Welcome!

Hello Parents!

Welcome to the beginning of an exciting year! I am very excited to have your child in my classroom for this school year. I wanted to create a blog for you to look at and be able to refer to if you have any questions. This website will provide a brief explanation of the writing program I use in my classroom. If you should ever have any questions, please feel free to contact me through a phone call, e-mail, or a note! I am looking forward to a fun year full of learning!

Miss Fukutomi

Stages of the Writing Process

This year your child will complete several writing assignments. In order to successfully complete these assignments, it is important that the writing process be used and understood. Below is a description of each stage of the writing process your child will be using in the classroom. If you have any questions about the information provided, please feel free to contact me.

1. Prewriting

This is a very important stage of the writing process. At this stage the student is doing all of the work before they put pencil to paper. I believe that much time should be dedicated to this stage. Here are some of the important parts of the prewriting stage:

• Choosing a topic - The student decides what their topic will be. Students should choose their own topic. As a result of choosing their own topic they will become more invested in their writing. A tip is for students to keep a list of potential topics in their writing folder. This way, if a student is ever stuck and cannot think of a topic, they will be able to refer to their list for ideas.
• Consider purpose - This makes the student think about what the purpose is for their writing. Students will also consider what type of language they will use in this piece of writing.
• Consider audience - The student will think about who is going to be reading their writing.
• Consider form - The student will think about the form the writing will take. Examples of writing forms are letters, poems, journal entries, a story, etc.
• Gathering and organizing ideas for writing - This is when the student thinks about what they will say. Students can talk about their ideas, do quick writes, draw, read, etc.

2. Drafting

The important part of the drafting stage is getting ideas down on paper. Here are some important aspects of the drafting stage:

• Students will write out their ideas with little focus or concern on spelling, punctuation, and other errors.
• Students will skip every other line when writing to leave space for revisions.
• The top of the paper will be labeled as "Rough Draft" to indicate that the paper has not yet been graded for errors.
• The focus is on content.

3. Revising

This stage of the writing process refers to "seeing again." During this part the student is looking at the big ideas to see if they make sense. The student will revisit their writing after an ideal period of three days. Here are some important aspects of the revising stage:

• Rereading the rough draft - After taking a break from their draft of writing, the student will revisit their piece of work and make changes. These changes could include adding, deleting, and moving words.
• Sharing in writing groups - Students meet in writing groups to share their writing with their classmates. During the group meetings, classmates are able to give suggestions to each other about their writing. These groups can be formed by students or be assigned by the teacher.

4. Editing

This is the stage in writing where the student is getting ready to have another person read their work. It is the little things which the student is paying attention to during this part of the writing process. Here are some important aspects of the editing stage:

• Proofreading - The student reads through their writing slowly, and looks for mistakes, such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.
• Correcting errors - After proofreading and locating mistakes, the student corrects the mistakes independently.

5. Publishing

This is a time for each student to shine! The student writes their final copy and shares it with an audience. Through sharing their writing with others, students think of themselves as authors. Here are some ways to publish and share students writing with others:

• Making books - Students can make books that are as simple as folding a sheet of paper into sections, or as sophisticated as using cardboard to hold the book together.
• Other ways of sharing writing - There are other ways to share students writing, such as, submitting it to a writing contest, the newspaper, a magazine, etc.
  

Elements of Writing Workshop

Writing workshop will happen in the classroom at least four times a week, and at a consistent time each day. This is an important part of the day in our classroom, and we spend about 30 minutes in writing workshop each day. The students sit with a partner or group of three as they write. They have access to different types of writing paper, as well as an assortment of writing instruments. Each student has a writing folder in which they keep their written work. Writing folders are stored in the back of the classroom in the writing folder crate. There are three main components which students are involved in during writing workshop. These components are listed and explained below. If you have any questions about writing workshop, or how it works, please feel free to contact me.

• Minilessons - These are taught during writing workshop when a student asks a question or I notice the student is having trouble with something. The minilesson usually lasts about 5-10 minutes. There are three different types of minilessons that can be taught during writing workshop; they are procedural, literary, and strategies/skills lessons.
• Writing time - During this time the students and I are writing. It is a quiet time when students should be sitting at their desks or with their groups and writing.
• Sharing time - Being able to share their writing with other people is what motivates many students to write. The student sharing their writing sits in the front of the room in the author chair, while other students are gathered on a rug in front. Each student is encouraged to give feedback to the author using the Oreo cookie method. (Oreo cookie method: good comment (cookie), suggestion (cream), and good comment (cookie) is something that is practiced in class before being used during share time.)

Description and Purpose of the Writing Center

The writing center is a special place in my classroom where students can go to write. In my classroom, the writing center is located in the back of the room. There are three tables with four chairs to each table there. The students have access to lined and unlined paper, staplers, envelopes, pencils, colored pencils, markers, and crayons. The alphabet letters are also pasted onto the desks for the students to use as a reference when writing. The letters are shown as capital and lower case letters. When the students visit the writing center, they find all different kinds of things to write. Many of the students enjoy writing notes, letters, and books. I very much enjoy visiting and assisting the students while they are working in the writing center. When students are done working in the center, they store their work in their writing folders, and place them in the crate located in the writing center.

