[LM_NET] HIT: Books/Videos/Websites to encourage YOUNG writers (K-1)

[Toni Buzzeo <tonibuzzeo@TONIBUZZEO.COM>]

ORIGINAL REQUEST:

I've had a request from a Kindergarten and First Grade teacher that's 
got me stumped.  Can any of you help me to find resources for 
them?  Here is the teacher request:

>We want our students to better understand the purpose of writing and 
>the process that authors go through to write.  We are also trying to 
>find more ways to instill a love of writing on our young 
>students.   Do you know of any great resources such as books, web 
>sites, videos, etc. that would convey these important messages to 
>our students?  We have found a few books by Eileen Christelow and 
>Janet Stevens that explain the writing process, and while good, they 
>may be a little over our students' heads.

I will, of course, recommend The Author and YOU series (I have a 
volume, Toni Buzzeo and YOU in that series that will be helpful to 
them as a teacher resource).  Do you have other ideas?

RESPONSES:
Library Mouse has been a great writing starter that I used with my 
second grades (can't see why it couldn't be younger).  After reading, 
we set up the tissue box with the mirror.  We made little paper books 
with golf pencils.  Have been wanting to set up a shelf for kids to 
display, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

The kids were pretty excited to see the face staring up at 
them.  They also kept looking for places that the mouse might be 
living in the library (actually we have quite a few!)

***
I love using Author: A True Story by Helen Lester and it would be 
right on their level. "Children's author Helen Lester describes her 
life from age three to adulthood and discusses how she writes."

***
If you give an author a pencil / by Laura Numeroff ; photographs by 
Sherry Shahan.

***
Jan Brett has newsletters on her site that detail what she did to 
research her books before writing and how she got her ideas.

***
The Meet the Author series (Richard C. Owen Publishers) features 
books by authors such as Cynthia Rylant, David A. Adler, Eve Bunting, 
and Helen Lester, in which they describe their lives, influences on 
their writing, and their work.  Even though the reading level is a 
bit above first grade, the large type and abundant illustrations make 
them attractive to younger students.

***
One resource that you might want to consider using with your students 
is the Big Universe program which allows the students to create their 
own books AND have them published (for purchase by friends and family 
members)!  The program provides a FREE online step-by-step process to 
create the book (although I would also incorporate some pre-writing 
skills, storyboards, etc. to make sure that the book follows specific 
guidelines required within the lesson plan for writing).

I wrote a review of Big Universe in the October issue of School 
Library Journal.  You can access the online program at: 
http://www.biguniverse.com

To read the article, scroll down to "Big Universe" and find out more: 
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6601436.html

It's a great resource to teach the process of writing (both the more 
difficult processes and the joys of seeing your work published).  The 
nice thing about this program is that students can see their work 
published online, read it aloud, share it with others, and even have 
students (peers) read and review their friends' books once they've 
been written (now there's a whole other element of the 
program...Creating a "Top Ten list of Best Books from the 
Class"...but I won't go into that one!)


Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS <mailto:tonibuzzeo@tonibuzzeo.com>
Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year Emerita
Buxton, ME 04093
http://www.tonibuzzeo.com
The Collaboration Handbook (Linworth 2008) NEW

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