Entries Tagged 'Junior High' ↓

Did you know that you can help prepare your child to write by reading a picture book together? A good picture book exposes children of all ages to quality literature, enhancing learning and teaching them a great deal about writing.

• How words hook the reader at the beginning of the story.
• How words form sentences and paragraphs and, finally, an organized story with a beginning, middle, and end.
• How precise word choices show actions, descriptions, and feelings.

A Springboard to Writing

Before beginning to work on a new writing project or lesson, read a related picture book aloud to your child. Be sure you read during this time, not your child. She can practice reading skills another time.

Talk about the book with your child. Here are some ideas.

• What words or sentences grabbed you at the beginning and made you want to hear or read more?
• What happened at the beginning of the book? The middle?
• How did the story end?
• What are some of your favorite words?
• How did the story make you feel?

Choosing Picture Books

We know you will want to take care in choosing just the right picture book for each lesson. There are so many wonderful read-alouds with delightful story lines and engaging illustrations. Start with your own bookshelf!

You can also scour used book stores, yard sales, online stores like Amazon, and the library in your search for the “perfect” book. For guidance, ask your local children’s librarian, read book reviews online, or seek out the recommendation of friends. Keep in mind that others’ recommendations may not always match your family’s criteria for acceptable reading. So the final decision, of course, is yours.

Though your child may love superheroes, Disney princesses, or other cartoon characters, you’ll want to avoid these mass market-type picture books for pre-writing times. Instead, look for high-quality, timeless books that play with language and use unique artwork. You know which ones I mean—the books you don’t mind reading again and again because you love them too!

A few lists of top picks:

• Five in a Row’s Book Lists 
• Classical Christian Education’s 1000 Good Books List (K-3) 
• New York Public Library 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
• Kids Online 100 Best Picture Books

If your child is older, and especially if she’s already reading, you may believe she is beyond picture books, but that’s not true! You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that many picture books are actually geared toward older children.

Begin your search here:

• Using Picture Books to Teach Writing to Middle Schoolers
• Picture books for older readers
• Cerritos Library picture books for older readers

Looking for a painless way to provide your family some with fun language-building activities? In just a few minutes, you can be sitting around the kitchen table enjoying a variety of printable word games that challenge you and your kids to use vocabulary in different ways.

• Word twists and find-a-word puzzles help young readers develop speed and skill by quickly spotting letters and letter clusters.
• Available at all proficiency levels, crossword puzzles offer clues and definitions to help students identify words.
• Games like Mad Libs® help everyone better understand and use parts of speech.
• And just about every word game helps improve spelling skills.

You can find hundreds of free, printable word games online. Most websites allow you to reproduce them for classroom or home use. Some websites even let you sign up to receive daily word puzzles by e-mail.

Getting Started

Here are a few handy places to get started. Have fun!

• Puzzles features challenging word searches, hidden messages, and easier puzzles specifically for kids. Solve each puzzle with pen or pencil and paper. 
• The Kidz Page offers learning games such as mixed-up words, fill-in puzzles, and word searches (some with holiday themes).
• Mad Glibs lets you create Mad Libs-type stories right on the computer. But for printable versions to use at home or on the road, each puzzle offers a “Printer Friendly” link that takes you to a free download.
• Word Search Puzzles: Here you’ll find puzzles by theme as well as by level of difficulty, from easy to hard.
• A bit more challenging, Printable Daily Crossword Puzzles offers seven new puzzles every day.

So sharpen those pencils, print out a few puzzles, and start the year off with some fun new writing games!

 Looking for a few last-minute writing activities to occupy your antsy children? Try some of these!

• List. Make a list of things you’re thankful for.
• Thank-you note. Think of a special person in your life. Write a thank-you letter and tell him or her why you value your relationship.
• Silly story. Pretend you are a turkey who does not want to end up on someone’s Thanksgiving table. Write a plan for how to escape.
• Sensory description. At first glance, a leaf is just a leaf. But when you study it closely, you can discover many small details that make it one-of-a-kind. Choose a colorful autumn leaf and brainstorm a list of phrases or sentences describing its unique features—including colors, shape, size, texture, veins, blemishes, or spots. Older students can then write a paragraph describing their leaf.
• Instruction manual. Write a paragraph explaining a simple process, such as how to make mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie. If possible, have someone take pictures of you during each step of preparing the food so you can decorate the pages with photos.

