Writing Websites and 6 Traits Rubrics now available! The other two sections are coming soon. In the meantime, scroll down to see writing techniques with picture books.
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Finding Ideas Organizing Narratives Writing About Family Friends School Using Sensory Images Personal Narrative Writing Nonfiction Word Choice Voice Sentence Fluency Conventions
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Letter Writing Writing to Persuade Writing Conclusions Alliteration Poetic Justice Satire Symbolism Personification Idioms Onomatopoeia Poetic Language Clear Moment in Time
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| FINDING
IDEAS
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Ideas
are the heart of writing. If given the opportunity, children will ask an
author where they get their ideas, and author's will answer - from
everywhere. We must teach children to tune in to their world and open up
their eyes and ears. Ideas can come from life experiences, family stories,
books, news events, art, music, tidbits of conversation, and many other
places. The picture books listed here are excellent resources for helping
children to discover ideas for their own writing. It's always a good idea
to discuss where an author might have gotten their ideas after reading a
book. Anytime you have a chance to make a note of where an author got
their idea (sometimes they tell you on their website or when they present
or in interviews) to share with the children. Children can keep
"idea" lists in their writer's notebooks. You can make an
"idea" box for children to utilize when they are fresh out of
ideas. Try to help children understand that there are not any new topics,
only fresh ways of exploring the topic. One way to teach ideas is to read
a lot of books on one theme and discuss how each author wrote about the
same thing but in a different way.
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| ORGANIZING
NARRATIVE
WRITING
Texts to Mimic Writing Sequence and Transitions |
In order to organize writing effectively, children must learn narrative and expository text structures. In both structures, readers will encounter leads (the first sentence(s), paragraph(s) or chapter that sets up the story and draws the reader in); sequence (the order of events); transitions (sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph progression); and conclusions (satisfying endings). Students can learn to organize their writing by mimicking picture book text structures, applying story structure to wordless picture books, studying expository structures and applying it by writing on topics they know, and practice sequencing their sentences and paragraphs together. Most writers tend to make lists. It's rare that a writer uses a graphic organizer. Organizers have their place, but once a child knows an organizer, they should be able to choose whether they need it or not (or choose which organizer works best for them). |
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| WRITING
ABOUT FAMILY
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Reading texts with similar themes allows students to make text to text connections; to compare and contrast characters, settings, plots, and ideas; and to generate writing ideas through common experiences. Family stories, traditions and histories are wonderful examples of how to pull what you know into your writing. Teach children to listen to stories passed along through oral tradition and put those stories on paper. Help children to realize the writing potential of all of the stories that they want to tell about in class.
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| WRITING ABOUT FRIENDS | Friends are an important part of children’s lives. Exploring friendship through picture books is an excellent way to support needed social skills. Friendships are a rich source of stories for children. |
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| WRITING ABOUT SCHOOL | Children know about school. It's a major part of their lives. They all have school experiences. Writing about school is a natural topic. |
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| WRITING ABOUT SECRETS | For
children, secrets are fun. Writing about secrets can bring out the
creativity in kids. Dreaming up secrets allows their imaginations to free
up and their writing to soar.
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| WRITING ABOUT MEMORIES | Everyone
has memories. Memories (especially childhood memories) are rich resources
for writer. Children can learn to tap into their memories (and the
memories of parents and grandparents) for lots of wonderful writing ideas.
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| WRITING ABOUT ADVENTURES | Children love adventures and tend to have great imaginations. Let their imaginations soar and allow them to write their own adventures. |
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| USING YOUR IMAGINATION | In a day and time of high doses of t.v., game stations and the Internet, some children have learned to rely on outward visual sources for their imaginative wonderings. They never learned that mud is cake and a porch is a stage. For children who need lessons in play, read aloud these wonderfully imaginative picture books. |
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| USING SENSORY IMAGES | Creating mental pictures in the mind of the reader is the writer's art, and using sensory images are the tools. Children need to learn how to open up their senses and create word pictures using their senses. Poetry is one way to explore sense, and the use of picture books that use lots of sensory images is another model to follow. |
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| PERSONAL NARRATIVE | It has been said that writers should write what they know. A personal narrative focuses on a clear moment in time when a person has had an experience that can be told in story form. A personal narrative has all of the elements of a story, but it's usually a real experience. |
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| WRITING NONFICTION | No longer do children have to read and write "encyclopedia" type articles. Today's nonfiction for children is loaded with poetic language, uses narrative elements and creates strong mental pictures in the reader's mind. This list is of exemplary nonfiction that is worth exploring. |
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| WORD CHOICE
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Every
word in a picture book must be precise. The text is condensed, but not
dense. It must be rich and create strong mental images in the reader's
mind. A good story is filled with strong sensory images and uses
figurative language effectively. The books listed here are fine examples
of word choice.
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| UNDERSTANDING
VOICE
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Voice is sound of the writing. It's like music on a page and every song has it's own unique rhythm. Voice is active or passive. Good writers work towards owning an active voice. Verbs are the powerhouse of voice. Voice happens when the sensory images, figurative language and the sentences flow together with a certain beat. Think of it not as the writer's voice, but the voice of the piece. Search for humorous voices, uppity voices, whiny voices, tense voices, happy voices, mad voices, etc. Reading aloud with expression is the most effective way to "teach" voice. |
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| USING
GOOD SENTENCE FLUENCY
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Some sentences are short and some sentences are long. Sentences flow together and when you read aloud, there is a smoothness to the sound of your voice. You are not tripping over awkward words or phrases. Think of sentence fluency as a flowing river. Some places on the river are smooth as glass. Other places along the river ripple and roll. And still, other places along the river rush and foam. There are many twist, turns and waterfalls along a river's path, and of course, every river's destination is the ocean. There are lots of twist and turns along a story path, and of course, every story's destination is a satisfying conclusion. Sentences are like the river - they take you to the ocean. |
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| USING
GOOD CONVENTIONS
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Conventions equals capitalization, usage, punctuation and spelling (or C.U.P.S.). Conventions are important and certainly shouldn't take a back seat, however, content must come first. Conventions are developmental and we should continually work to reinforce the use of good conventions. Conventions are taken care of during the editing stage of writing. Take the conventions out of a piece of writing and show children what happens when the conventions are not there. |
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| LETTER
WRITING
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Children
certainly need to learn how to write both formal and informal letters.
