Creative Writing in the Early Childhood Classroom

Creative Writing in the Early
Childhood Classroom
LIBBY HERRON
EMAIL: [email protected]
GLADWYNE MONTESSORI SCHOOL
WWW.GLADWYNE.ORG
MARCH 13, 2015
Map for a Journey
 Storytelling
 Read Alouds
 What are Mentor Texts?
 Picture Book Analysis
 Composing with Illustration
 Learning to use marks to make meaning
 Examples of Writer’s Craft
 Writer’s Workshop
 Take Aways
Drawing is Writing
The importance of drawing and illustration as a way of
making meaning for beginning writers.
Primary Sources:
Horn & Giacobbe, Talking, Drawing, Writing (2007)
Katie Wood Ray, Already Ready (with Matt Glover)
(2008), About the Authors (with Lisa Cleaveland)
(2004) , and In Pictures and in Words (2010)
Olshansky, The Power of Pictures (2007)
Primary Sources
Beginnings
“Writing may actually be a better way
to lead children’s literacy development
than reading… a blank page presents children
with an invitation (to make meaning), while
reading presents them with an expectation
(to figure out someone else’s meaning).”
- Ray and Glover, Already Ready, p.13
Montessori Continuum : Developmental Writing
Writing viewed as an extension of oral language
Primary focus was on “preparation for writing”
 Practical life work: small motor skill
development
 Sandpaper letters: sensorial formation of
letters
 Moveable alphabet: construction of words
 Metal inset work
 Handwriting practice
Storytelling
“We all have stories to tell about what we know
and the most engaging stories are often about
ordinary, everyday things… the “small moment”
stories. “We constantly tell stories about
ourselves to others and to ourselves, and the
stories shape who we think we are”.
- Johnston (2004)
What Stories Can You Tell?
 Stories from your own life, family routines
 Themes: holidays, seasons, family pets, animal
stories
 Songs, poems, fingerplays can all be dramatized…
and elaborated upon
 Folktales make particularly good models for
storytelling because of their obvious beginningmiddle-end structure, clear characters, simple
settings and well-defined problems and solutions.
Tools to Develop Your Story
Five main tools of the storyteller’s trade are:
 (1) dynamic settings
 (2) vivid characters
 (3) plot strategies
 (4) a backstory
 (5) lots of details
Creating Stories
 Focus on short, concise event rather than entire day
 Manufacture stories in the classroom: spill a large
workbasket or a water bucket, pop balloons or blow
bubbles
 Whole class storytelling: a shared experience, such as
field trips, fire drills, an assembly; circle storytelling
 Oral Mentor Texts (Dierking and Jones, 2014)
suggest creating a new class story every month, using
it as a foundation for scaffolding writing skills
How to Teach Storytelling
 “Tell us a story about something you know”.
 Focus on important details, descriptive word choices
 Encourage students to use prompts that support
sequencing: “first…then…next…after…finally”
 Elaborate the story by including dialogue
 Later: Tell the students a story; then lead them
through process of altering the story by changing
one or more elements.
Read Alouds
Mem Fox, author of Stellaluna, Possum Magic
and Koala Lou, says:
“From my own experience I realize that the
literature I heard, rather than read, as a child
resonates again and again in my memory
whenever I sit down to write.”
Read Alouds
Reading aloud well is like playing music.
Each author’s text contains signals that indicate the
intentions of the author, similar to signals provided by
composers for musicians:
 punctuation
 shifts in font, bold print
 underlining and italics, size of print
 syllable, word and sentence lengths
 line breaks, white space
Favorite Read Alouds
“Welcome to the green house,
Welcome to the hot house.
Welcome to the land of the warm,
wet days.”
“Fizzelly sizzelly
Wappity bappity
Lumpety bumpety
Clinkety clankety
Bing bang pop!”
More Read Alouds
Things to Consider When Selecting a Read Aloud
Does it:
 Have potential to excite, move, entice and delight
 Highlight the music of our language
 Offer opportunities to model fluent reading,
phrasing and well-crafted writing
 Contribute to an author study: examine the work of
a particular author or illustrator, finding patterns
across books, which students can discover/ imitate
 Connect to an aspect of your curriculum
Qualities of a Good Read Aloud
 Tone - the feel of the piece…is it light, informal, deep, dark or
formal? like the hues of a color, is it rich and robust, or soft
and subtle?
 Mood – the emotional climate of the piece…is it sad or
depressed, hopeful, wishful, excited, eager or nostalgic? Does
the reader allow extra silent space to let a new idea resonate?
 Intensity – is it powerful and bold, or tender and quiet? Does
the energy build and wane? does it begin full and slowly
dwindle? Attend to shifts in volume and the power of the
reader’s voice.
 Pacing - the heartbeat of the text, a rhythm that creates the
flow of the language.
How to Read Aloud
Set the stage to maximize the effect; eliminate
distractions. Sit quietly for a minute before
commencing
Introduce the read-aloud experience:
 state your purpose [say…”I selected this text for
read aloud today because…”]
 make connections between other books and authors,
topics and the interests of your students.
 introduce essential vocabulary beforehand
 draw attention to special features [picture walk for
non-fiction books: maps, graphs, captions, labels,
fonts]
What is a Mentor Text?
 A mentor text is a familiar picture book used by the