Looking for a holiday activity? Divert your kids with a Thanksgiving acrostic poem!

1. Write the word THANKSGIVING vertically on a sheet of lined paper. Using each of the letters, make a fun acrostic.
2. Each line can be one word, a phrase, or a sentence. See how creative you can be!
3. Poems can be left-aligned or centered.
4. Afterwards, illustrate your acrostics or decorate the page with photos cut from a magazine.

I’ll start you off with a couple of examples.

First Thanksgiving

Thanking the Lord
Honoring Him
Abundant blessings
Needs met
Kneeling Pilgrims
Squanto’s help
Gifts of food
Indian corn
Venison
Indeed we are blessed
Neighbors have shared 
God has provided

Thanksgiving at Home

T urkey time (I love the dark meat best!)
H oping the weather will turn cold
A untie’s apple pie—the best!
N ine plates around the table
K eeping family traditions
S tuffing my tummy with—what else?—stuffing!
G iving thanks for my family
I nviting our neighbor so he won’t be lonely
V egetables that I love (corn and green beans—yum!)
I think I am about to burst!
N aps for babies (and tired grandparents!)
G ames and laughter after dinner

From geography jingles my children learned over 17 years ago, I can still remember, among other facts, the states that comprise the eastern border of the U.S.

There’s just something about poems, songs, and mnemonics that can make learning facts—and remembering them—so much easier. That’s why I’ve always liked this little poem, as it defines and illustrates many common grammar concepts.

          Grammar in a Nutshell

The articles are, oh, so wee,
     These little words are A, AN, THE;
The nouns are names of anything,
     Like BOOK, COMPUTER, FAITH, or RING.
Pronouns are used for nouns instead—
     I run, HE flies, SHE wished, THEY said.
Adjectives simply tell the kind
     of everything that we may find,
Like BLUE and ROUGH and SOFT and SWEET,
     RUDE and PLEASANT, WISE and NEAT.
Adverbs will tell “how,” “when,” “where,”
     Like SWEETLY, NEATLY, OFTEN, THERE.
The prepositions help each day
     IN our work or AT our play,
UNDER, OVER, AROUND, and THROUGH,
     AMONG, ABOUT, ABOVE, and TO.
Good conjunctions join together
     Man AND woman; plume OR feather.
Interjections always claim—
     OH, NO! ALAS! AH, what a shame!
The verb—it helps us get along
     In conversation or in song,
Since it explains the subject’s fate,
     Expressing action, being, state;
You ARE friendly, I LOVE you,
     EAT your breakfast, TIE your shoe.
Grammar may not seem exciting,
     But it will help our speech and writing!

Author Unknown

In Journaling . . . with a twist I talked about how much our family enjoyed using journaling ideas for writing across the curriculum. Even though the journaling tips and examples would work for all ages, they are especially effective with younger children, even pre-readers.

Studying Real Historical Journals

Here’s a great idea for for a project that springboards from actual historical diaries—true living books written by men and women who lived and experienced the times. 

Because of the more challenging vocabulary found in most old journals, this activity is probably better suited for your high-school aged students, though some junior highers with more advanced reading skills could do this as well.

Writing Diary Entries 

1. Historical journals, narratives, and diaries abound, both in books and online. Have your student read the actual narrative or journal of a person you’re learning about in history.
2. Ask her to choose five key events or times in this person’s life.
3. Then, in her own words, have her write five diary entries for those pivotal times or incidents.
4. She must include the time and location for each entry.
5. If the incident is a major historical event, she must show the role the person played.
6. In addition, she needs to weave into her diary entry any background information that’s needed for context and understanding.

Below you’ll find some links to resources for online journals. As always, parent preview or supervision is recommended.

The Diary Junction - Internet resource linking to hundreds of historical diaries. Search alphabetically or chronologically

American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology

First-Person Narratives of the American South

American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement - Columbus, Cartier, Sir Frances Drake, Lewis and Clark, many more

Copyright © 2008 by Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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Looking for a more structured program to incorporate writing writing across the curriculum? WriteShop lessons can help your teens learn important writing skills while offering flexibility of topics. Visit our website at writeshop.com to learn more!

