LEARNING THE TRAITS OF GOOD WRITERS
USING CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE
“No matter how old the writer,
no matter how stuck the student may be to find a good topic, extraordinary
picture books provide inspiration … these books serve as wonderful models of how
to work with an idea and make it real to the reader.” Ruth Culham
Our book corner contains crates of children’s books that are
sorted and labeled by writing trait. The
kids are able to read lots of examples of books with good writing traits, in
addition to the ones we read together as part of the lessons below.
My Workshop Plan for the year:
o The Six Traits of Writing
lessons
o Writing Genres (narrative,
persuasive, informational, descriptive & poetry)
o Grammar/Conventions
(ongoing all year)
o Reader Response (ongoing
all year in Reading Workshop)
My Workshop Format:
o Identify trait & sing
trait song
o Read-aloud/mini-lesson
focused on specific skill
o Write
o Share writings as a group
or with partners
Some lessons will take a day, others will take several days.
Setting the Stage …
o Read aloud Author by
Helen Lester
o
Decorate
writer’s notebook with photos that spark writing ideas
Trait 1: Ideas
Lessons on “INSPIRING IDEAS”:
select a topic, narrow and focus a topic, add unique ideas, provide
details that elaborate the main idea, give accurate information
o
FINDING A TOPIC -Read aloud You Have to Write , talk about the best
types of topics are everyday things, make a list of 10-15 everyday topics you
could write about.
o
FOCUSING THE TOPIC - Read aloud The Important Book. Emphasize writing a lot of detail about a
small topic rather than trying to choose a very large topic. Write a list of 20 details about a small
item, then write an important poem about it.
You can also give the kid’s unusual topics to try afterwards.
o
ELABORATE
– Read All the Places to Love.
Have kids choose a location special to them and make a list of things
they feel, taste, see, smell, and hear.
Then write a descriptive writing about that place using all the details.
o
REVISING FOR DETAILS – Tell Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Tell a bare-bones
version of the story with VERY few details and leave out quite a bit. Then in a class lesson have the kids fill in
the story with loads of fun, creative details.
Write it together. Talk about how we always need to revise our writings
and add detail to make them better.
o
WRITING TO
o
GATHERING IDEAS ….Read Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street.
Have students visit different places around the school (art room, gym, library,
etc) and record details happening in those locations. Then they can write their own “Nothing Ever Happens”
stories where they begin with the real observations and add their own surprises
to the stories.
Trait 2: Organization
Lessons on “SHAPING ORGANIZATION”: inviting lead, smooth
transitions, logical order of ideas, effective pacing, strong conclusions
o
EFFECTIVE LEADS: Read The Escape of
Marvin the Ape. Share effective
leads from other famous children’s picture and chapter books. Discuss the different types of leads and try
writing some of our own.
o
DEVELOPING STRONG LEADS: Read My
‘Ol Man. Have students write about a
cherished memory focusing on having a strong lead.
o
ORGANIZING BY CONTENT: A
Freshwater Pond and Life in the Polar Lands.
o ORGANIZE BY TIME- One
Day: The Secret Shortcut and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,
No Good, Very Bad Day. Write a
paragraph is time order about your worst day ever.
o
ORGANIZE BY TIME-Journey or Passage of
Time: A Chair for My Mother. Write a paragraph in time order about a
favorite possession you’ve had for a very long time.
o
ORGANIZE BY TIME- Circle Stories: Free
Fall Write a paragraph about a
recent trip you took focusing on using a circle story structure.
o
ORGANIZE BY SPACE: Good Night Moon and Barnyard
Banter. Write a paragraph using spatial order describing your favorite
place.
o
ORGANIZE BY COMPARE/CONTRAST: The
Loudness of Sam. Compare
and contrast Sam’s life at home and in the city. Write a paragraph that compares and contrasts
your life at school and home.
o
ORGANIZE BY CAUSE/EFFECT: Read Big Bad Bruce. Write a cause and effect paragraph about
something magical.
o
SMOOTH TRANSITIONS: Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch Write a
paragraph about your best fantasy day ever focusing on the use of transition
words.
o
WRITING CONCLUSIONS: Read Enemy Pie a
book with a great conclusions. Read
examples of picture and chapter books that have different types of
conclusions: restating or summarizing an
important idea, giving a challenge to the reader, a moral or something learned,
personal observations, humor, a look into the future, a promise, or life
continues. Write a paragraph about your
worst enemy focusing on a strong conclusion.
