Text Structures

Have you ever wondered how to help young students with non-fiction writing? Sometimes it feels intimidating ! When we introduce children to the signal words on this chart,the words become the clues that will help them with both reading comprehension as well as non-fiction writing. Introduce one structure at a time so that you don’t overwhelm them. Tell your students the name of the structure, what it looks like and use the key questions to help you.

Why not send your students off  on a “treasure hunt” as word detectives, looking for the words in the books and coming back to share outloud which words they found and where they found them. Reading the sentences aloud together is great practice for fluency and discussing the signal words in the text will also help with comprehension.

Mentor Text for Writing with -This Plane

Cover of This Plane

Talk Aloud for Comprehension

Day One

My talk aloud will allow me to model the reading/Writing Connection for my students.

This Plane

By Paul Collicutt  (629.13)

Concepts from ELA

• Structured sentence writing. (scaffolded)
• Use of sentence starters other than THE
• Pictures match the writing.
• Illustrations of real planes inside front and back covers
• Pages go together: made of/ is a / taxis/ takes off / carries / gets fuel/ has / is / drops

• Illustrations and text can be used together to support comprehension.
• Sentences can start with other words than the or there is. Short informational texts with pictures about familiar objects

Also available in this series  This Boat, This Rocket, This Car , This Train

Introduction-I make connections to past learning (sometimes to future content):“We have been talking a lot about airplanes since we started our Airplane photograph. I found a book about planes that I really like, because it shows so many kinds of planes and the jobs that they do. I remembered that one of your words is plane and my book is called THIS PLANE. The author is Paul Collicott.”

I activate the student’s listening by saying:“Listen carefully while I read this book about planes to you.  Notice what the author says about different kinds of planes. Be ready to tell me something you learned about planes and something you noticed about how the writing changed or stayed the same.

 

Read book and show illustrations

I like the way the author started every page with the words THIS PLANE.

It matched the title of the book( Show cover) and really helped me to know HOW each page would start. It helped me to feel comfortable as I read each page.

I liked the way the paintings matched the writing (show fuel / drops water- show how they match) The pictures helped me to understand the information the author was giving me in the text. Ask the children if the author painted a clear picture with both words and paint

Student application:

“Today while you are reading I want you to notice if the pictures match the writing. Take a sticky note with you and list some words that the author of your book uses to start a sentence. When we come back together we will talk about it

 

 

 

Day Two                       Talk aloud for writing-writing using Mentor Text

We’ve been working on trying to start our own sentences with something other than the word  the.

 

“Yesterday we read the book This Plane.  Remember how I told you I liked the way the author’s writing matched the title of the book (Show cover) and really helped me to know HOW each page would start. I liked how this pattern gave us another way to start sentences! You looked for words in your books to start sentences with-here is some of our thinking from yesterday ( show chart)

Today I want to show you how I used Paul Collicut’s writing to help me write my own sentences. “ Remember how I told you that I really liked the way Paul Collicutt wrote this book. I liked the way he started every page with the words THIS PLANE. I liked the way the pictures matched the writing. I wanted to try to write the way he did. . “

Now listen to how I used Paul Collicut’s sentences to help me write my own sentences:”

( show models)

#1 This plane has purple stripes.  (Explain -In my first picture the only colour, is purple so it is easy to see that I will talk about that purple stripe.)

Do you see how I started my sentence with “This plane…” I liked the way the author started his sentence with something other than the. I wanted to do this with my sentence too.

(Show the cover and turn pages pointing out the words THIS PLANE)

“I liked the way I could tell what the author might say next by looking at his paintings. (Go to GETS FUEL and then DROPS WATER and show how the painting reflects the writing) I knew my picture had to give a clear idea of what I was going to say. Ask the children “Do you see how the author painted a clear picture with both words and paint? That is what I tried to do in my sentences. Do you see the way my pictures match what I wrote about them? Did I start with the words THIS PLANE? Do my sentences match my pictures?

Let’s look carefully at my work. Did I start with the words This plane? Do my writing and picture match?”