I’m sure it’s no secret that your kids don’t like to edit their compositions. Unfortunately, by not editing their own papers thoroughly, they place themselves in a “Catch-22″ position; that is, though too lazy to edit their own work carefully, they fall apart when they see all the changes you suggest! Sound familiar?

This is how they think:

I don’t like editing. It takes too much time. Besides, I like my paper just the way it is. It sounds good to me. Anyway, if I don’t proofread, Mom will find my mistakes. Why go to all that time and trouble to find mistakes and (perish the thought!) correct them when someone else will do it for me?

However, when their parent-edited composition comes back, they sing a different tune!

You’re always so critical! I can’t do anything right. My paper is too marked up. I thought my composition was fine. I didn’t see all that stuff when I read it!

Granted, not all students think this way. However, in our experience over our many years of teaching writing to nearly 200 students, we have learned that many, if not most, do become lazy as time goes on, self-editing less and relying on our comments and suggestions more.

Here’s how we began to think!

What’s with all the ‘to be’ verbs? She used six but only circled two. And she marked her checklist saying she didn’t use more than two. Hmm.

Wow! Look at all the weak words–very, really, had (twice), went (three times), and a lot. That’s odd–he marked off the box on his checklist saying he avoided weak words. I wonder why he didn’t underline them on his rough draft?

There’s no sentence beginning with a present participle, and I can’t find her simile. But she checked the box saying she used all required sentence variations.

Once upon a time, we used to find these errors for our students and suggest ways to fix them–and then we got smart! We began to realize that we were doing them no favor by spending an hour poring over each paragraph rather than requiring them to make greater editing efforts themselves.

Here’s the bottom line: put the responsibility back on your students to do their part in this learning process! When they turn in their self-edited draft to you, give it a cursory glance. If you find too many problems showing evidence of poor self-editing, return it for additional proofreading before editing it yourself.

Specifically, look for overused “to be” verbs (is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been), repeated or weak words, failure to use all required sentence variations, too many spelling errors, and failure to follow the assignment’s directions for content. If you find that even one of these areas has been neglected, send it back! You will teach students to improve their own editing abilities, and you will save yourself a great deal of time as a bonus!

Copyright 2008 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

From the archives.

Does your reluctant writer hate journaling, dictation, or narration? Do you need a way to encourage him? Try becoming your child’s pen pal!

This activity is best for children in the 8- to 12-year-old range, but you might also try it with other writing-phobic kiddos who live at your house.

Getting Started 

First, buy an inexpensive spiral notebook or composition notebook. If a colorful or thematic cover helps to wow your child, so much the better. Otherwise, a plain one will work just fine. Begin by writing a prompt at the top of the first page. Here’s a good place to start if you need ideas.

Tell your child there are no rules, no right, no wrong. She must simply write about the given topic and express herself however she chooses. No critiquing is allowed!

At first, don’t expect much. All she may give you is lists! But eventually she’ll begin to write more, especially if she finds the prompt particularly appealing.

Turning the Tables

Next, let your child choose a prompt for you on the next page so you can write back to her. Offering her the chance to ask you questions can give her the sense of fairness and control. Who knows what she’ll want to know!

As your child’s confidence grows and she becomes more willing to write, you’ll start to get glimpses into who she is and how she thinks. Plus, you’ll have a treasure of recorded “conversations” between the two of you.

Give it a try!

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Kim Kautzer is co-author of the WriteShop program. Visit writeshop.com to learn more.

Who says writing must always mean a report or an essay? While it’s important that our kids know these skills, let’s face it: not everyone loves to write.

A More Painless Approach

Ben wasn’t so keen on writing when he was a kid. Even as a young teen, writing gave him no end of grief.  Imagine his joy when I would give him a choice between a history report and some sort of project. The project always won.

One year, he made an amazing tri-fold display of the Renaissance and Reformation. He loved searching through old National Geographics (bought for a dime apiece at our library bookstore) for the perfect photos. Then he spent hours arranging them just so for a beautiful display. Writing a short report on the Renaissance didn’t seem so painful when it accompanied the project.

And what young boy doesn’t love all things soldier-ish and warlike? So it came as no surprise that Ben opted to make a Greek Hoplite helmet and shield as his 6th-grade Ancient Greece project. The little article that accompanied it, on the subject of Hoplite soldiers, was actually fun for him to write because he’d had such a great time learning about their armor, weapons, and ways of war.

