Sometimes a poem is as small as a list.
Sometimes it encompasses all the words we need.
Sometimes a poem is restless buttons in a jar.
But always,
a l w a y s
a poem
is translucent,
waiting to unfurl
its magic.
~Kimberly Bredberg
And that’s not all! We are offering a discount on our Operation Lexicon units, plus all things poetry during the month of April. Using the code NatPoe10 you can pick up Introducing Poetry and Small Forms Poetry too! What better way for your students to start collecting and crafting words than to dive into one of these unique units?
~Kimberly
Poetry begins with the utterance of a single word, but not just any word, a singular word.
This month, we will explore a vast array of wonderful words and ways you might inspire your students to become word collectors.
With words, we build phrases—another inky night sky, that supercilious salamander, you marvelous prickly cactus.
With phrases we form sentences. Take this one, crafted by Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas about poetry (an Ars Poetica sentence, if you will):
Stay tuned this month as we share all things poetic.
~Kimberly
As we teach students to write, we aren’t just mentors; we’re writing architects. Instead of rulers we use the Writer’s Checklist, in place of a drafting table we pen rough drafts, and where architects create art out of concrete and wood and beams, we employ adjectives and verbs and semicolons.
Oh, and one more parallel: the stronger our foundation, the higher we can build.
That’s why Spring into Writing is a launching point rather than a destination. Seeking to master the art of writing is akin to climbing a mountain and never quite catching a glimpse of its peak. All we can do is put one step in front of the other, taking the journey mile by mile— meanwhile widening and strengthening our foundation.
The resources we’ve highlighted this month are exactly how you can grow that foundation of skill and ideas. From reading with a perspicacious eye, to writing like a painter with The Writing Mentor, to using the Writer’s Checklist and remediation help and abecedarians, we offer support for every level. We’re here to leap into this tumultuous, beautiful, soul-touching, mind-bending art of writing right beside you.
So to wrap up our March theme of springing into writing, I thought I’d pull in writing wisdom from some of my favorite authors:
~Claire S.
From the very first flicker of the tabletop fire bowl, you’ll be ready to roll into seasonal storytelling with this S’Mores kit from Solo Stove! This tabletop “Fire Bowl” + sticks, fuel, & bamboo tray is sure to add s’more fun to this year’s story making!
Of course how I stumbled upon this concept is poetry. The ABCeDarian is actually a very, very old form where every line, or each stanza starts with the first letter of the alphabet, depending on which alphabet is being followed—obviously not always English. There are many examples in ancient Hebrew, and skipping forward to the middle ages, Chaucer, of course wrote his own, “An ABC” which is a translation of a French prayer modified onto an English ABCeDarian.
Fast forward think Dr. Seuss and his ABCs from 1963 where those two yellow dogs meander through the alphabet. For me, the desire to bridge the lofty poetic form with the likes of Dr. Seuss is HUGE.
Poetry begins in sound. The sounds of language. In English there are 44 distinct sounds—phonemes—created by the 26 letters in our alphabet. So with little ones, we begin here. But here’s the thing: please, PLEASE, let’s be more creative than the tired old ABC song!
We are very excited to be releasing a slew of ABCeDarian project for primary students on Print Shop. Right now we have a sneak peak, P is for Pumpkin, up for FREE. And this FREE offering won’t be FREE forever, so download while the offer stands. Come summer, we will be dropping an entire alphabet of projects—our ABCeDarian offering!
And we don’t envision the ABCeDarian theme being limited to little ones. Think sentence writing, word games, poetry and so much more! When it comes to the ABCs the possibilities are limitless.
~Kimberly
To shift gears in a car, you need to press down on the clutch. To go from room to room, you walk through a doorway. To travel from floor to floor, you take the stairs.
To get from one place to another, you need a phase of transition. And writing is no different.
Transitions—between ideas, paragraphs, or even sentences—can be easy to overlook no matter what level the writer is working at. Although writers must use their judgement to determine what places need transitions, as a general rule, every topic sentence should contain a transition. And I’m not talking about “next” or “in addition;” these are transition training wheels. Let’s get less formulaic.
Once students get to Levels 3 and 4, I expect to see a look back and a look forward in each topic sentence. The look back is the transition. It tells us where we came from, setting up readers to understand the relationship between the previous idea and our new idea. The look forward shows what we’re going to talk about next.
For example, in an essay on the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon, we might open a paragraph by writing, “Just as the A-level maths exam serves as a symbol of stability in Christopher’s shifting world, Christopher’s system of counting yellow and red cars every morning gives him another measure of control.” The first half of the sentence looks back at the previous paragraph, which must have been about the A-level maths exam creating stability. While the topic sentence doesn’t start with a classic “also” phrase, it has a strong transition. The sentence establishes the relationship between where we’ve been and where we’re going. It looks backwards and forwards.
