Page 21-ELD Problem

Page 21 is a favorite of mine. I love Stephen King's quote about reading and writing being connected. But, there is a language problem with this page. It came up in my ELD class this morning, and I want to make a note of it before I forget and teach it wrong again. On the bottom of the page there is the following question:
Did you ever get in trouble for reading? (I did). My English Language Development students interpreted this Question as: Did you ever have trouble reading? This was a really good lesson on how small connecting words and  verbs can change what is being asked. I received wonderful stories about learning to read another language.Which I applauded them for, and then,

we went over the sentence frames and talked about the differences.

Did you ever get in trouble for reading?
Did you ever have trouble reading?

Tricky little sentences.

I just did page 6 again and came up with a totally new list to write from. I love this activity. Click page 6 above to see how This page can be used.

Teacher Lesson Plans and examples of pages are coming soon.

This book, is meant to be used by all ages approximately 3rd grade up to adults. I have designed it to use with my writing groups and in my classroom. As we get the blog formatted we will be adding the page examples and lesson plans for each exercise. I hope that this will help teachers, and writers alike. If you are using this book, please share how and anything that is working or not working for you. This first workbook is only a part of the writing series I am creating. There will eventually be thirteen books in the series. Twelve will be for different writing genres and one will be on illustration. If I have something wrong, share before I make the same mistake again. If you like what I am doing- please let me and others know.

Writers: This book should be worked on regularly, but doesn't have to be completed in any specific order-unless the exercise refers to the exercise right before it. If you aren't understanding a direction check the two pages before it otherwise have fun skipping around. I will be posting examples as the school year starts and would love for you to add to them.

Teachers: this book is set to the core standards for writing. Blank pages- memoirs is the first in the series because generally a classroom focuses on writing non fiction memoirs first. The next book to come out will be poetry.

Each "day" is set up with three pages of choices. Students should not be forced to do them all, but should choose a few activities. I insist on some and let them have total flexibility about others. Every time they write it is a formative assessment for me. While I don't critique spelling and editing as they do the activities, I can easily tell if they are making the same mistakes over and over again and do a quick mini lesson on the error. I can then remind students of the lesson the next day when we write in our journals and remind them to concentrate on trying to not make that one error in this exercise.  Please don't have students editing and correcting each exercise as they are writing. There are places for that at the end. The process of writing should be fun, not bogged down because some of us can't spell. That is why we have editors. While we want students to learn to spell and edit their work, we also don't want to miss the big stories that students are anxious to tell us. Please save the editing for after you have captured the story.And whenever possible, let students take a few minutes at the end of an exercise to share what they have written. If you only have a few minutes let them choose their favorite sentence and share that. Writing is all about being the center of attention.

Blank Pages was released today. To order : https://www.createspace.com/3658712.

It's done, just waiting on editing. I am so excited.

It is finished!

I am so excited that the first volume is almost ready to launch. I am anxious to launch it. 

I have just learned how to attach pages to this blog so that you can look up ideas for every page, as we scan them in. I am even more excited.

We are in the new building and starting the second week of craft camps. My editor is coming to Oregon to go over the last piece of Blank Pages in Three weeks. Then we will publish.I am getting excited.-Kassy

We leased a building and are opening soon. While the shelving is not in yet, we are taking registration  starting Monday, for summer camps . This is not the complete list of classes, just the list of camp classes. Each class will have multiple projects every day. For instance, our henna camp will start out with a watercolor henna design painting, for students to learn about the patterns and routes of henna design. The next day they will practice their techniques while using the designs decorating gourds. The next day we will work on space and composition while painting (?TBA). The fourth day they will use craft henna (henna paste without essential oils) to stain wood boxes with their designs. On the last day they will practice henna on each other. There will be mini lessons throughout, and hints about the tricks I have learned. Each of our camps will build up the students skills, until the student has the opportunity to show what they have learned in a final project. Each camp has limited space. So let me know if you see one you want. We will be adding a regular class schedule later on in the month. Make sure to check back often because we have teachers coming to teach all kinds of fun things! From Polly teaching sewing, crafter Karen Ledbetter traveling from Idaho to teach doll making in our doll camp, to several local jewelry makers and illustrators each teaching their own classes it is going to be a full summer of arts and crafts.

Blank Pages will be launched with the grand opening! Stay tuned!

Coming Soon!

We are editing Blank Pages Memoirs right now! It should be available in roughly two weeks. I can't wait to see what you think.