 

Attribute checklist-I make an anchor chart for the front, and also give a small copy to each child.

THIS PLANE Picture matches writing Capital at the beginning Period at the end

“I tried another one and I want you to help me correct it.”

Second sample  .” Let’s look at the check list together. Did I ….”  go through the check list carefully an point to each part. Place a large check mark in the bubble,

#2 This plane is upside down.   (Explain –In my second picture my plane is upside down, and it is pretty clear that it is so I need to talk about that.)

Student application–

“ Today we are going to make our own class book  using the model of This Plane by Paul Collicutt. I want you to write a sentence to describe an airplane. Start with the same starting words as the author This plane. Then you will draw and colour a picture that matches your drawing.  I want you to try really hard to use words you know. They might be colour words, size words like big or small, location words like high or low…Try to use in the room or your word wall to help you so that you can do it all by yourself. Don’t forget to start with a capital and end with a period.

Reflections on student responses:

This activity went really well and I am really pleased with the work they did. Every child was able to write a short sentence and draw a picture to go with it. Some of the children were able to write more than one thing and used the words around the room. One child ended up writing three sentences and was ready to write even more but we ran out of time. They aren’t used to creating their own writing and I think the lesson was a good starting point.

Student Samples

 

This plane has a red stripe.

This plane puts out the fire.

This plane has a wing. Its wing is red. It also has a stripe.

 

My Personal Reflections

I really enjoyed this lesson. The children loved the book and beautiful paintings. They were really excited by my models. They were eager to get to their desks and do their own writing.I think that the talk aloud for comprehension really flowed into the talk aloud for writing

I could have the children do so many things with this scaffold now that they are more comfortable with it. It wouldn’t have to be about airplanes I could relate it to almost anything we are working on. For example a pattern such as: “This triangle is red and has three points.”- would work great for math while “This bear is brown and fuzzy.”-would work well for science or descriptive writing.

Teaching the 6 traits with Chrysanthemum

I really Like the book Wee Can Write for teaching and introducing  the traits of writing .  I tried the following lesson  for the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Many of the lessons can be adapted to a variety of grades. Using picture books is a great way to introduce older students to the traits.

Give it a try

   Pge 24/25 Wee Can Write

Trait:Ideas

Specified criterion:focused theme

Trait writing vocabulary-title

• Chrysanthemum is the title of a story about a very special student. She loves her name!
• I have written YOUR name on a piece of white paper with a black marker.Trace the letters of your name with a variety of colours to practice your best printing.
• We will share our rainbow names in our “community” circle
• You may take your name home to share with your family and tell them the story of Chrysanthemum, of course!

Trait :Organization

Specified criterion:focused theme

Trait writing vocabulary-organize,setting, events ,problems, solutions

• I have drawn a very large flower with the empty petals on our chart paper
• Today we are going to organize our thoughts about the story we just read,Chrysanthemum. We will include characters ,setting,important events,problems and solutions on our “flower map” of the story
• Our class will “bloom” as we retell this story together !

Trait :Voice

Specified criterion: Take a risk

Trait writing vocabulary-audience

• We learned in this story that Chrysanthemum loved her name
• We will write a class book-The Nicest Names A name can tell a lot about you! Think what your name tells about you
• Please draw a picture of yourself. Under your picture of yourself. Under your picture please complete these sentences and be ready to share with your audience in our circle
• My name is_______________
• My name makes me feel ___________________

Trait :Word Choice

Specified criterion: specific words

Trait writing vocabulary-words , descriptive

• In the story Chrysanthemum , there are many words that refer to flowers and growing plants.As we reread the story listen for those words.
• When you hear a “garden” word put your thumb up. I’ll call upon you when I see you are ready to share
•  I am going to make a list of all the descriptive words we hear that refer to gardening, flowers or plants   ex: wilted-blossomed-pick...

Trait :Sentence Fluency

Specified criterion: sound of words

Trait writing vocabulary-syllables

• Each of our names have syllables we can clap. Let’s clap each name in our class. Here is a rhyme to get us started

Heckedy Peggedy Bumble Bee   Can you clap your name with me?

