In writing this past week, I wanted to focus on โsmall momentsโ for our writing. What better way to inspire our writers than to teach about small moments writing?ย Although, I thought my kids were heading in the right direction with their pieces, I just felt like their stories were missing somethingโฆย They were missing depth, heart, and voice. Most of my kiddos were still in the โhereโs my writing about a dogโ stage and it was time to grow us up!
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Now, if ย Lucy Calkins has told us ANYTHING about writing, itโs that ideas are what spark us as authors. So, I did what any good teacher would do, I searched for a book that demonstrated how authors can write about one โsmall momentโ and make a HUGE impact with their writing.
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I found some great exemplar books for small moments writing
ย Click the pic or here to check this out on Amazon.
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Now, of course, I couldnโt find the book for our actual lesson (I KNOW I HAD itโฆ somewhereโฆ) so, a quick search yielded this video reading of the story.
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After reading, I mean watching,ย the book, we discussed what the author was writing about and how it wasnโt some big and elaborate story, but something small and special to the author. We also discussed how the author made us feel as we were waiting to board that roller coaster right along with them. Good conversation to have people! Boom and the understanding of small moments writing was starting to form.
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So, then we explored what we thought were small moments in our own personal lives that had special meaning to us. We used this list sheet to help us stay organized.
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Then, we choose our favorite โsmall momentโ for our writing. The rest of the list we stowed away in our writing folders for safe keeping. We used a bubble map to help spark some more details about our special moment.
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Hereโs a peek at one of my kiddoโs bubble map.
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Then it was time to write! I like to use a formula when I teach writing (which you can read more about here) So, I had the kiddos organize their writings (just on a plain sheet of paper) using the sections of the formula.
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Hereโs a better look at how the organization pieces could have looked if I had remembered to print out our sheets #teachermommybrain
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Finally, we were ready to edit and give a final copy of our writings. Folks, can I just sayโฆ these were some of MY BEST writings Iโve had in my room. The details, voice, word choice. You could just tell they really cared about what they were writing about. They were telling a โsmall momentsโ special story and wanted them to be PURRFECT!I had writings on playing a video game for the first time, to the birth of a baby brother. They were AMAZING! (and if I can find the photos I took of themโฆ I will add them to this post! HMMMP!)
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So the next time you need a lesson idea for improving your studentโs writing, I HIGHLY suggest going small for a BIG impact!
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ย You can grab all my graphic organizers, papers, and rubrics I used here at my TpT store!
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Do you use small moments writing for your narratives? What are some ways you get your kids writing? Comment below!
The Applicious Teacher is all about creating hands-on and engaging lessons that align with the standards while still having time for your life. This is your place for ideas, tips, and resources for the REAL teacher!
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