Unit of Study: Process Studies


Unit of Study: Process Studies Ron Rash Book Group Discussion Ron Rash Book Group Discussion  

This page is to share the suggested list of process study ideas discussed in class and to provide a space for us to add to this list collaboratively.  This is also a place where you can post your writing that has been influenced from this unit of study.  *Please add your first and last name and the title and author of your text with your post. Please also add a picture if available and a hyperlink to the page where we could order the book online if we choose to.

 

 

 

 

Vivid Language by P.L.Thomas

Suggested by Kim Wells

How many times as a teacher of writing do you second guess yourself on correct instruction of Standard English?  Unless your were an English major or a grammarian, you may dismally realize your comments to students have been erroneous. Flipping through an appendix or glossary in the teacher's edition of student's text book can be replaced by Vivid Language. The first chapter is stuffy and academic; but past that, this paperback is chock full of rules of Standard English and writing process in a concise, readable, easy-reference format. Some of the features are:

Craft is great, but teachers will agree observance of basic rules are essential to writing and speaking effectively. For those of us who doubt our own expertise, this handbook serves well as a desk companion.

 

 

 

 Everyday Editing    Everyday Editing by: Jeff Anderson

Recomended by Kimberly Barnette:  I have to admit I needed a little help with this selection since I'm not an ELA teacher.  I had to turn to my literacy coach for assistance, and she told me that she used this book several times when helped her students revise or edit thier works.   

 

Writer's Notebooking: 

 

Product DetailsA Writer's Notebook By: Ralph Fletcher

Recommended by April Camp: This book is an outstanding way to really get your students involved in the wet up of their writer's notebook. It makes a great read aloud with funny stories that show examples of different notebooking processes. It begins with "What is a writer's notebook", and then goes into different types of writing that would be good to use in your writer's notebook. I have used this book several times when I was teaching third grade and they loved it. Sometimes it can be a little long but it is easy to skip through and use what you want from it. It is quick and easy for you, the teacher, to read a head of time in order to figure out just what parts you want to read.

 

 

 

Product DetailsNotebook Know-How:  Aimee Buckner 

Recommended by Amber McDonald:  This is a great book as to how to set up notebooking in your classroom. I do feel that is a great addition to anyone's library. I like how the chapters are divided into certain parts of how to use a writer's notebook to its fullest advantage!

 

Product DetailsDiary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It-Yourself Book by Jeff Kinney

Recommended by Heather Yordy.  I decided to get this book for one of my nephews because he LOVES the Wimpy Kid series... as I looked over it, I thought it would be a great selection to post here and even do a noticings chart on!  It gives sample writing, has a lot of questions to get them thinking about what they want to write about, has unfinished comics and then empty cartoons for the kids to try their own writing.  It really walks them through writing their own Wimpy Kid creation!

 

 

*Process Study:  Revision

 

 

Product DetailsThe Revision Toolbox by Georgia Heard

Recommended by Dawn Mitchell.  This is a professional development text that I have used with a variety of grade levels 2nd grade through adults with success.  Georgia Heard who is a well known published writer and teacher of wriitng created this text to help us learn different tools for revision.  In this text, Heard provides multiple strategies for teaching revision and ideas for revision centers and even conferring strategies.  A great must-have for all writing teachers.

 

 

Product DetailsCraft Lessons by Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi 

Recommended by Cammie Price.

This is a great book to have in your classroom. We have a copy of this in our literacy closet that teachers often refer to. This book has practical lessons in an easy to read one-page per lesson format. I like how the book is divided into 3 groups by grade levels (ex. K-2). The index is also helpful to help you quickly find specific lessons. Each lesson has 3 parts: discussion-reason for teaching craft, how to teach-teaching in writing conferences or small groups, and resource-contains additional texts you may want to use. This is helpful for new teachers of writers along with teachers who have been teaching awhile but need new ideas.

 

Product DetailsLive Writing by Ralph Fletcher

Recommended by Kim Sutherland. This book does a great job of teaching writing in small components. For example, how to teach students to write and describe a character, conflict, or use dialogue. Also, it gives examples of do's and don't for students.  Very user friendly and easy read.  This would be a great resource for all ELA teachers!!! 

