Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Teaching with Heart and Creativity

Teaching Writing Ideas and Plans

This week I am going to focus on What makes a Sentence with my Firsties.  I like to do this with  Who What Where When (and later we can add Why).

To begin we make a chart like this. (be sure to color code)
The students and I come up with the Who and the What together.  This is a process of talking about Who as anything my story is about.  It does not have to be a person to be a who. When you do the What portion of the chart try to use a variety of tenses for your verb so that your students don’t get stuck on just past tense only etc.

On Monday  after making the chart pictured above, my students will get a strip of blank paper (or two or three if they are quick workers) and they will go back to their tables and write a Who What sentence.  I will set my timer for just a few minutes.  Students return to the rug with their paper and sit on the perimeter.  Each student shares their Who What sentence.  We all clap and celebrate that we can write a Who What sentence!

On Tuesday we pull out our chart and review and then add a Where column.
After coming up with the where column we go back to our tables to write a Who What Where sentence.  Students will want to give you when statements for where so this is a great way to explain the difference.  Picture it in your mind.  Where is the Who doing their action?

On Wednesday we review and repeat the same lesson if necessary.  If we are ready we can go on to the Who What Where and When sentence!  The students think this is just AMAZING.

This simple process helps you all year long when your students need to know when to put a period in a sentence.  It will also help you to pull more out of them and create those super sentences that your students are not great at writing just yet.  You can do this monthly and incorporate the season into the Who so that you have a seasonal chart.  This can also help to jump start a story for some of your students.  These ideas are adapted from information I read on Project Glad.

Visual Plans

Here’s my visual plans for the week!  Click the picture to see them in google docs.  From there the pictures and words are linked to the items in the plans.  There are some freebies for you too.

 

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    Comments

    4. Stephanie says

      I'm loving your sentence idea! I'm also in love with your morning work! This year my students come in, unpack, and go to their desk to complete their morning work. It is day 19 tomorrow and I've never had such calm mornings! Thanks for creating such great products that work!

      Reply

    10. Jill says

      I have missed two weeks of school due to a mystery autoimuine problem and was feeling overwhelmed about how to get started again. I was blog stalking and I came here, which I have many times and what did I find? Lesson plans, really good lesson plans. This is a heart felt thank you. I know that as I get better I will feel more in control of my situation and be back to my own energetic self, I can do everything I once did. Right now THANK YOU for your help. You have blessed my life and made me feel like I can keep going even on really hard days. THANK YOU!
      Jill from Idaho

      Reply

      • Reagan Tunstall says

        Oh sweet Jill from Idaho!
        I would love to talk to you more about what you are going through! I have an autoimmune illness as well. Please email me and I would love to help you out even more!
        Take Care,
        Reagan

        Reply

    14. Katie P. says

      I looove this idea!! I do the writing plans for my team and I'm totally stealing this! 🙂 We've always done the 5Ws, but I love your color coding ideas and I love how you really break it down for the kids. I just finished creating a little printable to go with this, starting with writing our Who What sentence and then moving onto our Who What Where When sentence!

      Thanks so much for sharing!!

      Katie 🙂

      Reply

    18. EricaJean says

      Hi! I spotted your site via Pinterest for this particular lesson and I love it! I shared it on G+ with my network as well. I tutor on the side a couple of days a week and I am excited about incorporating this sentence chart. Thank you for your hard work and sharing it with us!

      Reply

    19. P V Ariel says

      Hi Reagn
      I am so glad to be here today.
      I am here today via Erica J (Ericaflicksdust) G+ Notification
      Indeed this is a well planned chart for the newbies to learn how to write.
      The Visual Lesson Plans week 5.pd too speaks volume.
      Very well done.
      Keep sharing
      Keep teaching.
      May you have a wonderful week ahead.
      Best
      ~philip v ariel

      Reply

    20. Lana DeWitt says

      I love your visual lesson plans but when I click on the link it says there is an error and it can’t find them. Are they still available?

      Reply

    21. Amber says

      When I click to see your visual plans, it says they are no longer available. Do you have them on another site where I can see them?

      Reply

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