Writers Workshop Unit of Study

Writers Workshop Unit of Study

Kindergarten – Opinion Letter

Table of Content

Immersion Phase Explanation...... 1

Lesson Plans...... 4

Assessment...... 18

Resource Materials for Lessons Plans...... 20

Writers Workshop Unit of Study

Kindergarten – Opinion Letter

Immersion Phase

Concept I: How do writers use mentor text to understand the genre of letter writing?
The purpose of the immersion phase is for students to develop a good understanding that we can have opinions or strong feelings about books, notice opinions in mentor text and that some writers state their opinions in a letter format. Concept I is considered the immersion phase of the unit. The immersion phase is meant to be done before starting the mini-lesson sequence (concepts II-V). It is recommended that teachers spend several days on immersion activities. The writing unit is based on the assumption that students through immersion have developed background knowledge of stating an opinion or strong feeling and started collecting story ideas and/or opinions about books. Teachers may want to keep their own collection of story ideas so they can model leading a “Writerly Life” and use it as a resource if they decide to write their own stories.
It is suggested that most immersion activities take place during reading. These may be done during read aloud, shared reading, reading workshop or writing time. These lessons follow an inquiry approach; therefore, there are no specific mini-lessons. Teachers should follow the lead of their students -- notice, restate, negotiate what they say in order to bring meaning and understanding. This is a time for students to notice you can have opinions about books and you can write these opinions in a letter format. Text selection should include published books as well as student authored work.
Some important ideas to focus on during this phase:

Reading like Writers
Noticing opinions in mentor texts
Writers can have opinions or strong feelings about books
Writers have connections to books (I like this book because it reminded me of…)
Identifying the characteristics of a letter (greeting tells…, body tells…, closing tells…)
Identifying the elements of letter writing
Understanding the purpose of letter writing
Identifying the different possible audiences that may want to read these letters or opinions
Identifying how writers gather story ideas – lead a Writerly Life

Immersion Activities for Opinion Letter Writing
The following is a collection of immersion activities that teachers may do. These may be done during read aloud, shared reading, reading workshop or writing time.
1. Study Mentor Text (see below for possible areas to explore)
2. Develop and/or use Anchor Chart with visuals of strong feelings (see reference section)

This chart should be co-constructed during this phase based on feelings the class had regarding the mentor text read.
This chart will be used as a reference throughout the unit of study.

3. In reading, study the characteristics of a letter:

Review purpose.
Details to highlight at this level: greeting, body, closing.

Immersion Phase - Continued

Study Mentor Text
These selections may be used during read aloud, shared reading, reading workshop, or writing time.
Through the study of mentor text:

Generate excitement and interest in reading and writing letters about books that produce strong feelings
Co-construct with students a definition and purpose/s of having an opinion
Develop a list of strong feelings or opinions one could have about books
Reasons why we have opinions or strong feelings about books

Possible areas to explore using mentor texts:

Letter Elements/Noticings :

Greeting
Body
Closing

Organizational Pattern: Study the “typical” organizational pattern of a letter. Study how to state an opinion (opinion, evidence).
Qualities of Good Writing: Throughout the unit of study, students will revisit familiar text to study things such as word choice, purpose, audience, etc…

Lesson Plans

Session / 1
Concept II / Writers form and support their opinions about books.
Teaching Point / Writers form and orally share their opinions about books.
See writers… / Hear writers…

Looking through book boxes
Looking at books on tables
Looking at artifacts (other letters)
Talking to partners about the strong feelings they have about books
Talking to partners about the connections they make to books that illicit strong feelings

“I like/don’t like that book because...”
“That part/book was funny...”
“This book makes me feel...”
“That book reminds me of...”
“This is a good book because...”
“My friend might like this book because...”

Materials

Familiar read-aloud books
Sticky notes

Strong feelings chart

Connection /

“I have been thinking about the books we have been reading and have been noticing that these books include letters that have opinions”
“Today I am going to teach you how can use a book to form an opinion”

Teach /

Using a selection of familiar books, teacher models her thought process in the selection and naming of the book and how to form an opinion “I am going to look through some of these books we have read and think about the strong feelings or opinions I have about the book…”
Demonstrate how to select a book to form an opinion: “I loved this book (name the book) it was…This book (name the book) made me feel…This book (name the book) was so funny… I didn’t like the book (name the book)it was”
Teacher will model several think alouds during the mini lesson to model different opinions one can have, i.e. “this book (name the book) is funny…, the book (name the book) was scary …, this book (name the book) is silly...”
Teacher will mark the book with a sticky note drawing the feeling it elicited i.e.: smiley face, sad face, scared face, etc.
Teacher should refer to feelings chart created in immersion
Teacher may add additional strong feelings if needed

Active Engagement /

Teacher puts up familiar read-aloud and asks students to think about how they feel about the book (students may use the strong feeling chart) and if they were to put a sticky note on it, what would they put?
Students will turn and talk to the partners about their strong feelings they would put on the sticky note