• Let’s practice together…

• Repeat the rhyme with each child in the class in the community circle
• Who in our class has the most claps? Only one clap? How many claps in the title?

Trait :Convention

Specified criterion: spelling

Trait writing vocabulary-plurals

• Today we are going to talk about plurals. Plurals are more than one.We can make a plural by adding S , or es. Let’s see if we can add S , or es and then use these words in sentences: example- friend…..friends    kiss…..kisses
• use the words in sentences
• Think of a word. Can you make it plural by adding S , or es? I will record your word and the plural on the chart paper I have folded in half and labeled with S , or es at the top

A great sequel to this would be to read  The Name Jar

Cover of Chrysanthemum

I will post it when I try it!!!

Writing in Kindergarten

People frequently ask me about  my opinion on writing in kindergarten.” Is it really possible?” I say  If you believe in them-they will!!!

When I think of the two kindergarten classrooms in my school, I know it is true. Both teachers teach writing with excitement and treat it as a fun part of the day. The children view themselves as writers. The teachers use a combination of PWIM strategies, Daily 5 and incorporate  a writing continuum into their daily writing. I am so lucky to work with and learn from  such inspiring teachers. Thank you MF and KS 🙂

They also use this book which recommends all kinds of mentor texts for helping young children with writing Step-by-Step Writing Lessons for K-1 by Davidson,Wuest and Camp

The children are proud to show off their writing and talk about the progress they have made. They use their class writing continuum to see where they are and where they need to go next to improve. The continuum is posted where it is easily accessible to them. As the year progresses additional levels are added to the continuum.

Each child has an “accordion” of their year’s writing.  They are able to see and talk about their progress. It is shared with parents and the children have their own personal continuum. Their comments about their  own writing are scribed for them.

   

I think my belief in kindergarten writing comes down to this-it is up to the teacher

Compare Contrast Writing Structure

Talk aloud for writing

Text Structure –Compare Contrast writing

This lesson will be taught over several days!! Thanks Mrs. B for working with me again and sharing your kids 🙂

Introduce lesson“We are going to learn about a text structure authors sometimes use called compare contrast writing. Authors use this structure to show how two things can be alike, yet different. It is an important structure to learn because it will help you to be a better writer but it will also help you to better understand non-fiction or informational text written in this way as well. Some of the key words I want you to listen for are: (posted during lesson)

• alike
• similar but different
• all
• most
• both
• yet
• while
• many

I was reading All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky

and Frogs and Toads by Bobbie Kalman.

I really liked the way both authors helped me to understand how frogs and toads can be similar but they are also different. Many people do not understand the differences. Through the drawings, photographs and compare contrast writing, I was easily able to understand. Listen to what they had to say;

All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky page 4 (ish no page numbers)

Frogs and Toads by Bobbie Kalman page 7

After reading these two passages I made myself a Venn diagram to help me understand what the author was telling me about frogs and toads. A Venn diagram is a graphic organizer that helps us put our thinking on paper. It clarifies our thinking. Making a Venn diagram when we are writing also helps us to organize our writing. Look at my Venn diagram. (share and read together)

Look at my Venn diagram. (share and read together)

I really liked the way these two authors helped me to understand, so I decided to make an attribute list of the way they wrote to help me write my own paragraph.

I noticed that in All About Frogs , Jim Arnosky started by saying :”Frogs and toads are similar but different animals…” while in Frogs and Toads , Bobbie Kalman starts by saying Frogs and Toads look similar but they are different in some ways…These are two really well known authors and they start their paragraph in almost the same way! That must be a really good way to start a paragraph!

They both used compare contrast signal words to make their writing more interesting and to help me understand. Their titles tell me exactly what I was going to read about. They obviously planned out what they wanted to say beforehand. They ended carefully although I liked Jim Arnosky’s ending better-That’s the way it should be forever. He obviously cares a lot about them!!

