Talking, Drawing, Writing, Ch. 5- Making Words

I just finished up my 5th year of teaching.  It is hard to believe I have been teaching little munchkins for five years already! Four out of the five years, I have been the newbie on a team.  I always get stuck with planning writing because no one else wants to plan it.  (They have always been honest and told me that so I have no shame in telling you all! HA!) After my 4th year of planning writing, I thought, “Well what the heck, I’ll just plan it again! I am beginning to embrace it!” Year 5 was spent planning writing, too.

I have really been enjoying reading Talking, Drawing, Writing by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe. Teaching with Grace has been hosting a great book study about this.  I’m up next!  I am going to share a few thoughts on Chapter 5: Making Words. Amazon affiliate link used below. 

Interactive Writing
“One way the teachers in these kindergarten classrooms provide support on a regular basis is through interactive writing lessons.”-Horn and Giacobbe

The chapter begins with talking about the importance of interactive writing.

Interactive writing is one of the most important elements that is a component of a balanced literacy program.  It is defined as writing in which “ both teacher and student compose a story.” (Gunning, 2011, p. 149)  The act of interactive writing is a bridge, so to speak, between reading and writing.  The students not only get to write alongside an expert writer, the teacher, but they also get to read and re-read as they are composing the text. 

Horn and Giacobbe then transition into teaching us what we do with those students who struggle with writing words.

Writing Words
Some students don’t know the relationship between the words they say and the letters they write on paper.  Horn and Giacobbe share a series of mini-lessons as they teach students how to begin writing word.

• Listening for Sounds in Words
• Listening for Sounds in Words: Writing a Whole Sentence
• Looking at the Illustration when you Can’t Read the Text
• Listening for Sounds: Going Back and Touching

I love the simple steps they walk through.  I use mostly Lucy Calkin’s Writing Units of Study when teaching writing in my classroom.  The mini-lessons are very similar.  I made these posters to hang up in my classroom as I teach the students how to add words to their pictures.