First Grade, Writing, Set Five

In addition to Draw Write Now,

• Alphabet Book (Games for Writing pg 166) -- K. didn't want to use any describing words for her alphabet, but she is using the front and back of each page, so we will go back later and use the last half of the book for describing words.
• Read for the Fun of It by Bauer has a section titled Picture Books as Story Starters. It features a five page list of books to share with your child, with suggestions for something to write or tell. For instance, we read Nature Walk by Florian. This book is about some children see as they take a walk through the woods. The suggestion is "A City Walk". After reading the book we took a walk around our block, noticing lots of things. When we got home, K. wrote down what she could remember.
• Egg Carton Tales (Games for Writing pg 134) -- I took the time during the planning week to change some of the "problems" and "settings" so the game would be fresh.
• Writing to Form (Games for Writing pg 139) -- I took the story from an old text book, re-typed it, substituting blanks for some of the words.
• Alphabet Code (Games for Writing pg 98) -- this time we just wrote the letters of the words on paper. It is a little harder this way than using letter cards, but makes a great game for a waiting room. I kept the words for K. to four letters, but her words for me went to five and six letters.