This is the list I came up with (have it ready to post for reference)

• Introduction says Similar but different
• Use at least 3 compare contrast signal words (alike ,all, most, both, yet, while, many)
• Title
• Ending
• Venn diagram
• Proper punctuation

I decided I wanted to try writing a compare/ contrast paragraph the way Arnosky and Kalman did. I decided to write about Rhinos and elephants because those are two animals I am interested in. I started by making a Venn Diagram as I read-this is what I learned (fill in together to model how you were thinking as you read)Elephants VS. Rhinoceros (Animals Head to Head )

This is the paragraph I wrote about Elephants and Rhinos. (Read aloud to class-post )

Elephants and Rhinos

Elephants and rhinos are similar but different animals. They are alike because they are huge African herbivores. They are both mammals. Elephants have big ears but rhinos do not. Rhinos can run quite quickly but elephants do not. Elephants like to live together yet rhinos prefer to live alone. There are 5 types of rhinos but only 2 types of elephants. Elephants need to drink everyday while Rhinos only need to drink every four days.

Both the elephant and the Rhino are losing their habitats as cities grow. They are both threatened by poachers who hunt them.

They may have many differences but the threat to their lives is similar. Many people in the world are trying to protect these amazing animals. That’s the way it should be.

Now let’s look at my writing and see if I followed the attribute chart to write my paragraph. (correct together-I put my writing up beside the attribute chart –I write all over my paragraph circling,adding deleting and placing check marks on the attribute  chart-in this piece I will ask them what other word I can use instead of but…I hope they will notice that I have but 3 times and find a word to change it up. If they don’t notice ,I will leave it-for now.)

Elephants and Rhinos

Elephants and rhinos are similar but different animals. They are alike because they are huge African herbivores. They are both mammals. Elephants have big ears but rhinos do not. Rhinos can run quite quickly but elephants do not. Elephants like to live together yet rhinos prefer to live alone. There are 5 types of rhinos but only 2 types of elephants. Elephants need to drink everyday while Rhinos only need to drink every four days.

Both the elephant and the Rhino are losing their habitats as cities grow. They are both threatened by poachers who hunt them. They may have many differences but the threat to their lives is similar. Many people in the world are trying to protect these amazing animals. That’s the way it should be.

My next lesson will be to write a class paragraph all together about something familiar to the students using  exactly the same process. We will create a Venn diagram with attributes about their teacher and me –how we are similar but different, and turn that thinking into a paragraph. ( Maybe without the illustration ) At this point students often add to our word list. We will correct it together-did we follow our attribute chart??

Other ideas for a first try could be comparing an apple and an orange, a cat and a dog, a carrot and a potato, a motorcycle and a bicycle, fairy tales, types of rocks, two sports, two instruments,  artists, their parents…)

After some practice your students are ready to try the process with curricular content. The initial planning takes a while, but so many lessons come out of it. A final assignment for me would be to ask students to try to find a piece of writing ( book, magazine,… where the author is comparing two things. Can we add words to our list? What else did the author do to help you understand?

 

Text Structures Compare and Contrast with Cats vs. Dogs

I love this series. This book is great for modeling Compare /Contrast Writing structures. The writing is simple, the text features are clear and the text structure becomes easy to understand. Once students are able to identify the structure in their reading, they will be better able to use it in their own writing and improve their comprehension skills as they read informative text..

Some signal words that indicate compare contrast writing are: 

• but
• different from
• same as
• similar to
• as opposed to
• instead of
• although
• however
• compared with
• as well as
• both
• while
• such as
• like

I am slowly building my own collection of books to use as mentor text for compare/contrast writing. It is fun to have the children go on a “Treasure Hunt” Looking for the signal words. They write them on sticky notes and after a set amount of time, come back to co-create an anchor chart of the signal words, and share what the author was comparing or contrasting.

Related articles

• Nonfiction Mentor Texts (Dorfman and Cappelli) (mmegc.wordpress.com)

Big Writing Classroom

Another way to use the pyramids. They are always handy and take no desk space.