This is an important social and business skill that they will need in the
future. Letter writing can also provide real audiences and help children
to develop and understand voice. In many primary classrooms teachers write
a "daily letter" to their students on large chart paper. This is
excellent modeling with a real purpose. Search for opportunities to write
letters for real purposes and watch your young writer's blossom.
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| WRITING TO PERSUADE | To
persuade is to convince. Learning to put together a persuasive argument is
an important life skill. Begin with picture books that explore elements of
persuasion.
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| WRITING PROCESS | The writing process is a nonlinear, integrated process that writer's go through when they compose a piece of writing. Every writer's process is slightly different, but there are certain critical attributes that all writers encounter: prewriting or planning (whether it's on paper or in your head); drafting (often referred to as the "sloppy copy" - just getting it down on paper); revising (the heart and soul of writing; editing and publishing. |
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| WRITING
LEADS
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A
lead in a picture book is usually the first sentence. A lead can be
several sentences, paragraphs or even chapters. The lead is what
"hooks" the reader in and makes them want to read more. Leads
are important to the piece of writing. They set the tone and get the piece
moving. A poor lead can easily turn a reader off and cause them to put
down the writing. A dynamic lead will excite and entice the reader. This
is just a small list of books with fabulous leads to use as models.
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| WRITING CONCLUSIONS | THE END. Don't think of a conclusion as just "the end" of a story. A good conclusions leaves the reader dreamy about the story and hungering for more of the same. A good conclusion ties up all of the loose ends and satisfies the reader like a good meal. Sometimes a conclusion surprises the reader or jolts the reader, but either way, the reader leaves the book with lingering thoughts. |
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| ALLITERATION | Alliteration
is a poetic device that can be used in all types of writing. Alliteration
is the repetition of initial consonant sounds of several words in a group.
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| FLASHBACK | Flashback is a literary device where the story refers to an event that took place prior to the beginning of the story. Flashback interrupts the present action in a story to insert the prior event. Flashbacks help readers understand the characters' current feelings and motivation. |
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| IRONY | Irony is something that occurs, is stated, or assumed that is the opposite of what is expected or a contrast of what is said. It's a contrast between what is expected and what is real, between what is said and what is meant, between what is true and what appears to be true, or between what is expected and what actually happens. |
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| PARODY | A parody imitates another literary style and is often mocking or amusing. |
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| POETIC JUSTICE | Poetic Justice takes place when the outcome of the story punishes the bad characters and rewards the good characters. |
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| SATIRE | A type of story that makes fun of the subject of the story (like human weakness, political issues, etc.) and tries to bring about social change. |
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| SYMBOLISM | A
person, place or object that represents an idea that is beyond the person,
place or objects actuality.
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| METAPHOR | Metaphors is the stuff that life is made of. Metaphors make comparisons. Poetry is one place to search for examples of metaphors. The picture books listed here have outstanding metaphors to use as modeled examples. |
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| ALLEGORY | An object takes on symbolic meaning to represent an idea or moral principal. |
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| SIMILE | A
simile compares two things using "like" or "as".
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| PERSONIFICATION | Personification brings inanimate objects to life. Stories with animals or toys talking are examples of personification, but personification at its best is when the writer gives "human-like" qualities to objects that seems to give the objects a life of their own. For example: "The grandmother oak sheltered the children beneath her gown of leaves and wrapped them in her protective arms." An oak tree is not a grandmother, nor does it wear a gown or have arms. These are qualities and features of a human being. |
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| IDIOMS | Expressions
that the actual meaning is different from the literal meaning. For
example: "You are driving me up the wall."
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| ONOMATOPOEIA | Onomatopoeia
are words that make noise like "crunch" and "munch"
and "vroom" and "boom". Noisy words are fun to use in
writing. Kids love them and they can really help add new dimensions to
their pieces.
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| POETIC LANGUAGE | Sometimes
called "mood pieces," picture books that use poetic language
tend to have beautiful rhythm and pace, flowing voice, and poetry-like
words. Picture books with poetic language are lovely to read and soothing
to listen to.
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| CLEAR MOMENT IN TIME | Children
have a tendency to write "bed to bed" stories and have difficult
focusing on a clear moment in time. Provide children with some wonderful
examples and help them to see the importance and impact of a strong focus.
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| FRACTURED FAIRY TALES | Children love fairy tales. Reading fractured versions of fairy tales can be fun, but more importantly, it can teach children basic plot structure and organization skills. After studying different fairy tales and fractured versions, they can follow the structure of the basic tale in order to create their own. Fortunately there are lots of models available. |
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| VERBS | Verbs are the powerhouse of voice. Verbs are active. They are action. They take writing from passive to active. A strong verb punches writing up and gives it strength. This list is of picture books that uses verbs effectively. |
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| FORESHADOWING | A literary device where the author gives the reader clues about events that will occur later in the story. |
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