Writing from Scratch

Effective, engaging strategies that will boost your confidence in teaching writing Writing from Scratch is a positive, encouraging book full of practical techniques for elementary teachers and students to get the most out of their writing time. Award-winning author Shannon Anderson presents specific, skill-based lessons through a running theme of baking and cooking. Each lesson, or “recipe,” will help you serve up effective instruction on writing topics like idea generation, figurative language, plotting, and structure. This book is designed not just to develop student writing, but to develop students as writers. The experiences and guidance in Writing From Scratch will inspire you to plan a year-long curriculum—or jump in mid-year—for writing instruction that will make a difference for students today, and into the future. Get practical ideas for incorporating writing lessons into your elementary classroom Build writing exercises into content lessons, for added writing instruction Inspire students to get excited about writing and explore their identities as writers Gain the confidence you need to plan a full writing curriculum Teachers in K-5 settings, as well as principals and education leaders, will benefit from this hands-on writing instruction guide. Perfect for solo use or as a guide for professional development, Writing From Scratch will have you cooking up fantastic writing lessons in no time!

Author’s Note ix  Cooking Success Tips xi  How to Use This Book xiii  01 Preheating the Oven 1  Author Chair 1  Writers’ Notebooks 2  Writing Folders 2  Procedures 2  Spelling 3  Making the Most of Your Time 4  02 Purposeful Planning 5  Recipe: Apples to Apples 5  03 Main Ingredients for Writing 9  04 Recipes for Reviewing 11  Recipe: Writing 11  Recipe: Songs 16  05 Generating Ideas 19  A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words 19  Recipe: ME Page 20  Recipe: Expert List 22  06 Generating Focused Topics 25  Recipe: Zooming In on Ideas 25  Recipe: Narrowing Your Focus 26  07 Adding Ideas: Elaboration Techniques 29  Recipe: Adding Details and Dialogue 29  Recipe: Adding Oomph to Persuade 31  08 Organization 35  Recipe: A Paragraph Has Legs 35  Recipe: A Paragraph as Part of a Patio 37  09 Organizing Fiction Writing 39  Recipe: Two Rectangles + Four Squares Planner 39  Recipe: Narrative Beginnings 42  Recipe: Which Is the Real Intro? 43  Recipe: Crafting Endings 44  Recipe: The Mighty Middle of a Story 46  Recipe: Story Spine Technique 48  10 Developing Characters 51  Recipe: Playing with POV 51  Recipe: Switching POV 52  Recipe: Inside and Outside Descriptions 54  Recipe: Setting the Setting 56  11 Organizing Informational Writing 59  Recipe: Informational Beginnings 59  Recipe: Research Writing 60  Recipe: Text Feature Scavenger Hunt 62  Recipe: Adding Text Features 64  12 Playing with Structures 67  Recipe: How- to Writing 68  Recipe: Alphabet Structure 69  Recipe: Compare and Contrast 70  Recipe: Cumulative Structure 72  Recipe: Diary Structure 73  Recipe: Parallel Structure 74  Recipe: Letters from Around the World 76  Recipe: End- of- Year Letters 78  Recipe: Question and Answer Format 79  13 Word Choice 81  Recipe: Strong Verbs 81  Recipe: Precise Nouns 82  Recipe: Vivid Descriptions 84  Recipe: Sensory Details 85  14 Using Figurative Language Devices 87  Recipe: Let’s Alliterate! 87  Recipe: Noisy Words (Onomatopoeia!) 89  Recipe: Best Hyperboles in the Entire World! 90  Recipe: Personification Stations 93  Recipe: What Is Assonance? 95  Recipe: Similes Are as Easy as Pie! 96  Recipe: Making Metaphors 98  Recipe: Idiomatic Expressions 99  15 Adding Humor 103  Recipe: Pun- tastic Word Play 103  Recipe: Comic Clash 104  16 Making It Flow 107  Recipe: Go with the Flow! 107  Recipe: Transition Types 109  Recipe: Trying Transitions 111  17 Emotion 113  Recipe: Voice Role- Play 113  Recipe: Ewww and Awww Contest 115  Recipe: Show, Don’t Tell 116  18 Grammar and Editing 119  Recipe: Check, Please! 121  Recipe: Dialogue Done Right 124  19 Revising 127  Recipe: Advise and Revise 128  20 Assessment 131  Recipe: Writing Review Rubric 132  Recipe: Rubric- Ready 134  Recipe: Collaborative Conferences 136  Recipe: Teacher and Student Conferences 137  21 Creative Writing Exercises 139  Recipe: Quote- tastic! 139  Recipe: Write It Down, Pass It Around 141  Recipe: You’ve Got 30 Seconds! 142  Recipe: Ode to Food 144  Recipe: Cookbook 145  Recipe: Vote for Me! 147  Recipe: Stick with the Script! 149  Recipe: I Didn’t Know That! 151  Recipe: Weighty Words 152  Recipe: Picture Prompts 153  Recipe: Squiggle Story 155  Recipe: Fractured Fairy Tale 156  Recipe: Tiny Teacher 157  Recipe: Branching Narrative Story 159  Recipe: Newscast 161  22 Poetry 163  Recipe: Rhyme Time! 163  Recipe: Haiku 165  Recipe: Cinquain 166  Recipe: Shape Poems 168  Recipe: Fingerprint Poem 171  23 Other Writing Forms 175  Recipe: Daily Journaling 175  Recipe: Writing from the Wild 177  Recipe: Biography Projects 179  Recipe: Career Exploration Projects 180  Recipe: Class News 182  Recipe: Goal Setting 184  24 End- of- Year Publishing Project 187  Mentor Text List 191  A Note to Teachers 193  Acknowledgments 195  About the Author 197  Index 199