Oh where oh where did I leave off?  I am sorry if you have been waiting to see samples of the next mini-lessons!  I think all teachers have what I call TADD.  Teacher ADD.  We are all so busy with this and that and zero time to plan, meet individual needs, email parents, grade papers, etc etc.  I feel like the time just slips on by and the next thing here we are in November!  Half-way through November!  Now that I am done with my ramble, let's get to the writing lessons!

We are ready to move onto Narrative Writing!  I love love love our notebooks and referring back to our previous lessons!  I hold them accountable for the skills we already learned!  I even have my Math/Science partner on board and she is keeping up with it too!  After introducing the Narrative Writing elements, and looking at our checklist, we were ready for

Step One- Prewriting.  Woo woo!  Let the writing begin!!!!!  We reviewed this poster:

It is very helpful to talk out loud as you are brainstorming for the class sample!  I used "A Shattered Window."  I talked about why I chose it for my writing and how I could come up with many ideas to go along with it.  Then I showed this slide that shows different scenarios for my idea.


We added a few more ideas to the list.  For my GT class, I didn't want them using the same prompt.  Since we are currently studying mysteries, it worked out great.  I told them to think of ideas for a mystery story.  Then brainstorm different scenarios for it.  They had light bulbs to put in their interactive notebooks.  I told them to write their ideas on the front of the light bulb, then choose one idea and put it under the light bulb.  Here are some student samples:

We glued the base and the very top so they could lift it up to put their top choice.

Next we has a lesson on task, purpose, and audience.  I taught the lesson with this poster on my smart board and then talked through my sample.  Students took notes and then decided on the task, purpose, and audience for their own writing and added it to their notebooks:



Before moving on, I wanted my students to create a writing goal.  Since we have already covered complete sentences, fragments, run-ons, capitals, punctuation, and some spelling patterns, I told them to choose something that I frequently have to correct in their writing.  If I don't have to correct many errors (just a select few) then they may use things like using a thesaurus or adding figurative language.  I had a student say, "I can't wait to write this story!"  I love hearing their anticipation.  I explained that everyone who listens to the lessons and follows directions in the notebooks, should have no problem getting an A on the final product because we are going to go through this first writing piece step-by-step so they completely understand the best strategy to take them through the writing process.  Here are some of my students' goals.  I was proud of them for thinking about these goals.  I probably would have chosen the same ones for them!



Now this creative student took her goal and although I didn't provide or instruct for students to make their goal interactive, she took it upon herself to make hers more fun.  She made my day!  I loved her "Secret Door" with the goal inside!

And she had even more doors to open!

Graphic Organizer:  I showed them many different organizers that they may choose from at a later date but we would use the same one this time.  After placing this in our notebooks, I told my cherubs that we will go back to it after each lesson and add to it. 


Today, we focused on crafting a plot.  My students loved it so much that they asked me to do it again and then asked if we could videotape it.  I love being spontaneous and said, "Why not?"  Then they said let's put it on Youtube!  Oh geeze.  Seriously?  I said absolutely no at first.  I can act out in front of them but others?  Not so much.  Then I thought if they loved the lesson so much......why not embarrass myself completely and let other students be motivated in writing?  So here it is!  Enjoy the ride!  NO JUDGEMENT ZONE!!  Youtube Video on Crafting Plot This is the poster in the background of the video.


Although I had a printable for their notebooks, I recently was told that I need to start being careful of my copies!  Oopssss!  So I thought this could be one they can draw and take notes.