Good Night, Bat! Good Morning, Squirrel!

A couple of weeks ago I joined Jan Burkins for a preview of the new Who's Doing the Work? Lesson Sets. While I love the lesson plans in the set that is a post for another time. What I really liked about the lessons were the literature connections. Jan read one of the books from the shared reading lessons and I fell in love with it.

Bat has to find a new home, but that is easier said than done. Fox wants to eat him and Skunk thinks he stinks. Bat finally finds the perfect home where he can hang from a twig and sleep all day. However, it just so happens that the cozy home Bat finds belongs to Squirrel and he is not happy that Bat has moved in. Squirrel and Bat go through the days and nights never seeing one another since one sleeps during the daytime and the other at night. Each day Squirrel leaves Bat a note trying to get him to leave his house, but no matter how many notes Squirrel writes, Bat just keeps coming back! Check out Good Night, Bat! Good Morning, Squirrel! to find out if daytime and nighttime animals can become friends. 

You can learn more about the author and the other books he's written and illustrated from his website. His books See Me Dig and See Me Run are great texts for shared reading. They are made up of easy to read repetitive text that tells a funny story with great picture support. The story and pictures provide students with an easy-to-read book that allows for lots of great questioning and discussion. 

Teaching Writers Side-by-Side- Already Ready Book Study Week 7

Chapter 8 and 9 focus on side-by-side teaching and building a repertoire for it. This vision here is one of teaching rather than management. The teacher doesn't just show up to make sure everything is ok and then move on. Instead she stays awhile with the child so that she can learn about them and teach them.

Chapter 8 and 9 are great reasons to purchase your own copy of Already Ready. Chapter 8 provides specific assessment questions that can be used when framing your students writing development, as well as a list of professional books that will improve your knowledge of writing. Chapter 9 offers concrete examples of how to respond to and teach young writers as you work side-by-side with them.

Nudging vs. Pushing
Teachers need to nudge development along rather than push or force it. This means a teacher needs to learn what their children already know and can do as writers. Knowing your students as writers allows you to direct their interactions more purposefully toward their zone of proximal development.

Be thoughtful in what is said
Do not ask question after question
Watch and listen
Engage the child in a small amount of talking and thinking that makes sense in the context of what he is doing
Teach into children's actions
"Fill one's fist" with understandings about writing (teachers need to be well-versed in writing development and how to teach writing in order to respond in the moment to a child's writing actions

Talk about What Books are About
- Talk about what the child already knows about the subject
(for example: dinosaurs)
- Help him image what ideas could stretch across the pages
(all of the ideas should be about dinosaurs)
- Discuss what type of book he is writing
(since the book will tell about a topic, maybe it needs a close-up)
- Urge him to consider how a book about dinosaurs may be different from other books
- Talk about revision when he adds to illustrations

Talk About How Children Are Writing
Notice what children do in their writing and name it. Ask questions to initiate talking and thinking about what they are doing.
-When a child says what they are about to draw before drawing it- praise them for thinking ahead
- If a child looks ahead at blank pages- comment on how you noticed him thinking about how the book might have
- If a child adds to his illustrations- comment on how they revised the work
- If a child adds writing to a page that is only illustrated- mention that you noticed how he illustrates before he writes the words

The Importance of Repetition
Repetition supports young writers in holding their meaning over time. It also helps them remember the language they crafted for their text.

- Repeat what children say to you about their writing
- When you ask a question and the child responds, repeat the response

Help Children Learn How to Read Their Books
- Help your students understand the difference between talking about a book and reading it
- Take all that a child shares about a page and say it again in a connected way without interruption
- Take the child's idea and enrich the language a tiny bit
Repetition is very important

Supporting Young Writers Through Read-Alouds- Week 6 Already Ready Book Study

By extending the ways they talk with students about picture books, teachers further young writers' understandings about texts, process, and what it means to be a writer.

(from p 125 of Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten)
Without laboring the point, Matt says simply, "I like the way that sounds. 'Soft and silent she swooped through the trees.'" Then, he continues on with the reading.

With just a tiny bit of talk inserted into the read-aloud, Matt does some important teaching. He plants seeds of understanding about how writers craft literary language, how readers draw to this language, and what this language sounds like in texts.

