Empowering Teachers, Building Writers October 23, 2009 (3 rd Grade) Selma Unified School District Presenter: Raquel Velasco, District Literacy Coach

32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny – Life Lessons from Teaching (Phillip Done)

AGENDA Welcome! Fluency Reflection: Paragraph Writing and Letter Writing BREAK Genre/Writing Focus: Personal Narratives LUNCH Scoring Practice Using the Rubric – Letter Writing Planning/Material Creation/Resource Search Questions/Content Evaluation

FLUENCY Fluency Partners Use of various reading materials: stories, nonfiction, poetry, etc. Fluency Logs Lesson to address specific needs: PHRASING

Fluency Partners Suggested way to select fluency partners

Use of Various Reading Materials: Stories, Non-fiction, Poetry, etc. High Frequency Words / Word Lists High Frequency Phrases Stories, Non-fiction, Poetry, Etc. Many of us have started here: Some of us have moved here already: Few might be here: How does this look like in a classroom?

Use of Various Reading Materials: Stories, Non-fiction, Poetry, etc. Materials can include: – Poems – Reader’s Theatre Selections – HM Selection Summaries – Read Naturally Selections – Power Pak Selections – Re-reading materials (stories, books, etc. already being used in our classrooms) Remember, there is no ‘magic program’ that will solve all of our fluency needs…

Use of Various Reading Materials: Stories, Non-fiction, Poetry, etc. EXAMPLE: Read Naturally Selection EXAMPLE: HM Selection Summaries

Lessons to Address Specific Needs TEACHING FOR PHRASING IN FLUENT READING Besides being able to decode automatically, fluent readers chunk or phrase text into appropriate units (Rasinski, 1990). This is important because many times the meaning lies in a text’s phrases and not in individual words. The ability to separate text into phrases aids in comprehension.

Lessons to Address Specific Needs TEACHING FOR PHRASING IN FLUENT READING The young man the jungle gym. The young man / the jungle gym. The young / man the jungle gym.

Lessons to Address Specific Needs TEACHING FOR PHRASING IN FLUENT READING The principal said the teacher is the best in the school district. The principal said / the teacher is the best in the school district. The principal / said the teacher / is the best in the school district.

Lessons to Address Specific Needs TEACHING FOR PHRASING IN FLUENT READING And just for fun… Woman without her man is nothing. Woman / without her man / is nothing. Woman / without her / man is nothing.

Lessons to Address Specific Needs TEACHING FOR PHRASING IN FLUENT READING My – handsome – dog – Luther – loves – to – play – catch – with – this – bright, - red – ball. My handsome – dog Luther – loves to – play catch – with this – bright, red – ball. My handsome dog – Luther loves to – play catch with – this bright, red – ball. My handsome dog Luther – loves to play catch – with this bright, red ball. Phrasing Lessons – to be handed out

One Final Caution with Fluency… Warning: Don’t give students the idea that being fast is being a good reader. Rate must be coupled with comprehension.

FLUENCY Next time, we will discuss… – Lessons to Address Specific Needs: Reading Punctuation, Reading with Expression

REFLECTION PARAGRAPH WRITING & LETTER WRITING

PARAGRAPH WRITING & LETTER WRITING Odds and Ends: – Next year we will be able to change the sequence of our genres in 3 rd grade (Descriptive-Tri 1, Letter Writing-Tri 2, Personal Narrative-Tri 3) – Report cards: Discussion will continue on adding a sentence that explains that different genres are assessed per trimester Letter Writing: – Prompt: Pen Pal – 2 Paragraphs

PARAGRAPH WRITING & LETTER WRITING Take a moment to think and write about… Step 1: How’s it going with paragraph writing and letter writing? » What lesson/activity was powerful in your class? » What’s working? » Did other needs arise? Step 2: Share out with your table partners Step 3: Writers at each table will summarize each question and write it on a post-it Step 4: Affix post-its to each poster

PARAGRAPH WRITING & LETTER WRITING 3 Weeks Left Until the End of Trimester 1 Sample Writing Prompts Available – Thanks Samantha! Please check the back table

BREAK TIME 10:00 – 10:15

GENRE/WRITING FOCUS Personal Narrative Writing

PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING 12 Weeks of Instruction (Trimester 2): November 23 rd – March 12 th Writing Prompt Date: March 15-19, 2010 Writing Prompt – Collective Activity

PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING Table Talk: What does this look like in your classroom?

PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING What is it? A personal narrative is a true story about something that happened to the person telling the story.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING The Writing Process 1.Prewriting 2.Drafting 3.Revising 4.Editing / Proofreading 5.Publishing

PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING Hand out Resources

LUNCH TIME See you back promptly at 12:30

SCORING PRACTICE USING THE RUBRIC Letter Writing

Planning/Material Creation/Resource Search Time can be used to… Plan the next 3 weeks of (Tri 1) and 12 weeks (Tri 2) Create posters, lesson materials, etc. for upcoming writing lessons Review the resources handed out to you today Use the computer lab to locate more resources Help create writing prompts for the district bank

QUESTIONS & CONTENT EVALUATION Next Session will be on: Thursday, February 18 th, 2010