teacher to lift the student’s level of drawing/writing
Introduced first as a read aloud: hear and appreciate
the story, characters, rhythm, illustrations and words
Teacher leads children in noticing, reflecting and
thinking about an illustrator’s/author’s moves
Idea mentor texts: unique ideas
Structure mentor texts: story patterns; format
Craft mentor texts: well-crafted illustration or
writing styles
Mentor Texts
Picture Books
 In a picture book, the story depends on the
interaction between the written text and the image,
where both have been created with a conscious
aesthetic intention. The synergy created when text
and art come together in a picture book reveals some
new entity that is more than a sum of its parts. The
words and pictures never tell exactly the same story;
it is this dissonance that catches the reader’s
attention.
Elements of Visual Grammar
 Elements of visual grammar interact in picture books to





determine how things are represented or depicted in an
image, not what is represented:
Symmetry – words and pictures are on equal footing,
Complementary – each provides information
Enhancement – each extends the meaning of the other
Counterpoint – words and pictures tell different stories
Contradiction – beyond different narratives, the words
and pictures seem to assert the opposite of each other
Post-modern Picture Books
Computer manipulated
photographs and hand
drawn sketches juxtapose
real and invented space
 Self-referential text refers to
the images and text free
from the constraints of a
familiar story
Non-Fiction Picture Books
 Visual features (elements of overall design and
illustration) have special comprehension function to
help readers link information-containing text parts
 Introduces non-fiction text features to young writers
 Allow children to bring natural interests to their
writing, ability to choose topics/genres is critical
 Develop language of science beyond learning specific
vocabulary
Great Non-fiction Mentor Texts
Composing with Illustration
“What if children are introduced to key qualities of
good writing in the context of illustrations? What if
children gain lots and lots of experience planning,
drafting, revising and editing content in the process of
composing illustrations for their books?”
“The purpose of thinking aloud about possibilities is
simply to show the children how everything they
notice about illustrations can easily become something
they might imagine creating themselves.”
- Katie Wood Ray (2010)
Illustration Techniques
In Pictures and In Words, Katie Wood Ray describes
fifty (50) techniques that demonstrate “good writing”.
 “Something to notice” (Names the technique)
 Illustrative example (how it looks in a picture book)
 Technique Discussion (thinking about what to do)
 In a Teacher’s Voice (making it part of your
repertoire)
 Writing Connection (Decisions illustrators make are
often based on the same understandings writers use)
Examples of Illustration Techniques
 Crafting the background; manipulating point of





view
Using scenes showing the passage of time or
movement through different places
Crafting physical details of characters, including
details of expression and gesture
Creating the illusion of motion with detail
Using details of light/weather show passage of
time
Using graphic features to show information
Illustration Techniques
Illustration Techniques
Illustration Workshop
 Horn/Giacobbe: teach students how to observe




