Skip to main content

sols: waking up!

Slice of Life hosted at the 



"Hey, welcome back!  What did you do over spring break?"  

“I didn’t do anything."  "I stayed home."  "I sat around.”

After a week off from school, from reading and writing and thinking hard, some of my students needed a little brain massage to wake up this April Fool’s Monday.  

Of course, I thought: What about those books your borrowed from me? What about that blank notebook waiting for your stories?  

But instead, I said, “I know you had to do more than just sit around and do nothing.  You have stories to tell, I just need to help you remember them.”

I grabbed a couple copies of the “Words from A to Z!” organizer:


Topic: Spring Break

To do:  Fill in as many letters as you can about spring break, including:  Places you went, 
people you saw, things that you did, etc.

I started to share some of my spring break activities to spark some thinking.

This allowed my small group of students to start sharing and remembering and gathering ideas from each other.  The conversations continued and ideas were scrawled  onto the organizer.



After about ten minutes, I explained that we were going to do a quick write:  write and write and write as much as you can about one of the ideas without worrying about spelling or fear of grammar mistakes.  Just write.  They flipped over their paper and wrote their selected topic at the top.  I set the time and we all wrote.

Here’s one of my quick writes:


This month I wrote every single day.  31 days straight.  I wrote about BIG things.  I wrote about small things.  I wrote a lot about my girls.  I wrote about writing and the process, and the frustrations and celebrations.  My goal has never been to write a book or publish my work, but rather capture stories in my life, today, in this moment.    


The timer beeped, and we finished the sentence we were writing.  Round two:  either continue your first story or pick another idea to write about next.

Here’s another one of my quick writes:


Yesterday our family enjoyed a walk down the street to an open field.  We let out the string and quickly the wind took hold.  Up, up, up into the air.  Swaying and swerving in the sky.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  The wind died and it quickly dove towards the ground.  We pulled on the string and the wind caught hold again, lifting it higher and higher -- until M. accidentally let go.  She was convinced the wind took it away.  It skimmed the ground gaining speed.  Daddy chased as fast as he could to catch it.  He finally did catch it only after it was stopped in a big leafless tree.  Flapping in the bare branches, M. pointed and said, “Get it.”   


After writing, some students shared their quick writes.    Slowly, we are waking up those reading and writing brains.  Ready for the last two months of school.

Comments

  1. They did seem to need to be woken up a bit... until lunch that is ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I guess my brain didn't wake up, as I couldn't think of a thing to write about. Glad you could get them motivated. I'll have to try this method when I run dry. Thanks for sharing. Love ya M

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved how you coaxed their brains awake. I have seen the ABC sheets, but never the topic in the center. What a great tool. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. An interesting spin on brainstorming. Writing along with them is powerful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this! Slowly you gave them the tools they needed to build up to the construction of the writing. How long do you do the quick writes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know if there a "right" time limit, but five minutes each round worked for my fourth grade group!

      Delete
  6. This is great - what a low-pressure way to wake up their writing and story-telling brains!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is cool. I have seen ABC books as final products for units of study, but I have never seen or used anything like this for warm up. I have to give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Totally stealing this idea for our first day back after break...which is next week....which is too far away!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great idea to wake their brains up after vacation. I especially liked the fact that you did TWO rounds, Michelle.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I loved seeing this glimpse into your classroom. I agree with Stacey - this is a great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love this idea and I am completely going to steal it when I get back to school next week if that is okay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely Andrea! Steal away and can't wait to hear about it!

      Delete
  12. I like the pages to help the students brainstorm, Michelle. What a great way to get those brains waked up.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love your Words from A-Z organizer. I hope you don't mind my borrowing it. I'm so glad that your husband was able to catch your daughter's kite. I was getting worried as I read about it flying through the air. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a great way to get everyone thinking. Isn't it amazing how our brains get to work after we chat for a bit and the way one idea links from another.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a great way to spark ideas. Thanks for sharing the graphic organizer.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Popular posts from this blog

{40 reasons} #sol15

Slice of Life  hosted  at the Two Writing Teachers Join in and share a slice of your life. _____________________________________________________ Today my husband celebrates a big, BIG birthday -- and I'm so lucky and thankful to have spent  the last sixteen years learning about everything that he loves the last (almost) twelve years learning about everything that I love about him the last (almost) five years learning with my daughters why we love our Daddy. Created at canva.com _____________________________________________________ Happy, happy 40th birthday Jon!

An Interview with Educator/Momma/Writer Ruth Ayres Celebrating #EnticingWriters + Giveaway!

I love sharing book titles with close friends, so I'm happy you are here! I want to share a book that you must add to your to-be-read list. Ruth Ayres has a brand new book titled  Enticing Hard-To-Reach Writers   published by Stenhouse Publishers. It's another must read from Ruth. There are many professional development books available to learn about mastering our craft of teaching.   However, there are only a few that make a true impact -- and this is one book that weaves raw truth, research, practical ideas, and story all in one {cute} little package.  In  Enticing Hard-To-Reach Writers , Ruth allows her worlds to collide during the creation:  "In this book, I entwine my three story lines as educator, momma, and writer." (p. 6) And she does this in an amazing way through sharing stories of her family, adoption, children living in hard places -- and doing their best  -- and healing. She shares how we can use research to understand how to

{#sol15} 10 Tips for the Challenge

Slice of Life  hosted  at the Two Writing Teachers Join in and share a slice of your life. Last Saturday morning, I didn't need to wake up early.  I wanted to go back to sleep.  But instead my brain was awake and thinking.  Creating this list.  Writing this post.   Many of us are embarking on an adventure - the Slice of Life Story Challenge.  Writing, sharing, and commenting for thirty-one days in March. Want to learn more about the SOLSC?  Check out Stacey's post {HERE} about the challenge hosted by the "Fab Six" over at the Two Writing Teachers ' blog.   I hope you find these tips for the challenge helpful whether you are a first-time slicer (cue confetti!) or a year five slicer like me. 1. Before the challenge