there that share ~ they deserve ALL the credit!

      Delete
  4. I seriously LOVE your blog! Reading and writing is the hardest thing for me to teach (I'm a math and science girl) and I almost want to copy every single lesson and anchor chart you do and read every book you share. I won't, but man is it tempting! I will be "stealing" your ideas though so please, please keep sharing! How do you not have a million followers?? :)
    Bee
    Bee Teaches

    ReplyDelete