Later that morning... a student composes his own Waddell-like text for his book when he reads, "This is a snake and it slithers and slides."

During share time... Matt gets Owl Babies and rereads the page he read earlier and remarks on how the student's writing sounds like Martin Waddell's writing. 

In this example, the teacher worked with the student on the writing process across three different contexts- read-aloud, side-by-side while writing, and share time.

Wood and Glover suggest five lines of thinking that teachers and children can talk about related to writing and read-alouds-

1) People who make books

2) What makes a picture book, a picture book

3) Different kinds of books

4) Different purposes for books

5) The decisions writers and illustrators make

Talking About the People Who Make Books

Teachers need to support and encourage discussion that helps students understand that people who make books are everyday people just like them. Wood refers to this as the "concept of authorship." 

To build the concept of authorship-

1) Make it a habit to read the names of the authors and illustrators of the books you read. Read the names first, before you read the title. Embed a simple definition for author and illustrator into the talk. 

I have a book for you today that is written by a man named Mo Willems. He made the words in this book and he's the author. He is also the illustrator, so he made the pictures too. The name of his book is Knuffle Bunny. 

2) Show photographs of the people who make the books. This helps children see that authors and illustrators are real and familiar people. 

3) Read aloud the blurbs on the back covers to see what else you can learn about them. Find additional personal information from websites. 

4) Read the dedications. Knowing that authors and illustrators have special people in their lives makes them more real.  

5) Reread the same books. When reading a book students for a second time, you can talk about the author and illustrator like you know them. Rereading allows the talk about the author and illustrator to become more natural. This is the key to students seeing themselves like these authors and illustrators. 

6) Read multiple books by the same authors and illustrators. Reading a stack of books from the same author helps students see that writing is not a one-time event. 

Talking About What Makes a Picture Book, a Picture Book

Stapled sheets of paper and markers alone don't actually help children understand how to respond to an invitation to make books. Teachers need to encourage talk that supports students' understanding of what it means to make a picture book. 

- a picture book has both words and illustrations in it

- the words and illustrations change from page to page while staying on the same topic

- the author decides what the picture book is about (sometimes the author will make a note in the book explaining why he/she wrote the book, other times this is something you and your students can wonder out loud about)

- a picture book has crafted language in it (carefully use voice when reading and point out carefully crafted wording) 

Talking About Different Kinds of Books

Teachers need to help students begin to understand that there are different kinds of books- there is a difference between a book that tells a story and one that simply tells about something

Books That are Stories

Books That are Lists

Talking About Different Purposes for Books

It is helpful for students to understand there are different purposes behind the different types of writing and that two of those purposes are entertaining (writing just for fun) and informing (writing to teach people things). 

Point out and talk about common features- table of contents, labeled pictures, close-ups, glossaries, inset boxes, maps, bold print words, etc. 

The pieces for this anchor chart came from Kim Adsit's 

Reading Workshop Unit 6: Diving In!

Talking About the Decisions Writers and Illustrators Make

Notice and name what writers and illustrators do in their books- for example: look at how the author made the word a particular way- the way Nicola Smee crafted the words "WHOA!" and "STOP!" makes us read them with a loud voice. This helps build a repertoire of possibilities for things your students to try in their writing and illustrating. 

Common features to draw attention to- 

Written Texts

bold words, words written in different sizes and shapes, repetition, dialogue, sound, interesting language, interesting uses of punctuation

Illustrations

perspective, interesting use of color, borders, layout, how the illustrations show more than the words, the presence of white space, the presence or absence of detail

A few closing points...

1) Manage your talk around books so that is supports students rather than overwhelm them

2) Help children take the talking and thinking about the read-aloud back to their writing

3) The message of all of the talking and thinking should be "You're writers too!" 

4) Bring student books to read-aloud time and talk about them the same way you talk about read-alouds

5) When working side-by-side with a child as he/she writes refer back to read-aloud conversations as teaching points

The Child's Image of Self as Writer- Week 5 Already Ready Book Study

Chapter 5 focuses solely the child's image of self as a writer and its importance. There were a few important points made in the chapter about writing as an act of initiative, but the bulk of the chapter focuses on problematizing the practice of dictation. Since Wood's thoughts on dictation are controversial for some and a change in perspective for most, I have chosen to focus on it for this chapter's post.

