Writing from Scratch is a positive, encouraging book full of practical techniques for elementary teachers and students to get the most out of their writing time. Award-winning author Shannon Anderson presents specific, skill-based lessons through a running theme of baking and cooking. Each lesson, or “recipe,” will help you serve up effective instruction on writing topics like idea generation, figurative language, plotting, and structure. This book is designed not just to develop student writing, but to develop students as writers. The experiences and guidance in Writing From Scratch will inspire you to plan a year-long curriculum - or jump in mid-year - for writing instruction that will make a difference for students today, and into the future. - Get practical ideas for incorporating writing lessons into your elementary classroom - Build writing exercises into content lessons, for added writing instruction - Inspire students to get excited about writing and explore their identities as writers - Gain the confidence you need to plan a full writing curriculum
Teachers in K-5 settings, as well as principals and education leaders, will benefit from this hands-on writing instruction guide. Perfect for solo use or as a guide for professional development, Writing From Scratch will have you cooking up fantastic writing lessons in no time!
Table of Contents
Author’s Note ix
Cooking Success Tips xi
How to Use This Book xiii
01 Preheating the Oven 1
Author Chair 1
Writers’ Notebooks 2
Writing Folders 2
Procedures 2
Spelling 3
Making the Most of Your Time 4
02 Purposeful Planning 5
Recipe: Apples to Apples 5
03 Main Ingredients for Writing 9
04 Recipes for Reviewing 11
Recipe: Writing 11
Recipe: Songs 16
05 Generating Ideas 19
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words 19
Recipe: ME Page 20
Recipe: Expert List 22
06 Generating Focused Topics 25
Recipe: Zooming In on Ideas 25
Recipe: Narrowing Your Focus 26
07 Adding Ideas: Elaboration Techniques 29
Recipe: Adding Details and Dialogue 29
Recipe: Adding Oomph to Persuade 31
08 Organization 35
Recipe: A Paragraph Has Legs 35
Recipe: A Paragraph as Part of a Patio 37
09 Organizing Fiction Writing 39
Recipe: Two Rectangles + Four Squares Planner 39
Recipe: Narrative Beginnings 42
Recipe: Which Is the Real Intro? 43
Recipe: Crafting Endings 44
Recipe: The Mighty Middle of a Story 46
Recipe: Story Spine Technique 48
10 Developing Characters 51
Recipe: Playing with POV 51
Recipe: Switching POV 52
Recipe: Inside and Outside Descriptions 54
Recipe: Setting the Setting 56
11 Organizing Informational Writing 59
Recipe: Informational Beginnings 59
Recipe: Research Writing 60
Recipe: Text Feature Scavenger Hunt 62
Recipe: Adding Text Features 64
12 Playing with Structures 67
Recipe: How- to Writing 68
Recipe: Alphabet Structure 69
Recipe: Compare and Contrast 70
Recipe: Cumulative Structure 72
Recipe: Diary Structure 73
Recipe: Parallel Structure 74
Recipe: Letters from Around the World 76
Recipe: End- of- Year Letters 78
Recipe: Question and Answer Format 79
13 Word Choice 81
Recipe: Strong Verbs 81
Recipe: Precise Nouns 82
Recipe: Vivid Descriptions 84
Recipe: Sensory Details 85
14 Using Figurative Language Devices 87
Recipe: Let’s Alliterate! 87
Recipe: Noisy Words (Onomatopoeia!) 89
Recipe: Best Hyperboles in the Entire World! 90
Recipe: Personification Stations 93
Recipe: What Is Assonance? 95
Recipe: Similes Are as Easy as Pie! 96
Recipe: Making Metaphors 98
Recipe: Idiomatic Expressions 99
15 Adding Humor 103
Recipe: Pun- tastic Word Play 103
Recipe: Comic Clash 104
16 Making It Flow 107
Recipe: Go with the Flow! 107
Recipe: Transition Types 109
Recipe: Trying Transitions 111
17 Emotion 113
Recipe: Voice Role- Play 113
Recipe: Ewww and Awww Contest 115
Recipe: Show, Don’t Tell 116
18 Grammar and Editing 119
Recipe: Check, Please! 121
Recipe: Dialogue Done Right 124
19 Revising 127
Recipe: Advise and Revise 128
20 Assessment 131
Recipe: Writing Review Rubric 132
Recipe: Rubric- Ready 134
Recipe: Collaborative Conferences 136
Recipe: Teacher and Student Conferences 137
21 Creative Writing Exercises 139
Recipe: Quote- tastic! 139
Recipe: Write It Down, Pass It Around 141
Recipe: You’ve Got 30 Seconds! 142
Recipe: Ode to Food 144
Recipe: Cookbook 145
Recipe: Vote for Me! 147
Recipe: Stick with the Script! 149
Recipe: I Didn’t Know That! 151
Recipe: Weighty Words 152
Recipe: Picture Prompts 153
Recipe: Squiggle Story 155
Recipe: Fractured Fairy Tale 156
Recipe: Tiny Teacher 157
Recipe: Branching Narrative Story 159
Recipe: Newscast 161
22 Poetry 163
Recipe: Rhyme Time! 163
Recipe: Haiku 165
Recipe: Cinquain 166
Recipe: Shape Poems 168
Recipe: Fingerprint Poem 171
23 Other Writing Forms 175
Recipe: Daily Journaling 175
Recipe: Writing from the Wild 177
Recipe: Biography Projects 179
Recipe: Career Exploration Projects 180
Recipe: Class News 182
Recipe: Goal Setting 184
24 End- of- Year Publishing Project 187
Mentor Text List 191
A Note to Teachers 193
Acknowledgments 195
About the Author 197
Index 199
