My Writing Program

I love all the components of the WBT writing program.  The more I studied each component, the more excited I became about teaching writing next year.  The question, however, that I kept struggling with was, "How do I put all of these various components together?"  I had the general idea, but I was interested in the nuts and bolts of what writing would look like in my classroom on a day to day basis.  Since I knew that my mind would not rest until I figured it all out, I got to work.  I decided to map out exactly what my first ten days would look like, so that I could get some practice in "putting it all together".  After that I just wanted a general idea of what I would be doing the rest of the year.  You might have already noticed that I am a list maker, so I put these plans in my favorite form:  a list.  Please know that these plans are very tentative and sketchy.  I just feel better having something down on paper.  I would appreciate feedback, especially from any second grade teachers who have already taught WBT writing for a year.

Day One:  Introduce students to oral writing. (Question, Answer, Adders, Concluder will be posted on board.)  Question:  What was the best part about today?  At the end of oral writing students will engage in 10 minute writing.  Teacher will introduce focus skill of neatness and do red/green writing.
Note to self:  At the end of oral writing pique the students' interest in the Wacky Star Fun Button by drawing the first line of a star on the board.

Note:  Oral writing will continue on a daily basis as part of writing lessons or lessons in other subject areas.

Day Two:  Use five step lesson plan to introduce students to what a sentence is.  Have LA pic to display.  Emphasize that from now on we will be answering all questions in complete sentences.  During step three read-aloud short vowel phonic's story.  Ask students to retell the story to their partner using the Two-Finger All-terrain Action Figure with Anti-gravity Boots Brain Toy.  (Poster for each Brain Toy will be displayed in room.)  For step five of the lesson, post the following sentence frame:  The best thing about me is that I am ______________.  (Students are encouraged to add several Adders.)

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  Today I learned _____________.

Day Three:  Do Coach B's lesson on what a sentence is.  Stop at the end of level one.  (This lesson can be downloaded from the WBT website.  It is under free e-books/common core.)  Also play the Writing Game:  Puzzle one and Complexor "and".

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  Today I learned ____________ and ____________________.

Day Four:  Using LA Pic, review what a sentence is.  Continue with Coach B's lesson on what a sentence is.  Stop after level two.  Play Writing game using the same puzzle and complexor as yesterday.

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  The best parts about today were ________________ and ______________.  Students may also choose to use yesterday's sentence frame.

Day Five:  Using LA Pic, review what a sentence is.  Continue with Coach B's lesson through level three.  Teacher will guide students through using each of the following Brain Toys to share with their partner what a sentence is:  Hand Puppets, Air Blackboard, and Props.  Play the Writing Game.  Do Puzzle 3, Subject/Verb Agreement

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  See yesterday.

Day Six:  Introduce students to the Genius Ladder (first two levels) using the following Blah sentence:  My mom ran.  (There is a free download about the Genius Ladder on the WBT website under free downloads.)
Do Five step lesson on capitalizing the beginning of a sentence.  Display LA Pic.

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  After school today I am going to ____________ and ______________.

Day Seven:  Begin with the Genius Ladder (first two levels) using the following sentence:  A fireman burped.
Do five step lesson on end marks.  Display the LA Pic.

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  Students may choose between any of the sentence frames learned with the word "and".

Day Eight:  Play the Writing Game using the Complexor because.  Be sue to teach the "because clapper".  (See the Brainy Game for more information.)
Guide students through level three of the Genius Ladder, using the extender "because".  Students will write as many sentences as they can think of at level three of the Genius Ladder.

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  See yesterday.

Day Nine:  Begin with the Genius Ladder, orally doing the first three levels with the following sentence:  My sister cried.  Use the extender "because".
Use LA Pics posted on Power Pics Wall to quickly review sentence, capitalizing the first word of a sentence, and end marks.  From Coach B's Common Core Free e-book on what a sentence is, put up the "Cartoon Writing" slide of a cat that says, "In the morning, I _____________."  Guide students through an oral writing lesson with the question being, "What does the cat say that he does in the morning?"  Introduce students to "adders" and the gesture for "adders"  (See the Brainy Game.)  Students follow up the answer to the question with "adders".

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  Over the weekend I __________ and _________________.  (Today is the first day that students will be required to use adders.  Teacher will not be doing red/green writing today.)

Day Ten:  Look back at the Genius Ladder began yesterday:  My sister cried.  Review what students learned yesterday about adders, and guide students through orally completing the Genius Ladder.  Students write an extender sentence, followed by as many adders as they can.

Note:  During the first ten days of school, I also plan on introducing students to nouns, by playing Electronic Super Speed Grammar daily.

Oral Writing Sentence Frame:  Teacher will give students red and green pens and they will do their own red/green writing on writing done yesterday.

During the remainder of September and the first week of October, my goal is to focus on teaching different extenders, through the use of the Genius Ladder.  I will use the Writing Game to assist me with this.  During oral writing I want to introduce students to Concluders, and teach the the Brainstorming Puzzles in the Writing Game.  I would also like to spend some time on verbs, using Coach B's free Common Core e-book download and Electronic Super Speed Grammar.

Note:  If I feel my students are ready, around the end of September or beginning of October, I would like to introduce students to the "Triple Whammy" sentence.  As the year progresses, I can teach students how to add a detail sentence for each part of the "Whammy" and a Concluder.  This would take place during red/green writing time.  I will create sentence frames to post on the wall that students can use to guide them in how to do "Triple Whammy" writing.

For the remainder of October I will work on explanatory writing.  I do a unit every year in which students write a book on "How to Make an Ice Cream Sundae".  For our Halloween party, I make each student's sundae, according to the directions in each of their books.  I am very literal, so it can be quite hilarious, especially when a student writes something like, "Put one scoop of ice cream on the bowl."  During this month I will also focus on transition words.

For November and the first week of December my focus will be topic sentence paragraphs and simple essays, using the Puzzles in the Writing Game as a guide.

For the remainder of December I will work on letter writing, using the Letter Writing Puzzle in the Writing Game.  This unit will culminate in letters to Santa.

In January and February my focus will be on narrative writing.  Within the writing game I will use "adjective noun" and "descriptive sentence" complexors, as well as the Narrative Puzzle to work on writing narrative pieces.We will also spend time on "College Talk" verbs, and I will introduce students to conjunctions and compound sentences.

In March my focus will be research writing.  I will introduce students to the "Paraphrase Complexor".

In April my focus will be Opinion Writing.  I will consider using the "Argumentative Puzzler".

For the remainder of the year I will focus on more advanced essay puzzlers.  I will also teach compound complex and mega complex sentences.