A few thoughts on writing as an act of initiative...

Remember from an earlier chapter- The child is a writer and the child is 3 years old or 4 years old or 5 or 6 years old. The child being a writer and his age do not cancel each other out. They are equally true.

Teachers need to support a child's desire and initiative to write.

The Writing Center
This does not occur by simply putting a writing center in the classroom. I love it when Katie writes- You can't just "build it and they will come" (p. 91). How often do teachers do this??? set up a writing center filled with all sorts of tools and possibilities, but it never gets used
How can teachers help children believe they want to write and build that desire in them?

How can teachers move children to choose writing over all of the other possibilities offered to them in the classroom?
1) Create energy through Read-Alouds- read aloud lots of professionally published picture books- give children a vision of what a book would look like if they made one
2) Invite children to make books
-when they are excited about something that happened to them
-if they act out a story in the dramatic play area
-after a classroom activity
-when they know a lot about something
3) Have children share their books with others

Problematizing the Practice of Dictation

As I mentioned in a previous book chapter post, Wood and Glover do not view dictation as a best practice that supports young writers. The information in this chapter also addresses the question I had after the first post about parents being able to "read" their child's writing.

When a child initiates the writing and an adult writes the words for him, it conveys the message "adults, not children, are the ones who really know how to write". When the message we really want to send is you're a writer and you're writing just like someone your age should be writing and we think it is amazing.

When teachers use dictation they often fail to see the beginning of transcription development because their students do not have to try very hard to get their own words down. Teachers aren't really looking for transcription development either because as long as they are taking dictation, they're not thinking about how they might help the child figure out how to get the words on the page.

Wood and Glover suggest that helping children develop new strategies for spelling and understandings about how the spelling system works is a much better way to move students' development forward.

There are a handful of arguments for dictation that Wood and Glover address in the chapter.

Honoring Words

Argument- Taking dictation show children that their words are honored and should be read. 
Their words can be honored by the teacher saying them back to them in their best read-aloud voices, by asking questions about them, and by responding to them.

Helping with a Difficult Task

Argument- Taking dictation keeps children from being frustrated over the task of writing. 
If your student is frustrated with writing, it might be because what you are asking him to do or what he believes you are asking him to do is too difficult. The task is outside his Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978).

Knowing it Isn't Right

Argument- Some children know what "real writing" looks like and are frustrated because their writing looks different. 
Children might be better served by understanding why their writing looks the way it does and why it looks different than their own writing. Their writing looks like it should for their age. They will grow as writers with time and practice.

Capturing Rich Writing

Argument- Taking dictation captures the richness of a child's oral language and storytelling. 
Teachers can encourage children to use those rich words and to tell their stories over and over again. It is ok for the talk to be bigger than the writing itself.
When adults are concerned with capturing the words for children, we have to ask "capture for whom?" Oral language outpaces reading development for some time, therefore children can't even begin to read back the words they've dictated for some time.

Making Sense of Their Writing

Argument- Taking dictation helps parents to read and make sense of their children's writing.
As long as the child is present to share the writing, it can be shared the same way as it was shared at school. As children share their writing with their parents they can help them understand what they are writing as well as their writing development.
Wood and Glover suggest sending a regular newsletter that helps parents understand literacy development- what to look for and how to support their interactions with their child

Helping them Know How to Write

Argument- Taking dictation shows children how writing goes down on the page, as well as how it should look (letter formation, spelling, directionality, punctuation, etc.)
If you are working with preschoolers then taking dictation shows children about writing far outside of the Zone of Proximal Development.
A demonstration with transcription better serves children who are further along in their development. Adults initiating the writing  and using practices such as shared and interactive writing are far more valuable processes.
Teachers can initiate writing using shared and interactive writing through experience charts, brainstorming, recording class news or the morning message, making a list,etc.

**This not only applies to PreK teachers. It also applies to kindergarten teachers as well as first and second grade teachers who have students who are writing far below grade level.

I think this thought sums it all up-
"Our teaching practices do matter, not only for the content they provide but also for the messages they send children about who we believe them to be." (p. 102)

Pause and Ponder- Do you see your students as writers? If not, what do you need to do to change that? What are you doing to reinforce to your students that you see them as writers?