carefully; focus on craft of drawing, especially
people, their actions and physical features
Talking, drawing and writing are three aspects of
“symbol weaving”
What children learn to do in one mode sets stage
for/supports learning how to do it in others
Drawing makes it possible for young children to tell a
deeper, more involved story than they can with text
Acknowledge drawing is core element of composing
Linear vs. Non-Linear processes
Reading and writing processes are linear in nature:
Readers sound out individual letters/letter blends and
combine them to read words; they piece together
words to read sentences and string together sentences
to read paragraphs.
By contrast, reading pictures or creating art is a nonlinear activity: Readers take in the whole image before
the eye wanders to the picture’s various parts to digest
their full meaning and contribution to the whole. In
creating a picture, the artist often envisions the whole
image before creating various parts.
Illustration Techniques
Olshansky:
 Crayon resist painting
 Collage created out of hand-painted textured papers
 Brainstorming process: bridge between picture and
written word
 “Reading the Pictures”
Students who made pictures first made greatest
advances: more imaginative stories with richer detail
Mentor Text: Illustration
 Crayon resist drawing
 Models “interesting
groundlines”, natural
settings
Crayon Resist
Crayon Resist
Collage
 Creating a portfolio of
Technique: Eric Carle inspired Painted Paper
@deepspacesparkle.com
hand-painted papers for
constructing a story
 Students able to
rehearse, draft and revise
their stories by moving
cut/torn shapes around
on each page before
gluing
 Creates problem solving
opportunities
Brainstorming Process
Students:
 Study picture carefully for detail and description
 Write descriptive words in columns (choose one)
(1) identify four important things (nouns)
(2) brainstorm adjectives (“describing words”:
five senses)
(3) brainstorm verbs (“doing/action words”)
 Compose story using words
“transmediation”: Recasting meaning from one sign
system (visual image) to another (written word)
Olshansky: Brainstorming Sheet
Brainstorming Example
Brainstorming Example
Brainstorming Sheet
Images available online
@ Olshansky, brainstorming
sheet
 Customize: 5 senses
 Time of day, weather,
setting
Learning to Use Marks to Make Meaning
 Initial awareness: letters in their own name
 New insight: there are just a few letters, not an
endless number
 Very important: Understanding that print is mapped
onto oral language must be explicitly demonstrated:
Sandpaper letters
Moveable alphabet
Emergent Writing: Developmental Continuum
 Experimenting with
writing tools
 Figures are open
 Handedness often not
established
 NEFEC REACH Workshop Series
Website;
www.2.nefec.org>REACH project
>emergent writing >ppt
“drawings”
 “Discovers” a familiar
object in random
marks
 Tries to recreate object
with deliberate strokes
 Begins to name objects
on page
“controlled scribbles”
 Include deliberate
marks and patterns
begin to appear
 Discern difference
between drawing and
writing
 Child understands
print conveys meaning
”mock letters”
 Pays more attention to
details
 Writing discernible
from drawing
 Letter characteristics
with lines and curves
 Linear patterns,
sometimes cursive
“letter strings”
 Letters appear in
repeating patterns
 Letters do not
represent sounds
 No spacing between
words
 Often copies words
from other texts
Invented Spelling
 Initial sounds appear




first; final sounds next,
then medial ones
Becoming aware of:
* concept of word
* print conventions
Letters have extra lines
or may be reversed
Invented Spelling
“When encouraged to invent spellings as
best they can, children will pull from thousands
of words they know orally to help the compose
their texts, and many of the words they’ll use
are the ones they wouldn’t recognize yet if
they encountered them spelled conventionally
while reading.”
- Katie Wood Ray, Already Ready
Writer’s Craft
When we read like a writer, we focus less on
what the writer is trying to say and
more on how the writer is saying it .
By thinking about the reasons authors make
decisions about words, images, alliteration, repeated
words and phrases, and illustrations, the use of
details, and the intentions behind them, we begin
to discover the ways we might use the same crafting
techniques in our own writing.
Reading like a Writer
In her book, Wondrous Words (1999), Katie Wood
Ray lists five steps to reading like a writer:
 Notice something about the craft of the text.
 Talk about it and make a theory about why a
writer might use this craft.
 Give the craft a name.
 Think of other texts/authors you know. Have you
seen this craft before?
 Try to envision using this crafting in your own
writing.
Reading Like a Writer
“ The ability to read as a writer and understand
all texts as being the product of another
writer’s decision making is one of the most
important habits of mind teachers can help
students develop.”
-Katie Wood Ray
Notice and Name the Craft
Name book Notice it
/author
Name it
How is it
done?
 Connection: why are you teaching this lesson?
 Teach: describe how it looks or sounds
 Engage: provide practice time, using a well-known
text
 Link: how could child use this in his own writing?
Craft Techniques
Writer’s craft techniques that emergent writers could use:







Power of Three: three words used in a row for emphasis
Onomatopoeia: sound words
Repetition: repeating a word or phrase
Big and Bold: text written in bold/ capital letters/ fonts
Stretching out the print
Hyphenated adjectives [made up words]
White space
–from
•
Annemarie Johnson
Writers’ Craft Techniques
 Sensory detail “orange
smell, squash and pumpkin
smell”
 “trees are spreading their
arms like dancers”
 Repetition
 Print manipulations:
capital letters, italics
 Environmental print in
illustrations
Writer’s Craft Techniques
 Onomatopoeia, sound
effects
 Print manipulation
 Sequence, small moment
Writer’s Craft in Class
The Writing Process
 Discovered children write more on unassigned topics
 Not necessary to wait until children can read
 By using simple prewriting frameworks, teacher
modeling and illustration, even the youngest
students can write
 Supports NAEYC core principles (2009) of
persistence, initiative, flexibility and attention.
Journal entries: Last Year
Writer’s Workshop: Early Childhood
 Horn and Giacobbe:
 Beginning weeks of school:
 Teachers tell/model ordinary, everyday stories
 Next, prompt children to tell their own stories about
something they know
 “Small moment” story zooms in on one moment, is a
true story, lots of details, has beginning, middle, end
 Ability to compose full, detailed stories has
everything to do with having learned how to tell a
story orally
Writer’s Block
Thinking, Talking, Drawing, Writing
 Importance of Writing Routine
 One-on-one, think /talk through their story and help