 

 

 

Product DetailsThe Revisor's Toolbox by Barry Lane

Recommended by Joan Green.  There are so many great ideas to teach revision in this book.  I think it is applicable to any grade because you could take his ideas and easily adapt them to the grade that you teach.  The second chapter is called, "Using the Binoculars," and it has lots of ways to teach students to use details to zoom in on the important part of their stories.  Lane gives examples of rubrics, checklists, and different ideas for conferences.  I think this is a great writing resource.

 

 

Product DetailsMentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 by Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli

Recommended by Lindsay Blanton.  I just recently found this book and was able to purchase it for my school.  We've done so much with children's literature and writing and used 6+1 Writing Traits this year that I had to check it out.  There is a Nonfiction Mentor Text book as well.  I'll post the picture.  Great resource and helpful with units and looking at picture books that you may have and how to use them in mini-lessons.

 

Product DetailsNonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through Children's Literature, K-8 by Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli 

Recommended by Lindsay Blanton.  This is the Nonfiction Mentor Text book from the one I previously listed.  Same authors and same lay-out, just has the informational writing as the focus.  Great resource for creating writing units and mini-lessons.

 

Product DetailsIs That a Fact? by Tony Stead

Recommended by Lindsay Blanton.  I love Tony Stead!!!  He is a great presenter and ever since I attended the SCIRA conference I look for his books.  This is a great book for teaching nonfiction writing in grades K-2.  He loves to focus nonfiction reading and writing with the primary grades.  There is a lot of ideas in this book and he has several others that are must haves too!

 

 

Lucy Calkin's Unit of Study:  The Craft of Revision  (No image available on Amazon)

 Recommended by: Amber Pitts  This is the first year that I have used Lucy Calkins Unit of Study books. I have been really surprised at how easy they are to read and all of the great resources she offers. The craft of revision book really helps you set up peer conferencing in your classroom. She has students work with a partner or peer to revise their work. One of my favorite things from these texts are the great anchor charts she gives. She actually tells you word for word anchor charts. I have really used her ideas and molded them to fit my classroom.

 

 

 

 

 

After "The End" by Barry Lane: Book Cover   After THE END:  Teaching and Learning Creative Revision by Barry Lane

 

Recommended by Heather Yordy.  This book helps make revision less of "you didn't do this correctly, now fix it" to showing revision as a work-in-progress.  Encouraging students to see what they've got as a good starting point and how to further develop their writing with the use of craft and other techniques to turn good writing into great writing.

 

Best Practices in Writing Instruction (Solving Problems in the Teaching of Literacy)Best Practices in Writing Instruction by Charles MacArthur and Jill Fitzgerald recommended by Kimberly Trott

This book was recommended to me by our literacy coach one year.  I don't have a copy of the text but copied techniques out of the book.  I found that this book gave me a lot of creative strategies for incorporating writing within  the social studies classroom. 

 

6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide: Grades 3 & Up6+1 Traits Writing by Ruth Culham, recommended by Bonnie Cumbo

This book series is an excellent resource for teachers that want to organize and improve their writing instruction.  Culham teaches teachers how to show students how to add ideas, word choice, organizations, good conventions, sentence fluency, and presentation through exploring books, or mentor texts, written by other authors.  Culham has many other great resources for teachers that are all excellent.

 

 

 

 

Woe is I Jr.: The Younger Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English

Woe is I Jr. 

Recommended by Lori Milan

This is a grammar book written from the POV of a kid. It gives examples of commonly made grammar mistakes. It also uses connections from books my kids read. The only thing that I have to worry about is that some of my kids don't know they are speaking incorrectly! It is a lot of fun, and I think I got it from Scholstic for a dollar or 2!

 

 

I wasn't sure if we were suppose to post examples of various types of writing processes but if so I have them below.

Process Study Rhyme

MadelineMadelin By Ludwig Bemelmans Recommended by Kimberly Trott

This book using a rhying technique throughout the book and it also takes you on a journey of a day in the life of Madeline. 