Five Text Types

There will be five different text types that will be taught in class this year. They are, narrative, expository, technical, persuasive, and poetry. Below you will find a brief description of each text type and a couple of examples for each type. If you have any questions about the different text types we will be covering in class this year, please feel free to contact me.

• Narrative - This type of text is broken up into three different types of stories. Folklore, fantasies, and realistic fiction are all examples of narrative text. The main goal of this type of text is to entertain. Students read this type of text for enjoyment. Examples of this type of text are:

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

• Expository - This type of text is informational. The most common structures found within expository text is, descriptive, sequential, comparison, cause and effect, and problem and solution. Examples of this type of text are:

Nature's Patterns: Weather Patterns by Monica Hughes

Milk From Cow to Carton by Aliki Brandenberg

• Technical - This type of text is instructional. It gives simple step by step directions or procedures. Examples of this text type are:

How to Draw 101 Monsters by Dan Green

How to Create A 50 States Fair by Betsy Rumberger

• Persuasive - This type of text is meant to persuade the reader to do what the author is telling them to do. Examples of this type of text are:

I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff

I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King Jr.

• Poetry - This type of text is a play with words. It has many forms and different ways of being written. Examples of this type of text are:

It's Snowing! It's Snowing! by Jack Prelutsky

A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Encouraging Writing at School and Home

Here are a few suggestions of ways to encourage writing at home.

• Have a mini writing center in the house - Have an area in the home where your student can go to and write. Have a little table set up with paper, pencils, crayons, markers, etc. It might also be useful to have some books and magazines in the writing center to help give your child ideas of what to write about when they are stuck for a topic.
• Keep a journal - This is one of the best ways for a child to write. This enables them to write about their own thoughts and feelings. It gives your child a chance to write about things they might not want to talk about. It is important to remember that you should only read the journal if your child invites you to.
• Writing letters - Have your child write letters to family members, friends, or even other kids in the neighborhood! This gives children great practice writing, and others are always excited to receive letters in the mail! This is an activity that makes writing fun for children!

Here are a couple activities that your child will be participating in during this school year to help improve their writing.

• Pen Pals - Each student in the class will have a pen pal from Kahului School; the elementary school across town. Each student will correspond with their pen pal at least once a month. This will continue throughout the entire school year.
• Class newsletter - Each month the class will write a class newsletter to send home to parents. The children will work in groups to write about activities that are happening in the classroom.

Six Areas of Language Arts

Language Arts encompasses six main areas. The three skills which are under receptive skills are, reading, listening, and viewing. The three skills that are under expressive skills are, writing, speaking, and representing. Below I have listed the six main areas once again, and explained them in a little more detail. Also, I have included some activities that can be used in these areas. If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact me anytime!

• Reading - This skill is the ability to make sense of written words. Through reading, students are able to process and interpret text. There are numerous ways through which students are able to practice reading on a daily basis. Here are some examples of simple ways which allow students to read:

- Reading the morning message

- Reading a book

- Read aloud in the class

• Listening - There are two different types of listening. There is formal listening and informal listening. Formal listening is when a student listens for a purpose, and informal listening is when a student is listening for pleasure. Here are some examples of ways which students listen:

- Listening at a school assembly

- Listening to music

- Listening during a literature circle discussion

• Viewing - This is the skill where students look at or watch something. The student takes in messages that come from non print materials, such as graphics, symbols, and icons. Here are some examples of ways students use their skill of viewing:

- Looking at the illustrations in a picture book

- Watching a video in class

- Looking at art work done by other classmates

• Writing - The student expresses messages through symbols in writing. Writing can be informal or formal. An example of informal writing is writing in a journal, and an example of formal writing is writing a short story that will be published. Here are some examples of ways that students write:

- Participating in writing workshop

- Writing their thoughts in a journal or diary

- Writing letters to pen pals

• Speaking - The student expresses a message through oral language. Speaking can be informal or formal. An example of informal speaking is participating in class show and tell. An example of formal speaking is speaking at a school assembly. Here are some other examples of ways students speak:

- Speaking during classroom meetings

- Talking to friends on the playground

- Completing oral assessments

• Visual Representing - This skill relies on the use of symbols, lines, and shapes to communicate messages. Here are some examples of visual representation:

- Stamps or stickers for good behavior in the classroom

- Drawing a picture for a journal entry

- Drawing graphic organizers

Bibliography

Listed are sources I used for information.

• Dobler, Elizabeth. "Writing Workshop." 27 Jan. 2009.
• Tompkins, Gail E. Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2008.
• Hancock, Marjorie R. Language Arts: Extending the Possibilities. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.