Writing Menu

I don't know if that is the right title...Writing Menu. Hmmm? It's more of a guide than a menu. I am hoping that it will be a way for the students to use and understand the 6+1 Traits a little more. Last year I felt like I was talking way above their heads with the Traits because they had nothing concrete to look at or connect to.

After teaching CAFE and Daily 5 for 2 years and loving it, I decided that the "menu" had to be part of writing also. One of the things I love about CAFE is that the visual is always there. It is a way to quickly refresh a students memory of a past lesson or remind them of their next step.

I have read so many writing books this summer: The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins, No More I'm Done by Jennifer Jacobson, Razzle Dazzle Writing by Melissa Forney, Craft Lesson by Ralph Fletcher and A Writer's Notebook by Ralph Fletcher. When I sat down to create these, my head was swimming with ideas but I wanted to keep it simple.

So here is the final product. I am hoping to have classroom pictures within the week and I will show you how it looks. The images are from Scrappindoddles...so cute!

Writing Menu

♥Christa

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Memories of Writing!

Here we are...the end of another school year! My Little Life Coaches are moving on to third grade. (tear!) I have had them for two years and I didn't realize how hard it would be to send them on after a loop. This is the first (and last) time I will loop with a class since the school stopped looping this year.

This summer, I am starting on a journey, of sorts. I guess you could call it a quest. I like the sound of that better. A quest to become a better writing teacher!

Here is the deal....I don't remember being taught to write! I am reading a professional tome and these people are discussing how they were taught to write. I don't possess these memories. I don't remember a lot from birth to second grade but that is another post for another time. If those memories are in there, they are buried deep.

I remember 8th grade and diagramming sentences. Ahhh! Mrs. Rios....she was a best! No, really, she was a fantastic, creative teacher....she just really liked to diagram sentences! But in my book, that is grammar, not writing.

The guru on my quest is Lucy Caulkins, as mandated by our school. I was a little resistant, but I usually am when it comes to mandates. I typically like to find my own way, strike a new path. Basically, I reinvent the wheel and make life hard on myself. Maybe the answer to why I do that is buried with my memories of writing.

So, I received this enormous book in the mail yesterday. The Art of Teaching Writing. I didn't want to read it. I had a ton of excuses...it's a bad fit for me...too many sayings and catch phrases...too scripted...too much! But, I the made the commitment and I promised myself that I would trust the process. I made a promise to myself that I would trust the process. So, I sat down and read the first chapter, and the second. Stopped to get a highlighter and started again. Chapter One, Two Three and Four. I am hooked!


So this is the first step in my year long journey, to not only become a better writing teacher but to see myself as a writer. Maybe if I am writing, I will be able to support and guide my Little Life Coaches. Maybe, just maybe, they will have deep, profound memories of second grade and remember how they were taught to write!

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