What Should I Write?

Need an idea for a blog topic? Here are a few.

1.  You Should Read . . .
2.  My Favorite Book
3.  Best Character in a Book
4.  Interview a Family Member/Role Model
5.  “How to” Post
   
6.  Memoir--Share a Memory
7.  Write about an Event From Your Life
8.  Hobby Post
9.  Write a Story
10.  What I Saw at ________ Today
11.  Respond to Another Post
12.  Write a Poem
13.  How to Write A Blog Post
14.  Opinion Post
15.  FAQ post
16.  News Story
17.  Write A Letter
18.  Inspirational Post
19.  Inspirational People Post
20.  My Biggest Fear
21.  "My Future" Post
22.  Write From Someone Else's Point of View
23.  Compare/Contrast Post
24.  How I Stay Inspired
25.  How to Succeed 
26.  Favorite TV/Movie Star
27.  Make a List
28.  A Day In the Life Of…
29.  School Survival Post
30.  How to Be a Friend Post
31.  Getting Good Grades 
32.  Bucket List
33.  Holiday Post
34.  Slideshow
35.  Advice Post
36.  Turn a Post into a Poem
37.  Sports Story
38.  Top 10
39.  If You Had to Live with a Handicap
40.  Places--Where Would You Like to Go?
41.  Facts Post
42.  What I Want to Be . . .
43.  My Goals for The Future
44.  Write About Your Favorite Artist (Musician)
45.  Write a Response to a Topic in the News
46.  Tell About a Lesson Learned
47.  Write a Play
48. 
    

Image from clairsimpson.wordpress.com

Pictures While Reading

Zoom Reads to Kinsey

Students in Reading Workshop were challenged to post pictures from their life as they Read Any Way You Choose. Some of the pictures so far have been awesome with students reading to pets, reading to siblings, reading a TV scrollbar, reading while dribbling a basketball, and reading in the bathtub.

Here are a couple of pictures from my weekend with my grandson, Carter aka Zoom and my granddaughter, Kinsey.

Zoom and I Reading on Our IPads

Maya DiRado, Gold Medals, and You

Your assignment, Reading Workshop students is to write a blog post describing your "gold medal" year? What will it look like? What steps will you take to make it happen? What goals do you have? What problems will you have to overcome to be successful? How will you persevere when it gets tough? In the end, how will you know that you have achieved at the highest level?

Maya DiRado, Gold Medalist Swimmer

What motivates you as you train and compete?

I’m motivated by seeing how good I can be. That applies not just at race time but during every practice: I prepare as well as I possibly can, even when we’re nine months out from the big meet. I set high goals for myself and then enjoy the process of working toward them. Maya DiRado, August 2016

Award Ceremony

DiRado Gold Medal Ceremony

And some more of the gold medal winners

USA Gold Medal Winners

Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/13/sports/olympics/maya-dirado-katinka-hosszu.html?_r=0

Wisdom From the Dr.

Your assignment today, Reading Workshop students is to pick one life lesson from Dr. Seuss and write a blog post about it. Share your thoughts, ideas, and/or opinions. How does this life lesson apply to you? You might even be courageous and write in the style of Dr. Seuss.

As Dr. Seuss would say:

Whatever you write, whatever you do, let everyone know, the who is you.

Image from facebook.com/AFeelGoodWorld

Know Your Homophones

Homophones--Words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.

Not Homophones—where/were
Homophones—where/wear

A

ant, aunt

H

here/hear

P

peer, pier

T

there, they're, their

threw, through

to, two, too

W

where,wear

The rules for today's Reading Workshop Homophone Telephone:

1. You can only whisper to the person beside you

2. You can only use www.dictionary.com as a resource

3. You can share with the person on each side

4. If you hear (here) words from anyone other than the person beside you, you (ewe) cannot use those words

5. If homophones start with different letters, you can list them under whichever word you list first.
6. You can't (cant) use proper nouns.

Think Before You Post

If you are posting at school, you might also add:

T - is it on task?

H - is it helping you be successful?

I - is your post informative?

N - is it needed?

K - is it sharing knowledge?

How is Your School Year Going?

Today's assignment in Reading Workshop is to write a blog post describing the school year so far. Students must give 3 or more examples of events/scenes that demonstrate how their year is going.

The directions:
Think about how your school year is so far. Pick 3 + or – events that have occurred so far this school year that demonstrate this.

• Start with a topic sentence/introduction
• In the body include details—one topic/paragraph
• Wrap it up with a closing

Why Kids Should Blog

Ten positive benefits of student blogging:

1.  Increased Communication Skills

2.  Develop and Improve Writing Skills

3.  Interact with Different People

4.  Improve Technology Skills

5.  Engage in Social Media

6.  Understand Online Social Responsibility

7.  Explore Hobbies and Special Interests

8.  Self Development

9.  Learn to Deal with Comments

10.Develop Social Skills for Life

Just click on the picture to see it full size.