Understanding Dimensions of Composition Development- Week 4 Already Ready Book Study

The purpose of Chapter 4 is to examine the different dimensions of composition development within the context of children's composing.

Important Point- As you read through each question related to development, it is important to remember that the answers to the questions cannot be found in the books alone. Some of the questions can only be answered by observing the child as he writes. If the child has already finished the book, the opportunity to see the child's development in some areas has been lost.

The book organizes the dimensions of composition development into 3 broad categories- 
1) understandings about text
2) understandings about process
3) understandings about what it means to be a writer

Important Point- Composition development is multidimensional. It does not have to follow a line of logical progression. The three dimensions are not hierarchical.

Understandings About Texts
Is the child's book about something?
- When children start making books, each page of their book will most likely be
about something different
- In the next phase of development the book will be all about something, but
written in a loosely connected way (for example: things a child likes)
- Over time the writing will have more focus with strong meaningful
connections between ideas

How has the child organized the book?
- Does the book move through time (narrative, telling what happened next) or
through a list of ideas (non-narrative, a list of ideas that tell about something
and connect them in a logical way)
-Oftentimes young writers mix the kinds of connections they make between ideas
(for example: a book that tells about a trip to the zoo through a list of things the
writer did at the zoo as opposed to a story of unfolding events)

Does the child ready the book basically the same way every time?
- Over time, inexperienced writers grow to understand that meaning should stay
the same over time
- Growth in this area also includes a child's drawings becoming more
representational so that they too hold their meaning more efficiently

Is this book made in the manner of other picture books?
- Young writers show that they understand the particular formats of publishing
when they add features such as titles, bylines, dedications, table of contents,
etc.

What in the book shows the child understands genre?
- "Genre is the writer's sense of what he is making with writing" (Ray, 2006)
- When young children begin talking about the different kinds of books they can
compose, they are developing a sense of genre (for example: writing a funny
book about a family member, making up a story about a turtle, etc.)
- Young writers will broaden their repertoire of possibilities as teachers read a
variety of texts to them

How is the child representing meaning?
- How does the child represent meaning in the text (is all of the meaning in the
illustrations or does the written word hold most of the meaning)
- Do the art and writing extend each other's meaning or are the words just labels
or words that simply narrate the same meaning found in the illustrations)

Understandings About Process
Is the child intentional about what is being represented on the pages?
- Is the child intentional about what he is drawing and writing on each page
- A child who is writing without intention may ask the teacher what he's drawn
- Some children draw something first and then decide what it is after the fact
- Does the child set out to make meaning and then move the piece purposefully
in that direction

Does the child engage in revision while composing?
- Young children mostly revise their illustrations
- Development in this dimension ranges from no revision at all, to revising one
thing, to being able to explain the revisions made
- Allow students to hold markers when they are telling you about what they
wrote
- Conversations with and feedback from the teacher helps students to think about
and see what else they need to do to make meaning clearer

Is there any evidence the child is thinking ahead about what to write?
- Young writers begin by living in the moment of the page they are composing
rather than thinking ahead to the end

Has the child made any intentional crafting decisions?
- Teacher need to show students what other writers do to make books interesting
(speech bubbles, the size and color of illustrations, circular or repetitive text)

How long has the child worked on the book?
- Stamina includes- writing in one sitting as well as going back and working on
the same writing for more than one day
- Working alongside another child and interacting with an adult helps a young
writer stay with a book a little longer

Does the child exhibit a willingness to solve problems while writing?
- Young writers will certainly encounter "technical" difficulties through the
writing process- a marker may not work, they run out of pages in their pre
stapled book, the book is not finished but it is time to leave for lunch or go
home, etc.)
- The act of learning how to solve problems productively is an important part of
writing development

Understandings About What it Means to Be a Writer
How has the child decided what to write about?
- The topic may come from whatever the child drew on the first page, from
something the child saw another child write about, from a read-aloud the
teacher shared, or something they are interested in

How interested in the child in an audience's response?
- The more young writers experience the response of real listeners, the more they
will develop the sense of audience and an interest in the responses they receive

Has the child composed in a way that led to new meanings?
- The act of writing is as much a process in finding meaning as it is in expressing
it
- Composition should lead to new understandings about the topic