As writers, we operate with the assumption that we have some pretty smart readers—but that doesn’t mean they’ll always make the same leaps in logic. We writers must make connections between ideas clear and explicit.
Remember: look back and look forward in each topic sentence and you will seamlessly HOOK your readers! They will thank you for it!
This is a frequent exchange I have with my students. As an essay teacher, dropped quotes are one of the banes of my existence. A dropped quote is when a writer plops a quote into a paragraph with no context, attribution tag, or analysis. “They look like this, and they confuse readers.” As writers, we can never assume that our readers will follow our same train of thought; we have to guide them through every leap in our logic.
Here’s the anatomy of a well-integrated quotation:
Context, attribution tag, “Quotation,” analysis (author’s last name and page number).
Example: In The Westing Game, when Mrs. Wexler tours the potential new apartment, she thinks to herself, “Just wait until those so-called friends of hers with their classy houses see this place,” revealing her materialistic and shallow approach to life (Raskin 3).
In this example, the writer leads the reader through quote interpretation. The reader understands where in the story the quote comes from and what purpose the quote serves in the argument, which is to show Mrs. Wexler’s materialism.
We introduce this skill, and provide five scaffolded opportunities to practice and master this basic essential of MLA style in Introduction to Composition: The Essay, Volume 3. So let’s make our reader’s job as intuitive as possible.
~Claire S.
I’ve never met a child who doesn’t have imagination. But, tragically, I’ve met many a child who is deprived of the tools that allows the imagination to play via pencil on paper.
I occasionally cross paths with older students struggling to read. But when it comes to crossing paths with students who are struggling to write, I am bombarded!
I wholeheartedly believe that we should be teaching students phonics for BOTH reading and writing from an early age. We should be offering our kindergarten students beautiful books and the best technology for learning—the pencil!
The sentences are simple. True. However, in this gorgeous opening, the author creates an atmosphere of mystery. We want to read on. There is rhythm in the way he ordered his Question / Statement pairs.
Our 3rd graders should be reading and considering wonderful passages such as this one. And these passages should be sparking ideas in their mind.
Our methodology begins in kindergarten and progresses through high school. Students will begin their English Language Arts journey learning and practicing and mastering phonics for both reading and writing. In the second grade they will be equipped to begin a tradition of reading great stories independently, journalling ideas along the way. By the time the child reaches 3rd grade, it’s time to read gentle literary chapter books like The Iron Giant and journal their way through the story, composing a hearty paragraph sparked by imagination every single week.
But what happens when the student is not taught the important relationship between reading and writing? What happens when a child’s imagination is left behind gasping for breath?
Recently I received the following writing sample from an upper elementary student. The teacher shared that this sweet human told her she had no idea how to use paragraph form and that she went on to ask, “Should I use punctuation?”
Like many students around this country of ours, this student fell through the cracks in public school so her parents moved her to a private school. Finally, right before she will enter middle school, her parents are putting her in the good hands of a teacher who will make a difference. “This student has never been seen,” that’s how Jennifer put it. This teacher will make a difference because 1) She understands the tools required to read and write and think well; 2) She understands that remediation requires individualization, mentorship, and community; and 3) She, like me, believes that curiosity leads to imagination and imagination sparks creativity and creativity leads to motivated students.
So what happens next for this student?
The Wonderful World of Phonics
She will be guided on an amazing journey.
Examining the writing sample above, I will venture to say there are holes lingering from the 1st grade! This student has likely mastered consonant and short vowel sounds. But I see no evidence that she has mastered consonant blends or digraphs. I see evidence of simple sight word mastery: and, the, have. There are the “W” words: would, what, with, want. We see a handful of phonograms: or, ea (though even those seem to be learned visually, “popcorn”). This passage opens with the singular pronoun “I” uncapitalized! What I don’t see are concise sentences. I don’t see the variety of vocabulary I’d expect from a student in the spring before middle school. I don’t see a BIG idea. What I DO see is squelched potential.
The goal is for Jennifer to place this student into the remediation program right at the point where there is no evidence of mastery. I’m guessing she will need to begin with consonant blends.
Our toolkit of phonics includes all the tools needed to engage students in the process of remediating both reading and writing skills. It provides the teacher with all the tools necessary to guide the student into the wonderful world of phonics. Our curriculum, rooted in Orton-Gillingham wisdom, is user friendly and affirming for the older student who needs additional direct instruction and independent practice to shore up skills. We’ve included all you need to know about phonics, a placement guide, plus lesson guidance each step of the way.
Once Jennifer has this student working systematically at her personalized level, she will begin practicing phonics for reading and writing. After a few short weeks this student will be placed in a Level 1 CORE (grade 3) Integrated Literature and Writing unit and begin applying what she is learning. A few weeks after that, she will begin One True Sentence: Parts of Speech to learn the wonderful roles words play as she constructs sentences.
Every journey has a beginning. I’m thankful for teachers like my friend who dare to lead such expeditions.
~Kimberly