Trait 3: Voice
Lessons on “SPARKING VOICE”: Interesting tone, strong connection
between reader and writer, passion for the topic, engaging text, let the reader
“hear” you!
o
STRONG VOICE vs. WEAK VOICE: Read Goldilocks
by James Marshall. Compare a dull
version to Marshall’s version and comment how voice makes Marshall’s version
more memorable and unique.
o
STRONG VOICE vs. WEAK VOICE: Read Ant’s
Life. Read encyclopedia article about ants then Ant’s Life book. Talk about how point of view … adding a
“voice” to the information” makes it much more interesting and personal. Also read Diary of a Worm. Write a paragraph giving your favorite animal
a “voice.”
o
POINT OF VIEW CHANGES VOICE: Pictures
of four different kinds of shoes: cowboy boot, high heeled shoe, beat up
sneaker, beach sandal. What experiences might these shoes have had and what
might their attitudes, likes and dislikes be?
What might they say to each other?
Have students give one of the shoes voice and tell us what that shoe
might have to say.
o
MORE ON VOICE AND POINT OF VIEW:
Read Wolf!
And The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Write a paragraph from the
viewpoint of an antagonist giving him a chance to have his say using his unique
voice.
o
CREATING VOICE: Read Sweet Dream Pie.
Write a descriptive piece from the point of view of your favorite
dessert using a warm, inviting voice.
Trait 4: Word Choice
Lessons on “EXPANDING WORD CHOICE”: Precise, powerful, and
natural language that makes the meaning clear; energetic verbs and adjectives;
memorable phrases; and vivid descriptions.
o
PRECISE, POWERFUL LANGUAGE: Read Hello
Harvest Moon. Cut out a large, paper
moon from butcher paper. On the moon,
have the kids write down examples of powerful language and
personification. Then, write our own
nature descriptions in a paragraph focusing on powerful words.
o
ENERGETIC VERBS: Read Mama and Me
and the Model T, In the Small, Small Pond and Where Once There
Was A Wood. Collect energetic
verbs! Write a paragraph focusing on
using energetic verbs.
o
POWERFUL VERBS: Read Bullfrog Pops! Students will create a new page to add to the
book.
o
WORD CHOICE ANTICS: Read Antics!
Create our own synonym and antonym lists.
o
EXPANDING WORD CHOICE: Wolf
Who Cried Boy! Write our own “boy”
dishes.
Trait 5: Sentence Fluency
Lessons on “SENTENCE FLUENCY”: Natural rhythm, fluent phrasing
that is music to the ear, varied sentence beginnings and lengths
o
HEARING THE RHYTHM: Read aloud examples from books with notable sentence fluency,
such as A Brilliant Streak, Julie of the Wolves, Mrs. Mack,
Missing May, and Charlotte’s Web.
o
SENTENCE BUILDING: Writing color poems to
move from simple sentences to complex sentences.
o
VARY SENTENCE LENGTH: Read aloud
Bad Dog. Write about a pet alternating short and long sentences in the
paragraph
o
VARY SENTENCE BEGINNINGS:
o
USE CREATIVE LANGUAGE:
Ø SIMILE: Read Skin Like Milk. Read aloud Crazy Like a Fox and Owl
Moon. Charley Similes & SMILE
simile song/. Write about …. Using
similes.
Ø METAPHOR Read Snowboarding
Similes and Metaphors. Then read Mud
Is Cake. Write about …. Using
metaphors
Ø HYPERBOLE: Sharp Wits Metaphor & Hyperbole. Read aloud Swamp Angel and write …
using hyperbole.
Ø ALLITERATION:
Read aloud If
You Were Alliteration The read Some Smug Slug and Web Files. Write …. Using alliteration.
Ø REPETITION: Read aloud Harriet, You Drive Me Wild or The
Vanishing Pumpkin. Write … using
repetition
Ø RHYME: Read Take A Snake For A Stroll. Write … using rhyme
Ø TONGUE
TWISTERS Read Two Cool Cows. Write a tongue twister about …
Ø ONOMATOPOEIA:
Read If
You Were Onomatopoeia. Then read Barn
Banter and watch DVD of Click
Clack Moo. Write … using onomatopoeia.
FEEL THE RHYTHM OF THE
WORDS: Read aloud Twilight
Comes Twice then write about an ordinary event in an ex