Does the book show that the child willingly took compositional risks?
- Most of the decisions made by inexperienced writers involves risk-taking
- Development in this dimension ranges from not knowing how to do something
and avoiding it, to not knowing how to do something and trying it anyway, to
showing great confidence as a writer

Does the child seem to have a sense of self as a writer?
- Proficient writers know the things they write about, why they write about them,
how they write best, and the conditions that matter
- When a child can respond to questions about his writing and the decisions he
made in the process, he is developing a sense of self as a writer

Does the child show he understands his powerful position as author of the book?
- The child owns what is in the book and knows it is up to him to make all of the
decisions about everything in it

Rethinking the Meaning of Writing Development- Week 3 Already Ready Book Study

Chapter 3 contained a lot of familiar information and was rather short. I have summarized what I considered "a-ha's" or important points below. 

When a child says they cannot read their own writing, simply explain "It like pretending if you did have words there, what would they say?" 

Restate and clarify what a child "reads" or says is on a page in order to help him grab hold of the meaning. 

Young writers writing is not yet representational in a conventional sense; meaning it is not able to hold meaning on its own without the writer being present. If you, the teacher, don't acknowledge the writing of your young students simply because it's not representational, then you will never see the amazing thinking they are capable of as writers. 

I love this quote- "In order to judge the quality of a literacy experience one must judge the quality of the mental trip taken, not the arrival point per se" (Harste, Woodward, and Burke, 1984, p. 18) If you, the teacher, are only interested in the "arrival point" or finished product, then you will miss all of the different reasons your students engaged and interacted with the text that they composed. 

Related to the same point above- Lucy Calkins (1994) suggests we "teach the writer, not the writing."

Once a child's writing becomes representational, it oftentimes becomes more difficult for teachers to focus on the child as the writer because they're so distracted by all of the needs they see in the transcription of the writing. 

As teachers we need to see the possibilities for nurturing and teaching the writer even before the writing becomes representational.

Spelling development is not writing development. Transcription is only one of the many things a young writer needs to be able to do in order to write.

Oftentimes an emphasis is placed on transcription because spelling development can be clearly seen, while writing development is much less clear. Adults typically have difficulty imagining what the thinking process of writing looks like when it's not connected to actual words written on a page.

Consider looking at the development process as composition development rather than writing development. Why?
- Children need to take part in compositional writing, not just functional writing in order to see themselves as writers.
- Composing is a multi-model process. Composing text involves a combination of written words, art, graphics, layout, audio and video- all of which result in a desired composition when finished.
-Composing a text is not just about writing the words.
Therefore, writing development is not the focus- compositional development is.

In this composition, the child imagined the piece and then used illustrations, words, layout, and craft to think out how should could represent the meaning she wanted to convey. 

Imagine how this piece might have been different or how the child may have felt stifled or insecure as a writer if her teacher had placed all of the emphasis on transcription. 

The Importance of Book-Making: Week 2 Already Ready Book Study

Sorry about this post being a week late. I painted Abby's bedroom last weekend and the time just got away from me.

I would like to begin this week by addressing a few questions that came up as a result of the last post.

Both questions are related to the book's suggestion to move away from dictation.

How does a parent "read" a young child's writing when they are not skilled at "reading" emergent writing?

What about the child who can't remember what they wrote in order to read it?

My personal opinion is that none of this is really important at this early stage of writing. Let them "read" their stories differently each time. Encourage parents to ask their children to "read" their stories to them. When children are lifted up as writers, they are more likely to explore the craft and to try new things. They develop a sense of agency and identity as a writer. This is a very powerful thing- much more so than if we only have them concentrate on the skill of reading the transcription.  

Chapter 2- Composition and the Importance of Making Picture Books (from Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten by Katie Ray Wood & Matt Glover)

The chapter begins by comparing functional writing and compositional writing. In the early grades functional writing plays such an important role in supporting young children's understanding about what writing is and what it can do for them.

Functional writing is important to all kinds of daily tasks, but mostly it addresses tasks at hand and does not go beyond that. Everyday people jot down notes, make lists, sign in and out, and fill out forms. These are all types of functional writing. They are writing done in response to the demands of everyday living.