them visualize what story will look like on paper
Do not suggest topics
Expectation: continue work on pieces the next day
The more detail in their storytelling, the more detail
in their drawings and the words in their stories
Story forgotten w/o some teacher-written prompt
Drawings
Labeling
Adding Details
Both Writing and Storytelling
Writing the Talk on Paper
Writing in “Booklets”
 Picture books are a familiar format
 Booklets: pages of copy paper stapled together/cover
 Logical structure for organizing story elements: one
part of a story on each page > one sentence per page
 Format encourages revision: manipulate the parts
 Project-based learning: children develop and expand
their own interests
“New Shoes”
“My Lost Puppy”
Booklet: “My Lost Puppy” (p.2)
“My Lost Puppy” (p.3)
“My Lost Puppy” (p.4)
A Flip Book
Minilessons
(1) writing process: planning how to draw a story,
finding new ideas, making sure the story makes sense,
beginning, middle and endings
(2) craft: drawing lessons, creating dialogue, settings,
using describing words and action words
(3) conventions: leaving spaces between words, where
to put words on a page, what is a sentence
(4) *organization: keeping work in writing folders,
how to add pages, materials, checklists
Writing Center
Architecture of a Minilesson
 Connection to previous story, background info
 Teaching point: name the point, “noticings”
 Demonstrate with only one example (from another
student’s work or mentor text)
 Active engagement- try it right away: quick and small
 Link: restate, rename what was taught: “you could try
this, don’t forget to”
 Group lessons by topic: ways to bring characters to life,
vivid descriptions, actions, dialogue, etc.
Revising, Editing and Assessment
 Even for stories that are only illustrations,




composing involves revising by (1)adding
information (2) clarifying, (3) changing focus
Children need to see creation process happening:
teacher models think alouds to transfer learning to
their own piece
Develop habit of reading their words aloud.
Random, short, “one topic” conferences
Assessment: Cumulative writing records>Horn/Giacobbe
Writing Sample
Assessment Process
 Look, name and record each





child’s work on regular basis
Document progress
Guides instruction
Generate useful lessons
Informs our teaching
Completed assessment form from Horn
& Giacobbe (2007)
Assessment Guidelines
Lesson Formats
Modeled Writing
Shared Writing
 Teacher models all
 Teacher and children
writing and thinking
 Uses “think alouds”
compose a message
together while teacher
writes on large surface
 Provide opportunities
to learn about concepts
of print
 Study printed texts
Children learn writing skills by
watching others construct text
in meaningful writing activities.
(Fox and Saracho, 1990)
Shared Writing
 In addition to daily writers workshop:
 Takes kids through entire process: from gathering




ideas to drafting to revising an entire piece
Teacher coaches, restating and scaffolding language
Each child writes their own version of a shared story
Model qualities of good writing: voice, meaning,
organization/structure, genre, details, conventions
Don’t over-focus on conventions, spelling or
mechanics
Teacher Support
 Routine of writing daily in class
 Importance of conferring: ask each child to tell you
about their drawings/read their writing to you
 Accept a child’s writing errors as opportunities
 Focus on the process of drawing or writing – not the
finished product
 Scaffold instruction by modeling; taking children’s
dictation; guiding children’s efforts; providing
opportunities for children to write independently
Take-Aways
 Understand/encourage image-making as a beginning





step to composition
Teach children “how to read like writers”
Don’t rush students away from drawing, into words
Stamina: return to work to add, enhance, refine
Separate spelling/mechanics from creative process
Writing teaches students critical thinking and
organizational skills . It should become an important
part of our Montessori curriculum from the very
beginning years.
Art and the Craft of Writing
“What if children are introduced to key qualities of
good writing in the context of illustrations? What if
children gain lots and lots of experience planning,
drafting, revising and editing content in the process of
composing illustrations for their books?”
- Katie Wood Ray
In Pictures and in Words
Recommended Support Materials
 Realia, Making Language Real, available from