Image from www.kidslearntoblog.com

A Fantastic Commenter

Emma A. comments on blogs almost every night. She has great things to say and she says them well. Her spelling, punctuation and grammar are correct. She takes her time to make others feel great.

That is why she is the first student this year to receive the Reading Workshop Outstanding Commenter Award. I give this award as a way of saying thanks and great job to students that make the extra effort to comment on their peers' blogs.

This star is on the sidebar on Emma's blog, Exciting Tales of Me. Great job to Emma! If you want this badge of excellence on your blog, just take a little time and make some comments.

The Role of Social Media

University of Kentucky men's basketball coach, John Calipari talks about the role of social media. Do you agree or disagree? How does social media affect your life? How are you "building your brand?"

Please respond on the Question of the Week Board.

Here is some information and  text from his comments:

Since a few of John Calipari’s teams at Kentucky, Memphis and UMass have started the year on extended undefeated streaks, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic had Coach Cal come on their show, “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” on Thursday to discuss the difficulty of going undefeated and the pressure that comes with it. Of course, Syracuse suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday night and Wichita State is still undefeated, so the topic was relevant.

Lately, the topic of conversation nationally has been how student-athletes handle and respond to some of the criticism they get by having social media accounts and being connected to fans. A lot of coaches and people are suggesting they get off things like Twitter and Facebook, but Coach Cal doesn’t agree.

“This is no disrespect — the coaches you mentioned (Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino), I respect them all — they know nothing about social media. Nothing,” Calipari said. “They don’t do it. They feel it’s another job.”

Now, first things first, Pitino’s comments earlier in the week about social media were taken a bit out of context. When Pitino called social media a “waste of time,” he wasn’t necessarily saying he was against social media; rather, he just doesn’t think his players should be on there all the time and reading what people are saying to them. He feels they could be doing something more valuable with their time.

Calipari agrees with that notion to a point, but instead of banning social media, Coach Cal believes it’s better to educate them on how to use it properly.

“We’re trying to tell those kids, hey, you build your brand or you break your brand down,” Calipari said.

To do that, Calipari said UK teaches the players how to manage their accounts, the school monitors what the kids say, and the university brings in professionals to talk with the students and teach them how to best utilize the tool.

“I’m not going to hold my team back from the Twitter or Facebook, but I’m going to teach them how to use it for a positive,” said Coach Cal, who has 1.25 million Twitter followers, 417,000-plus Facebook fans and 44,000-plus Instagram followers.

Coach Cal reiterated what he said Saturday when College GameDay was in town that he doesn’t read his mentions on social media (that’s part of my job) and recommends to his players that they don’t read theirs either. If they’re going to be on it — which all 16 players are this year — he wants them to lift people up.

“Twitter is an opportunity — Facebook is an opportunity — to say what you feel, to try to pick people up, to try to be positive, to try to add something to society, to try to let people see you transparently,” Calipari said. “You cannot be defined, if you are on social media, by somebody else. You will define yourself. And if it’s negative, that’s your fault.”

What is Your Kind?

Many Reading Workshop classes end with singing for the last five minutes. Lyrics are projected on the white board and students sing along with the music. This helps students learn to be better readers, but especially improves fluency and vocabulary.

Recently we were singing a Miranda Lambert song, All Kinds of Kinds. The point of this song is that the world is made up of all kinds of people each unique in their own way.

The assignment, Reading Workshop students is to write a blog post that describes your traits. Think about what makes you unique. What makes you the kind of person that you are? What are your strongest traits? When people think of you, what comes to mind? Please use specific examples/incidents/stories to illustrate your points.

Some examples of traits include:

kind, considerate, caring, responsible, outgoing, introverted, hard working, leader, follower, noisy, quiet, talkative, helpful, outspoken, patient, impatient, cooperative, honest, dishonest, strong-minded, independent, dependent, courageous, thankful, appreciative, brave, polite, mannerly, lazy, unmannerly, respectful, disrespectful, humorous, witty, good listener, empathetic, creative, open-minded, studious, controlling, bossy, shy, particular, weird, insane, willing, prepared, competitive, unprepared, close-minded, morose, somber, serious, sad, sassy, passionate, fiery, loving, adventurous, feisty, stubborn, curious, believing, sharing, giving, opinionated, brainy, intelligent, fair, fearless, fearful, trustworthy, trusting, energetic, enthusiastic, hilarious, mature, materialistic, greedy, selfish, unselfish, idealistic, cocky, self-assured, assertive, picky, aggressive, passive, stable, timid, backwards, sneaky, forceful, mindful, addictive, careful, flexible, kind-hearted, joyful, over-achiever, attention seeking, sensitive, calm, spicy, optimistic, radiant, comforting, outrageous,  . . .