Projects as Writing Alternatives

Special projects allow students to explore a subject in more depth without having to prove their knowledge the “traditional” way—via a long, dreary report.

Projects make great hands-on ways to study topics of special interest. Sure, some might end up as reports, but often a project will incorporate writing while allowing the student’s skills, talents, and passions to shine through. A project can:

• Appeal to different interests and learning styles.
• Immerse your student in a subject he’s crazy about.
• Call upon his unique skills and talents to create the project.
• Incorporate writing without the need for the writing to dominate.

One of Ben’s favorite projects was the construction of a sand pyramid and Sphinx. Living just an hour from the beach afforded us the freedom to head south for the day so Ben could make his project. He carefully carved and sculpted a fabulous Great Pyramid with a really cool replica of the Sphinx. We preserved his efforts on camera, and for his actual project, he made a flip book detailing the steps of the process in photos and words. The waves long ago washed away his sculptures, but they remain forever captured in his imaginative flip book.

Disguising the Broccoli

Writing across the curriculum gives students a chance to dovetail writing with other subjects you’re studying. Combining writing with history, art, music, or literature gives a child greater reasons for writing than “because I told you.” And just as hiding broccoli under cheese sauce makes it easier for veggie-phobes to eat their greens, combining a writing activity with a fun project makes the writing part easier to swallow too.

So as you begin to plan your lessons for summer or fall, why not provide your struggling or less-than-enthusiastic writer with an opportunity to gain some success through a project?

Projects shouldn’t take the place of other writing. After all, your kids still need to know how to write stories, essays, reports, and letters. But a project that includes writing will expand your student’s knowledge, vocabulary, and writing skills as he builds, draws, sculpts, paints, cooks, compares, or composes.

I’ve got so many great ideas for projects that appeal to all sorts of learners. Check back now and then for more ideas to spark writing in a brand-new way!

And if you’re a WriteShop user, you’ll be excited to know there’s a Writing Across the Curriculum section in Appendix B to help you tie each WriteShop assignment into other subjects you’re studying. No projects here, but at least you can direct the lesson toward history or science and kill two birds with one stone!

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Attending the CHEA Convention in Long Beach, CA next week? I’m presenting a Writing Across the Curriculum workshop with lots more great ideas! –Kim

When Debbie and I taught junior high and high school writing classes, we made sure that part of each class was spent in play. No one is too old for games! Besides, pre-writing activities help to prime the writing pump and get those creative juices bubbling! So we played word games, sentence-building games, and games that built vocabulary or taught writing skills.

Not all writing games require pencil and paper. One of our favorites is “What’s in the Bag?” It’s a guessing game that fits many levels of sophistication, so it’s adaptable to all ages, and it’s great for reinforcing the concept of concrete or descriptive writing. Here’s how to play:

Advance Prep

Gather together several paper lunch bags, each containing a common object. Vary the textures and shapes of the objects.

Directions

1. Give your student one of the paper bags and have her put her hand inside it. 
2. The student must describe the object by its properties, not its function. So tell her: ”Feel the object and describe it using adjectives or other phrases to describe its characteristics. Don’t tell me where to find it or how to use it.”  (If the object is a fork, the student might say, “It’s hard, cold, made of metal, sharp, one end has four prongs, it’s long and thin,” etc. She may NOT say, “You eat with it, you stab food with it, it’s in the silverware drawer,” etc.)
3. You and your other kids can take turns trying to guess the object.
4. Since students of all ages can play this game, involve your whole family or class. They’ll enjoy taking turns guessing and describing.

Hints and Tips 

• If you only have one student, it’s harder to play along if you already know what’s in the bags. So ask your spouse to put some bags together the night before so that you’ll be surprised along with your child.
• If your child is young or unable to articulate very well, you can help him get started by showing him 10-15 household objects such as a wire whisk, grater, can, roll of tape, small stuffed animal, camera, comb, or toothbrush and helping him think of descriptive terms for each one. The next day, use some of these items in the feely bags. Now that he is familiar with descriptive words for each item, it will be easier for him to play the game.

Copyright © 2008 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

“What’s in the Bag?” is one of many pre-writing activities and writing games tucked into the pages of WriteShop and WriteShop Primary.