primaryconcepts.com
Cultural storytelling kits: German (Hansel and Gretel &
Rapunzel); African (The Girl who Loved Danger)
available from montessori-n-such.com
Classic storybooks with storytelling props (Stone Soup,
The Mitten, Gingerbread Boy, etc.), available from
primaryconcepts.com
Story sequencing card activities, available from
lakeshorelearning.com, among others
Cause and Effect story cards, available from Toys for Life
(Nienhuis)
Picture Book Mentor Text Suggestions
 Burningham, Come out of the Water, Shirley
 Cooper, Beach; Farm; Train
 dePaola, Strega Nona, Christmas stories
 Frazee, Roller Coaster (small moment, details)
 Graham, How to Heal a Broken Wing (perspective)
 Hanlon, Ralph Tells a Story (where to get ideas)
 Palantini, Piggie Pie (word choice)
 Root, The Rattletrap Car (onomatopoeia)
 Rylant, The Relatives Came, The Great Gracie Case,
In November, Scarecrow (sequencing, point of view)
Picture Book Mentor Text Suggestions
 Shannon, How I Became a Pirate, etc. (contrast story
with events in illustrations)
 Taylor, Coyote Places the Stars, Secrets of the Stone
(illustrations)
 Van Allsburg, Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Jumanji
 Wiesner, The Three Pigs (post-modern)
 Willems, Knuffle Bunny ; Elephant and Piggie series
 Yolen, Owl Moon, Welcome to the Green House,
Welcome to the Sea if Sand (word choice)
Non-Fiction Mentor Text Suggestions
 Aston, A Seed is Sleepy, An Egg is Quiet, etc.
 Davies, Bat Loves the Night, One Tiny Turtle, etc.
 Franco, Birdsongs
 Gibbons, Bats
 Horowitz, Crab Moon
 Jenkins, Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest, Looking
Down, Living Color, etc.
 Munro, The Inside-Outside Book of Paris
 Sidman, Butterfly Eyes and other Secrets of the Meadow
 Yolen, Welcome to the Green House; Welcome to the Sea
of Sand (word choice)
Research Bibliography
Beginnings
 Ray and Glover, Already Ready (2008)
Storytelling
 Dierking and Jones, Oral Mentor Texts (2014)
 Horn and Giacobbe, Talking, Drawing, Writing (2007)
 Moore, E, A mini crash course on oral storytelling, Two
Writing Teachers blog, 4/06/14
Montessori
 Schonfeld, J., “We are all authors!” Montessori Life (1996)
Read Alouds
 Laminack, L, Unwrapping the Read Aloud: Making every
read aloud intentional and instructional (2009)
Research Bibliography
Picture Books

Serafini, F., Reading the visual: an introduction to teaching
multimodal literacy (2013)

Wolfenbarger, C. and Sipe, L., A unique visual and literary art form:
Recent research on picture books,
http://repositoryupenn.edu/gse_pubs/32 (2007)
Illustrations

Olshansky, C., The power of pictures (2007)

Ray, K., In pictures and in words: teaching the qualities of good
writing through illustration study (2010)
Mentor Texts and the Craft of Writing
 Johnson, Annemarie,” Mentor Texts: Using children’s literature and
modeling to improve student writing, grades 3 and up”, available at
www.Teacher2TeacherHelp.com
 Wonderteacher.com blog
Research Bibliography
Preschool Writing

Schickedanz, J. and Casbergue, R., Writing in Preschool (2004)

www.2.nefec.org>REACH project >emergent writing >ppt
Writers Workshop

Avery, C., …And with a light touch, (2002)

Giacobbe, M., Talking, drawing, writing (2007)

Hubbard, B and Moore, E. Blog: Two Writing Teachers

Johnston, P., Choice words (2004)

Landa, M, Listening to Young Writers (2005)

Larremore, “Chalk Talk”, in prekandksharing.blogspot.teaching children to draw,
4.29.12

Ray, K. and Cleaveland, L., About the Authors (2004)

Ray, K. and Glover, Already Ready, (2008)

Schrecengost, M., Writing Wizardry (2013)
Other Reference Sources
 Other reference materials [ focus more on specific mini
lessons, teaching mechanics and conventions, and
traditional writer’s workshop for early writers]
 Bergen, R., Teaching writing in Kindergarten (2008)
 Dierking, C. and Jones, S, Growing up Writing (2013)
 Freeman, M., Teaching the youngest writers: a practical
guide ( 2003)
 Johnson, B., Never too early to write (2013)
 Parsons, S., First grade writers (2005)
 Rog, L., Marvelous minilessons for teaching beginning
writing K-3 (2007)