Day 14: Ariana, 1st Grade Writer

"Reading like a writer"

Miss Tucker's 1st grade students have been studying the craft of writing by reading mentor texts.  Mentor text are books writers go to time after time.  They become a model of writing that writers would like to try and produce in their own writing.  Miss Tucker's 1st graders are creating pattern stories that use the writing craft of pattern sentences.

In order to help her students understand this writing craft, Miss Tucker took them through the following steps:

• They read mentor texts that had sentence patterns the students wanted to investigate.
• They recorded the patterns they found on an anchor chart so that they could go back to it and remember what they have found.
• The students practiced different patterns in his or her own writing.
• Each student decided on a pattern to use for a piece of writing.
• Then, each student planned and organized their thinking using the pattern they chose.
• The final step will be publishing their writing for all to see.

This is a writing process that builds a foundation for growing writers.  It helps students "dig deep" into a text and really think about what makes books so much fun and interesting.  Miss Tucker has also been able to tie patterns in writing to studying patterns in math!

Watch as Ariana, one of Miss Tucker's 1st grade writers, shares her draft.  See if you can notice the pattern she used...