Students Signing In and Out to Take Attendance

The capability to use writing to support one's jobs and projects is one of the greatest benefits of literacy. Teachers need to provide opportunities for young children to write as part of the daily school routine, in play, and through exploration; however, if functional writing is the only type of writing young children take part in they will probably not feel much like writers. 

This line was a bit of an "ah-ha" for me. I had kids writing all day and across all content areas, but when I stopped to consider how much of that time was spent on functional writing and how much of it was spent on compositional writing... most of it was spent on functional writing.

"Literate people who use writing only for functional purposes typically don't have strong identities as writers." (Wood & Glover, 2008)

Those who use writing to compose have much stronger writing identities because of it. As part of their jobs, some people use writing to compose articles, reports, newsletters, webpages, reviews, advertisements, etc. All of which are designed with a specific purpose and audience in mind.

Making Signs for Structures in the Block Center

Photo From Learning and Teaching Preschoolers

Some of you may be thinking "What's really the big deal between functional writing and compositional writing?" 

The big difference is going beyond just the skill and emphasizing the attitude to use the skill productively. (I love this!) 

With this in mind, functional writing alone won't do much to nudge young children forward in their writing because it mostly involves transcription or simply put... writing things down. 

On the other hand, compositional writing requires writers to bring meaning to the page. Project writing and bookmaking call writers to think deeply about purpose, ideas, organization, word choice, tone, craft, presentation, and so on. 

Some of you may be thinking that your students barely know the letters or sounds or that while they know them they are nowhere close to getting them down on paper or to understanding spelling and handwriting. You may be asking how can I engage my students in compositional writing before they master the skill of transcription. 

According to Katie and Matt- Transcription is not a prerequisite for compositional writing. It is part of compositional writing, but not a prerequisite. (2008) 

If a writer doesn't know anything about how to transcribe words yet, he or she simply uses other means to capture his or her thinking while composing. 

Writers can do this through their illustrations or memory- through repeated readings or reading to others. Creating a shared memory by reading to others holds one's thinking better than one's memory alone. 

In fact, not knowing much about transcription actually frees writers to place more thinking energy into other facets of their writing. Once young children have a working knowledge of letters and sounds they will put more of their thinking energy into the transcription of the piece rather than into other aspects of it. 

The purpose of comparing functional writing to compositional writing was not to place more value on one over the other. Rather it was to persuade teachers to consider new invitations to write that encourage children to compose and make things with writing just as experienced writers do. 

Everytime I learn something new I think of this quote by Maya Angelou. Take the challenge- consider what new invitations to write you can offer your students. 

So... Why Make Picture Books?

Picture Books are Familiar

All children are familiar with books- even if they only see them at school. Contrast this familiarity with journaling or single sheets of paper that aren't in a publishing format. Picture books are the kind of writing young children know. That holds great significance. 

Picture Books Expand Avenues of Meaning Making

In picture books the weight of meaning is carried as much through the illustrations as in the words. Readers oftentimes extend meaning by talking about the illustrations in books. Our youngest writers need to see there are a variety of ways to capture their thinking.  

Making Picture Books Forces the Issue of Composition

When making picture books children extend their writing to another page and then another- connecting each new idea to the one before it in a meaningful way. 

Simply put... paper matters. When a child is given a single sheet of paper then all of the meaning is contained on that one page. Capturing meaning through a single drawing or sentence does little to help young writers understand composition. 

When a teacher asks a child to dictate a sentence to go with a drawing and then writes the sentence for him, the meaning is reduced further- to no longer being considered composition. Composing includes putting ideas- sentences- together in ways that they make sense. Single pages, illustrations, and sentences do not show this. 

Making Picture Books Helps Children Read Like Writers

Everytime you share a book, seize the opportunity to notice what authors and illustrators are doing in books. Then turn that noticing into an invitation for your students to try it out in their own books. 

For example: Add Speech Bubbles to Your Writing

From the book Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas

I love Jan Thomas! 

Making Picture Books Builds Stamina

A picture book format, which includes multiple pages waiting to be filled, encourages children to stay at their writing. 

Making Picture Books is Fun

There is a fine line between "I can do this" and "I'm way too frustrated by what you are asking me to do". Saddle up next to your young writers and help them do things that are just a little beyond what they are capable of doing on their own (Vygotsky, 1978). Make it fun, give it meaning, keep it developmentally appropriate and they will like it.