The Learning Pad

Organization Unit

Lesson 1	Writers have a plan Writers need a plan.  A plan helps them organize their piece. Show children a recipe book.  If a chef wants to create a delicious dessert he must have a plan.  He needs to figure out how much of each ingredient he needs and in what order he should put them into the bowl, what temperature he will bake it at, etc.   Writers need a plan too.  It's like a recipe.  We need to decide what our setting will be and who the characters will be.  We need to decide what genre we are writing and how we are going to put all the details together to make a masterpiece.   If a chef just went into the kitchen and started putting ingredients together without planning then the dessert would probably not taste good.  Who wants mustard in their cookies?   Writers are like chefs.  They need to plan their writing.  We are going to be learning how to plan and organize our writing to make it delicious to the reader's brain.   Let's talk about what you think organizing means and create a list of things we want to learn about as we explore organization.
Lesson 2	Writers tell stories in order Write out the story of the 3 little pigs on sentence strips so that you can rearrange the story and put it out of sequence.  Place the story in a pocket chart all out of order.  (You will also need a story you've written on sentence strips for the end of the lesson) Read the children the story and I'm sure you will hear groans that you're reading it all wrong. Explain to the children that one of the things a writer must do as they organize their writing is to tell stories in order.  A story that is all out of order will confuse the reader. There are many things in life that require order or sequence.  When we wash our hands we first put soap and then rinse.  Who would rinse first and then put on soap?   Writers must tell their stories in order.  Today I wrote a story and it's all out of order.  I'm going to read you my story and we are going to work together to put my story in order.  (model how you can cut your story apart to put it in order.) When you write today I want you to think about your story.  Remember that your story needs order.
Lesson 3	Writers focus on a topic Bring out Fredrick the Frog puppet.  He has written a piece today.  In this piece he writes about many topics all together (his favorite food, his mom, his baseball game, his best friend).  Have Fredrick read his piece to the class.  Remember that Fredrick always thinks he is the best at everything.  He thinks his piece is superb and is bragging about it.   Tell Fredrick you want to teach him something very important today.  Writers focus on a topic when they write.  Focusing on one topic makes the writing more organized and enjoyable for the reader.   Choose one of Fredrick's topics and ask him questions about it.  Then help Fredrick write a focused piece with the children's help.   Ask Fredrick how he feels about his new piece.  Of course he is very proud of his piece and thinks he is the greatest author ever.   Remind the children that when they write they should focus on one topic.   This lesson can be repeated several times over several days, each one with Fredrick showing more growth in this area.
Lesson 4	Writers use a good beginning There are some old tupperware toys that have animal parts (a head, a middle and a tail end).  I use these to talk about a beginning, middle and end.  How good would this animal be if we left off the head?   A good story needs a good beginning.  A beginning tells the reader what the story will be about.  It gets their mind thinking and helps them connect to the story. Model reading a story, but start several pages into the story.  Notice how difficult it is to really understand the story when you miss the beginning.   Today when you write I want you to think about the beginning.  Remember to include details to get the reader ready for the rest of the story.
Lesson 5	Stories have a beginning, middle and end Review the lesson about stories having a good beginning.   Middles are important.  Imagine a sandwich with no middle.  All you'd have would be two slices of bread.   Middles are important in stories too.  The middle is what makes the story exciting.  It's the middle that is the real meat of the story.   Let's think about some stories we know and talk about what would happen if we took out the middle.  (The 3 bears, The 3 pigs, Snow White, etc.) Writers, today I want you to really think about the middle of your story.  Is the middle of your story like a single slice of lunch meat or is it full of rich details that make your story appetizing?
Lesson 6	Stories have an ending that makes sense Read a captivating story, but before you get to the end put the book away and say "that's it".  The kids will likely groan and beg you to finish the story.  We've talked about the importance of beginning and middles of stories. Today we are going to talk about the endings.   The end of a story is like the end of a race.  It's exciting. When you run a race you don't just sit down in the middle and say you're done.  What would be the fun of running the race then?  When we run a race we get excited about crossing the finish line.  It's like the grand finale.  It's something to celebrate. Let's finish the story we began earlier.  (Finish reading) Wow, the ending was great.  It tied up the story. A good ending ties up a story and makes the reader feel good.  The reader can say "ah... now that was good."
Lesson 7	Writers add page numbers Something awful happened to me yesterday.  I had been working on a piece.  I was so proud of my work.  Then, I accidentally dropped my folder and all my pages went all over the floor.   I picked up all the pieces, but now my piece doesn't make sense.  It's all out of order.  I don't know what to do.  (Get the children's suggestions.) If no one suggests adding page numbers next time, suggest looking at what other authors do and notice the page numbers in books.   Today when you write I want you to start adding page numbers to your pieces. If someone says they don't need page numbers because they are writing in a booklet pull out a children's book that does not have page numbers and has begun to fall apart.  I have a copy of How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.  It fell apart and did not have page numbers.  It took the librarian and myself quite some time to try to figure out how to put the book back together again in the right order.
Lesson 8	Writers can use a graphic organizer to help plan writing I use a variety to graphic organizers to teach kids how to plan their writing. One of the organizers I use is a sandwich organizer to help kids organize their writing.  The top bread is the topic or beginning sentences.  The middle part with the lettuce, tomatoes, meat, etc is for the middle of the story and all the details and the bottom bread is for the ending.   I teach a variety of organizers and kids can then use them as they choose to plan their writing.  Some like simple organizers without a lot of distracting images. Others really get into the graphics part.  The important thing is that kids learn how to use the organizer to plan their writing.
Lesson 9	Writers use pictures and words that match Show several books to the children that they have enjoyed so far this year.  Ask about what makes these books so good.  Flip through them and notice all the wonderful illustrations. Some of my favorite books have become my favorites because of the awesome illustrations that match the words.   Illustrations can add to the pleasure of a piece.  It's important that the illustrations match the words.   (I use the lesson in particular to help those children who struggle with only illustrating and not writing.  I stress the importance of the illustrations matching the words and that it is helpful to have the words first and then adding the illustrations.  We set this as a goal for those students who struggle with only illustrating.  Write first and then add the illustrations to match.)
Lesson 10	Writers can use patterns Patterns can be entertaining.  There are patterns all around the world.  There are even patterns in books.   Show children a stack of Laura Numeroff books (If you give a mouse a cookie, If you give a moose a muffin, If you give a pig a pancake, etc.) Some authors use patterns.  Let's look at these books.  Let's talk about what pattern this author uses. Can you think of other authors who use patterns?  (Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?, Eric Carle's hungry caterpillar, etc) Some of you might want to try a pattern when you write.
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