Link /

“So readers can have strong feelings about books and they can show those feelings with a sticky note. I am going to give you some sticky notes and today when you go off to look at your books I want you to mark 2-3 books with a sticky note and draw how you feel. You can use the sticky note to help”

After-the-Workshop Share /

Mini-lesson follow up
Have a few students share their books they marked with sticky notes

Tips /

Teachers needs to stress that books should be from familiar selections
These books could be big books, read-alouds, etc.
Option: teacher could put mentor books from immersion at tables for students to use

Lesson Plans

Session / 2
Concept II / Writers form and support their opinions about books.
Teaching Point / Writers support their opinions by providing a reason through what happened in the story (book evidence).
See writers… / Hear writers…

Looking through book boxes
Looking at books on tables
Looking at artifacts (other letters)
Talking to partners about the strong feelings they have about books
Talking to partners about the connections they make to books that illicit strong feelings

“I like/don’t like that book because...”
“That part/book was funny...”
“This book makes me feel...”
“That book reminds me of...”
“This is a good book because...”
“My friend might like this book because...”

Materials

Familiar read-aloud books

Connection /

“Writers yesterday we looked through books and marked the books with sticky notes with our feelings/opinions about the books”
Today we are going to think about why the books made us feel a certain way and talk about our reason. What writers do is form strong feelings or an opinion and then they have to provide a reason or tell why they feel that way”

Teach /

Teacher models taking some of her marked books from yesterday and states a reason for choosing a book, “I put a smiley face on this book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay up Late. I formed an opinion it was funny, now I have to provide a reason. I have to find the part in the book where it shows it is funny(teacher opens to page in book) I picked this page because I think the book is so funny and my reason is because on this page the Pigeon is really tired and doesn’t want to go to bed. I am going to move my sticky note to the page that made me think the book was funny.”
Teacher models a few more
“Did you see how I thought about my feelings or opinion and then found the page that shows why I felt that way? I had an opinion and provided a reason.”

Active Engagement /

Teacher puts up same familiar read-aloud from Day 1and asks students to remember how they felt about the book and to now talk about where in the book it made them feel that way
Students will turn and talk to their partners about their reasons

Link /

“So not only can readers have strong feelings about books they have reasons for these feelings. Today, I want you to look at your books you marked with a sticky note and think about why you felt that way about the book and move the sticky note to the page that made you feel that way.”

After-the-Workshop Share /

Mini-lesson follow up
Have a few students share their books the page they moved their sticky notes to and tell why

Tips /

None

Lesson Plans

Session / 3
Concept II / Writers form and support their opinions about books.
Teaching Point / Writers support their opinions by providing a reason by making a connection (text to self)
See writers… / Hear writers…

Looking through book boxes
Looking at books on tables
Looking at artifacts (other letters)
Talking to partners about the strong feelings they have about books
Talking to partners about the connections they make to books that illicit strong feelings

“I like/don’t like that book because...”
“That part/book was funny...”
“This book makes me feel...”
“That book reminds me of...”
“This is a good book because...”
“My friend might like this book because...”

Materials

Familiar read-aloud books
Connection slips

Connection /

“Writers, yesterday I showed you that as we read, we form strong feelings/opinions about books and we provide reasons for those feelings. Yesterday when I read… I formed an opinion about the book and then found where in the book it made me feel that way. Today I am going to teach you that sometimes we have strong feelings about books and our reasons can be that we made a connection. A connection is something you see or hear that reminds you of something in your life (text to self). Today I am going to teach you that writers can also have strong feelings about books because they have a connection to the book.”

Teach /

Model think aloud process for making connections to i.e.: “We can do this with our fingers to show we made a connection in the book.”
Teacher interlocks thumbs and index fingers to show connection symbol
“Watch me as I make a connection. I think this book Fergus is so funny because it reminds me of my dog who always gets in trouble. I made a connection with the book and something my dog did” Teacher uses connection symbol with fingers and places connection slip with symbol on it into book.
“This book makes me happy because it is has pictures of beaches and I love going to the beach. I made a connection with the pictures and my memory of how much I love the beach.”
Teacher will also want to model that we may not make a connection with every book
“Did you see how I found a book I had strong feelings about and then made a connection? I made a connection to support my strong feelings/ opinion.

Active Engagement /

Select about 5-6 familiar read-aloud/mentor text; carefully select books that would allow for text to self-connections
“I want you to think about some of these familiar books you see up here and think about the strong feelings you have and a connection you may have with the book”
“Now I’m going give you a chance to turn and talk about a connection you’ve made with a partner”
Orally share connections

Lesson Plans

Session / 3 - Continued
Concept II / Writers form and support their opinions about books.
Teaching Point / Writers support their opinions by providing a reason by making a connection (text to self)
Link /

“So we can have strong feelings about books, and make connections to books. Today, when you go off to read, I want you to look at your familiar reading books and see if you felt that way because of a connection you made. I am going to give you some connection slips and you will put a connection slip in books you made a connection with.”