Before you write, please create an outline. Below is an example of the expected outline format that Hannah made for her Bullying Essay.

II. Bullying Is A Problem

     A. Everyone that gets bullied at school gets made fun of by the rest of the people

     B. I think that bullying is the worst!

          1.Why would someone go to school everyday just to make fun of someone.

     C. People that goes to school just to bully someone must be making the worst decision ever.

III. If You See Bullying

     A. If you ever see bullying the best thing you could do is tell an adult.

          1.When you tell an adult make sure you tell them everything that you seen.

     B. After the problem is solved.

          1. Try to make friends with that person and

          2. Make sure that the person isn't getting bullied anymore.

IV. When Bullying Starts

     A. Sometimes I don't see it at first because you might think they are just kidding.

     B. But after it happens 24/7 I start to wonder if I should go talk to that person and see whats going       on.

Bullying Essay

Students in Reading Workshop recently completed an essay on bullying. You can read all of the essays HERE.

A Look at Bullying

The assignment for Reading Workshop students is to write a blog post about bullying. Use the information below to help guide the writing. Use a web as a prewriting tool to help organize your post.

What is your view on bullying? Is it really a problem? Does it always look the same? Do you recognize it when it happens? How do you react? How do you define bullying? Is it always the bullies fault? Or does the person getting picked on sometimes cause the problem? 

Please pick one scenario listed on the Reading Workshop Wiki as an example. Explain how you view it and tell why it is or is not bullying. Describe possible responses to the situation and include how you would react if you were involved, both as the person being bullied and as a member of the group, but not the person doing the bullying.

Web from http://stamford.region14.net/webs/gilbertm/target_lessons.htm

Success Blog Post

Students, please submit your blog post to be graded in the Google Form below. For the last question use the Student Blog Rubric to support your response.

Book Trait Blog Post

Students have recently been writing a blog post about the book they are reading.

To read them go HERE.

Writing on Topic

As Reading Workshop students start the school year as beginning bloggers, the challenge of writing and writing well looms. Although students have written for teachers in the past, organizing a blog post to make it interesting and understandable is a new skill for many.

As a student, if you are struggling, here is a template to make your writing easy for the reader to get. This is basically the five paragraph format that you will use as a student for as long as you are in school. 

1st paragraph--Introduction

2nd - 4th paragraph--Body

5th paragraph--Conclusion

The latest assignment is to write a blog post highlighting one area of a book that students have read this year. This is how it should be organized:

Introduction/Paragraph 1
The book    (insert title)     written by     (author's name) is one of the most   (insert topic--exciting, funniest, happiest, saddest, greatest, drama filled, scariest, etc.)    books I have ever read. From the second you open it up until the last page you . . .

Body/Paragraph 2
One example from the book is . . .

Body/Paragraph 3
Another example from the book is . . .

Body/Paragraph 4
Another example from the book is . . .

Closing/Paragraph 5
This is an exciting book. If you love . . .

Please feel free to put this format into your own words. You can be creative, but it is imperative that you follow this format. Failure to do will will result in an essay that is hard to understand. Make it easy on the reader and organize your writing.

Start of the Year Blog Post

Students' first writing assignment in Reading Workshop was to write a blog post about one of the most significant events that occurred with the start of the new school year.

You can read all of the blog posts HERE

Writing an Essay/Blog Post

Building an essay is just taking yesterday's lesson one step further. The basic idea for building a paragraph is expanded into several paragraphs. The organization is the same.

Here is another of Mr. Heath's videos that explains the process.

Writing a Paragraph

Reading Workshop students have been setting up their blogs. Now the task of becoming a writer is ahead. We will start by looking at paragraphs and how to set up the basic paragraph.

This video by Mr. Heath explains the basic parts of a paragraph, the topic sentence, supporting details, and the conclusion.

Dear Parents

Thank you for the opportunity to spend the year with your child in Reading Workshop. We had a great first day. I saw a lot of smiling faces and good attitudes. Students seemed glad to be back. 

Today's schedule was different than it will be the rest of the year. We started with a whole school assembly and had a walk through to discuss expectations throughout the building. We also spent a lot of time discussing routines and procedures. A major portion of the day was spent preparing students to have a successful year while explaining things like the assignment book and student handbook.

Tomorrow we will begin our regular schedule in Reading Workshop. We will start some of our regular classroom activities. Different pieces of the class will be explained and students will start to work on some of the things they will do all year.

For tomorrow, students must get a parent signature on the Blog Permission form. Soon we will be setting up an individual blog for each student. This will allow them to write essays for teachers, parents, and fellow students to read. This is an exciting learning activity that is extremely beneficial in building students' writing ability.

As the year progresses, I look forward to getting to know your child. My hope is that each sixth grader can have the best year possible. If I can help you in any way, or you have questions or comments, please let me know. Once again, thanks for sharing your child with me and all the staff at Salt Creek.