Julia M. Biagiarelli
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of the lesson is to enhance the students' ability to write richly descriptive paragraphs within their narratives.
LESSON TIMING:
10-15 minutes to introduce and model.
5-7 minute writing intervals alternated with 5-7 minute sharing sessions
15-20 minute post-lesson writing to follow up on skill and apply skill to previous drafts
MATERIALS:
Actual items, or large, lifelike images or photos of specific brand-name items and specific items from nature typically found in the environment of fourth-grade children (i.e., iPod Nano, Nintendo Wii Fit, sugar maple tree, Labrador retriever, etc.)
Writer's Notebooks
Pencils and Pens
Display Board or Easel
PROCEDURE:
Step one
: Gather children into writing area of the classroom with their notebooks and writing instruments ready.
Step two
: Choose an item or image to display and begin a discussion about the object, having students share their experiences or lack of experiences with the item.
Step three
: Compose a sentence with the item as subject, using as little description as possible (i.e., "The flowers were in the garden."). Then ask students, "Is that a boring sentence? What could make it better?" If they're stuck, suggest adjectives, actions, feelings and names. What color is the flower? What kind of a flower is it? What is it doing in the garden? How does the observer of the flower feel?
Step four
: After the discussion, give the students five-to-seven minutes to write at least two different sentences describing the item by using the specific name of the item and other descriptive language to make the sentences interesting.
Step five
: Have students share aloud to the group their new sentences.
Repeat steps three, four and five with another item.
Close the lesson with an extended writing period in which students can apply this skill to previous drafts or compose new short pieces with ideas generated from the lesson.
Revision Practice using Primary Reading Texts
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of the lesson is to familiarize the students with revision in a non-threatening manner.
LESSON TIMING:
10-15 minutes to introduce and demonstrate revising a brief passage.
5-7 minute writing intervals alternated with 5-7 minute sharing sessions
10-15 minute post lesson writing to follow up on skill and apply skill to previous drafts
MATERIALS:
Primary reading books:
These are chosen for their simple style of writing, Barry Lane suggests using text from early Basal readers like the type used in many classrooms in the early to mid-twentieth century.
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In the lesson below, I used sample texts that I found online at Gutenberg.org.
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Writer's Notebooks
Pencils and Pens
Computer-based teaching board or easel and chart paper (having the completed lesson on chart paper is useful if you want to use examples from this lesson to display in the writing area of classroom).
PROCEDURE:
Step one
: Gather children into writing area of the classroom with their notebooks and writing instruments ready.
Step two
: Display about three or four lines, but no more than twenty-five words of the text from the selected primary reading book to be revised. If you are using Basal Reader text, take a moment to explain where the text comes from. Here is an example from McGuffey's
First Reader
:
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A fat hen. A big rat.
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The fat hen is on the box.
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The rat ran from the box.
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Can the hen run?
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Step three
: Have students copy the text into their notebooks.
Step four
: Model aloud some questions a reader might have concerning the text. Write the questions on the chart paper or board.
How fat was the hen?
How big was the rat?
Was the rat as big as the hen?
Where did the rat run?
Did the hen cluck while running?
Step five
: Have students copy the questions into their notebooks.
Step six
: Give students 5-7 minutes to quietly write the answers to the questions and elaborate in any way they are inspired to by the questions. They can add illustrations to their written elaborations as well.
Step seven
: Have students share the elaborations aloud to the group.
Step eight
: Give students 5-7 minutes to quietly rewrite the original paragraph as they have revised it.
Step nine
: Have students share aloud to the group their new paragraphs.
LESSON EXTENTION:
Direct students to a paragraph of their own drafted work and ask them to follow steps four, six and eight independently.