After-the-Workshop Share /

Have students hold up one book that they had a connection to
Student will use these books over the next few days

Tips /

None

Lesson Plans

Lesson / 4
ConceptIII / Writers plan and rehearse opinions about writing
Teaching Point / Writers can write their reasons for their opinion.
See writers… / Hear writers…

Choose their favorite book
Talking to their partners about the book
Touching a graphic organizer to orally rehearse
Choose appropriate paper

/ Choose a topic that matters -

“Today I can write about...”
“The book that I want to tell someone about is...”
“That book gave me an idea

Choose the appropriate audience -

“I’m going to tell__about...”
“I’m going to say “Dear..., To...... ”

Provide strong evidence -

“My partners idea made me think of ...because...... ”
“I like this book because...”

Materials

Students books from previous session
Large sticky notes

Connection /

Students will bring one book they marked on days 2 or 3 which they have a strong feeling/opinion about
“Readers we have been thinking about books we have strong feelings or opinions about and reasons why we feel that way”
“Yesterday we thought about connections we made to our books and put connection slips on those pages. Today we are going to write our reasons for our strong feelings or opinions.”

Teach /

Teacher will use the book and story from day before to model how they will add another sticky note to write their reasons
Teacher may want to use different colored sticky notes i.e. pink for feeling, blue for reason and referring to anchor chart of reasons, “The other day I said that I really felt the book Don’t let the Pigeon Stay up Late was funny because even though the Pigeon was tired he kept trying to convince you to let him stay up late. I moved my smiley sticky note to this page. I put it on this page because it supports why I think it was funny. It made me think about my son because he always tries to get me to let him stay up late.
“Watch me as I put a new sticky note on this page and write my reason on it.”Teacher writes reason on sticky note this is not a whole sentence just a reason e.g. (Like my son) “Did you see how I added another sticky note and wrote my reason for my strong feeling?”

Active Engagement /

“You are going to look at the books you have strong feelings about and you’re going to think about why you have strong feelings about the book”
Using the books students brought have them turn and talk to partners about their reasons for selecting the page
“So we can find the part in the book where we have strong feelings and we can write about these strong feelings”

Link /

“We thought about our strong feelings, we found a page that supported our strong feelings and now we are going to write those reasons. Today, I am going to give you another sticky note, you are going to put the sticky note next to your feelings/connection sticky note and write your reason for that feeling or connection.”

Lesson Plans

Lesson / 4 - Continued
Concept III / Writers plan and rehearse opinions about writing
Teaching Point / Writers can write their reasons for their opinion.
After-the-Workshop Share /

Mini-lesson follow up
Have a few students share their reasons for their connection or strong feeling

Tips /

None

Lesson Plans

Lesson / 5
Concept III / Writers plan and rehearse for writing.
Teaching Point / Writers choose an audience to share their opinion.
See writers… / Hear writers…

Choose their favorite book
Talking to their partners about the book
Touching a graphic organizer to orally rehearse
Choose appropriate paper

/ Choose a topic that matters -

“Today I can write about...”
“The book that I want to tell someone about is...”
“That book gave me an idea

Choose the appropriate audience -

“I’m going to tell__about...”
“I’m going to say “Dear..., To...... ”

Provide strong evidence -

“My partners idea made me think of ...because...... ”
“I like this book because...”

Materials

Students book marked with sticky notes
Chart paper
Markers

Connection /

Students will bring a book they have marked on the previous day
“Readers we have been thinking about books we have strong feelings or opinions about and reasons why we feel that way”
“Today, I am going to show you how to select someone who would be interested in hearing your opinion/feelings about your books. This would be your audience”

Teach /

Teacher will pick a personal experience to model different audiences who they are writing to share their opinions about books
“Yesterday I said that I really felt the book Don’t let the Pigeon Stay up Late was funny because even though the Pigeon was tired he kept trying to convince you to let him stay up late. This book made me think about my son because he always tries to get me to let him stay up late. I know he would love to hear about this book, my son is my audience.”
“Did you see how I looked at my book I had strong feelings about and I thought about who might be interested in hearing about my book?”

Active Engagement /

Students will pick one of their books and think about who they think might be interested in hearing about their book
Students will turn and talk about who they thought might be interested
Teacher creates an anchor chart to list possible audiences you can share your opinion ( friend, brother, sister)

Link /

“Today, when you go off to look at books you are going to decide on someone who would be interested in hearing your opinion/feelings about your books. This would be your audience.”

After-the-Workshop Share /

Mini-lesson follow up
Have some students share who they think they would like to share their opinions with

Tips /

None

Lesson Plans