Descriptive Writing -Talk Aloud for Writing

This is a talk aloud for writing that I taught in a grade 4 classroom. After studying student writing, their teacher and I noticed that  the writing abilities ranged from three word sentences to multiple paragraphs. There was very little evidence of  the knowledge of writing structures either, so we  decided to slowly move into descriptive writing. We started by having the students describe animals using the word like.

I started by reading passages from the book UGLY ANIMALS by Berger. The students were intrigued by the book title and cover and I took the opportunity to remind them how important choosing the right title can be.

I chose four passages from the book, that were written in the same style, and read them aloud to the students.I made sure to show them the matching photographs!

After reading the 4 passages I showed the students on (a chart paper) which attributes of the writing I had really liked. This could easily be done on a Smart board or digital projector. We looked at the passages again to see if what I liked about the author’s writing was actually there.

My next step was to tell them that I wanted to try writing in the same style as the Bergrers had. I read them my writing about a porcupine. I had it prepared on chart paper and I asked the students to correct my work together with me   to see if I had included all the attributes  of the published authors that I had liked. After we had corrected my writing together, we went on to write a class paragraph together.

As a class ,we decided to write about another strange animal-the  Kiwi bird. We checked the attribute chart together to make sure our writing had all the chosen attributes .

Finally each student had to write their own paragraph. I chose a photograph of a Katydid  and read them some facts about Katydids. Checking their own attribute list, allowed them a clear target as to when they would be done.

As Anne Davies says “Students can hit any target set for them, as long as it doesn’t move.” It is so important not to add to the attribute list or stray from it. Once the student writing has been evaluated additions or deletions may be made to a new attribute list for the next paragraph.

Student Samples:

At this point it is best for students to write a few paragraphs in the same way. Stronger students can put the paragraphs together into a multiple paragraph about “ugly animals”, while weaker students work hard at putting together a strong single paragraph. Planning a talk aloud for writing is one of the most effective ways I know of to improve student writing. It requires preparation and planning but all students are able to feel success. Practice allows them to improve at their own rate. One well thought out talk aloud leads to multiple writing projects,hits a variety of objectives and can be integrated into science, health and social studies as well as the arts.

Kindergarten Writing

So my question is-Kindergarten Writing -Can kids in kindergarten write? Should kids in kindergarten write?

For every yes response you will  probably encounter  a no – there is debate about this issue…

For me the answer is yes. Both of my children were writing and illustrating stories before they started school. Why wouldn’t I want them to? Why would I discourage that? I think our job as parents and educators is to let them soar as high as they can-not clip their wings by saying “you are too young for that…you aren’t ready for that.”

My daughter’s first real writing was when she was two. She scribbled all over the kitchen floor with markers-with a big grin on her face she said “Mummy! Read my story…” At three she wrote a eulogy for my mother’s funeral and asked me to read it. I had no idea what it said. She read it to me and then she read it to everyone else. I still remember every word.

My point is that she was ready to write, excited to write and was trying so hard to be a writer.

My son loved letters. He saw them in everything. He asked what the letter was and tried to spell as much as he could from street signs,the Christmas wish book, his name, books-he saw letters in shapes and the world around him.  I remember him screaming at me from his car seat ” S-T-O-P Mummy- that means you can’t go!!” (I had stopped-he just thought we could never move again…)

Research proves that kids who know their alphabet in kindergarten ,are consistently ahead of their peers who that didn’t  know the alphabet right though grade 12! If children are interested, and we encourage them, the sky is the limit for them. Why would we not throw open that thrilling door to literacy and let them soar.

I am so thankful that both my children had an amazing kindergarten who taught them with joy. The joy of reading, choosing books, writing about what they wanted and about science and social studies. She wasn’t worried about spelling or conventions just really loving literacy. She was enthusiastic and joyful about learning and literacy. What a great start. Thank you E.K.

Interested in some of  the research?

Catch Them Before They Fall-Joseph Torgesen

Matthew Effects in Reading-Stanovich and Siegel

Allington Richard

Ehri, L