Process Study Omnicient Point of View

 No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman

Recommended by Cathy Rode.  This book I used as a read-aloud to teach the specific author's craft for writing in omnicient point of view.  This is a wonderful book that engages the students in the lives of each character in the book. Each chapter is written in the point of view of that particular character so that the reader can make up their own mind about the truthfulness of each characters' perspective.

Process Study Specific Time Period

Product DetailsTuesday by David Wiesner Recommended by Kimberly Trott

This is really a picture book, with four words and three references to a specific time.  It is a picture book on the events that occur in a frogs life one evening. 

 

 

Process Study Repeated Words

Product DetailsDick and Jane Fun with our Family Recommended by Kimberly Trott

I have always loved the Dick and Jane series.  My children read these books and  I read them.  I love books for early readers that repeat the same words over and over to help them recognize the words and repeat the pronunciation of them. 

 

Process Study A Series of Questions

Product DetailsMath Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith Recommended by Kimberly Trott

This book is actually a book of math problems.  The teacher has put a math curse on the student.  Throughout the day everything he does becomes a math problem to him.  This would be great in an elementary math class.  Looks like 4th-5th grade math.  The book also uses creative fonts and lots of visual imagersy. 

Process Study: Leads

Bridge to TerabithiaBridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

 

Recommended by Sarah Stephanoff. Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity - Good. His dad had the pickup going. And so begins Bridge to Terabithia. Students will love to model their own writing after this and begin many pieces with onomatopoiea. Onomatopoiea became my students favorite and most effective type of lead.

 

 

*Process Study:  Punctuation

 

 

Diary of a WombatDiary of a Wombat by Jackie French

 

Recommended by Sarah Stephanoff. Diary of a Wombat is the hilarious story of a wombat moving into a family's yard. Students will enjoy the story and they will notice the author's use of punctuation with a purpose. The author uses colons to describe the wombat's daily activities in list format.

 

 

 

 

SMART Board Lessons: Capitalization & Punctuation: 40 Ready-to-Use, Motivating Lessons on CD to Help You Teach Capitalization & Punctuation Skills 

SMART Board Lessons: Capitalization & Punctuation: 40 Ready-to-Use, Motivating Lessons on CD to Help You Teach Capitalization & Punctuation Skills (Paperback)

~ Karen Kellaher (Author), Diana Mai (Author)

 Recommended by Cathy Rode

This is a wonderful tool to use for 3rd - 6th grade.  Students will be actively engaged in learning the rules for capitalization and other puctuation.  We don't have activie boards in our individual classrooms, but we have a "Mustang Corral" which we can use if we sign up.  This also contains CD's that you can use to print out hard copies as well. 

*See the Appendix of "Study Driven" to find more possibilities for process studies.

 

Product Details

 

Writing Through CHildhood  Rethinking Process and Product by Shelly Harwayne

Recommended by Crystal Weathers

This is a book to use for setting up the writing workshop to minilessons used in the writing workshop, from spelling to edting. 

 

Process Study"- Drafting, Revising, and editing for publication

 

      What You Know by Heart  by Katie Wood Ray

After our class I started going through the many books I have accummulated over the years and have used at one time or the other and have put away. I came across several Katie Wood Ray books, Wondrous Words, and What you know by Heart.

     This book has many sources for process studies but one that I have used and will use again is Drafting, Revising and editing for Publication. A few of the revision tools that KWR has gathered throughout the years  and are what she focuses on in her text,

 

 

 

 

Product DetailsWriting Toward Home Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way by Georgia Heard

Recommended by Renee Phillips

This is a great book that could be used k-12. With the younger students I think that it gives the teacher ideas for her writing and what kids of things you might right about and share with students. For intermediate grades the writings in this book can serve as a model for students. With older students it could even be a text from which you teach writing. It is must have for any teacher of writing.Unit of Study: Book Reviews

 

 

Product DetailsPunctuation and Capitalization by Harold Jarnicki

 

Recommended by Martha Vest

 

Love this series by The Mailbox. This book and others in this series excite children with funny pictures and illustrations and cartoons while teaching them grammar. Fun games and puzzles and drawing pages draw the children in and help engage them in too often dull concepts.