Silhouette Visuals

           See The Art of Visual Writing Book in my store for this idea and more!

    Sometimes a visual helps the writer to formulate his/her ideas in sequential order  whether they are retelling a story or writing a new one. For example, this pre-writing visual will create a  rich vocabulary to ‘draw’ from. 

Other Ways to Use This Lesson: Silhouette Visuals

Remember to allow the opportunity for your learners to write with a purpose in mind.  Let them see the picture before they write. Train them early to ‘visualize’ and see the details or understand the reasons why they believe what they are writing.

This lesson can focus on various skills. When you are introducing Big Ideas, small moments, main topics, supportive thoughts or descriptive sentences, allow the children to draw on previous knowledge, as well as be inspired by the pictures. Try writing with collages every week and create a journal to collect genre as a class book and share in the classroom library. This activity can give you an on-going progress assessment as well.

Additionally, you can use this activity every week for practice along with reinforcing various topics throughout the year (all you need is a visual). You can also use this activity to enhance existing reading/writing programs. For instance, you may be reading about nature, so allow the children to create a picture inspired by nature. Then, coordinate the writing based on your objectives.

Moreover, allow the children to highlight adjectives and verbs in different colors, identifying its proper use when their writing is complete. Perhaps the children can use their sceneries to inspire their writing about settings or focus on a retell, main topics, as well as topic sentences.

Of course, you can also use non-fiction books/pictures to inspire factual/informative writing. This is a great time for a mini lesson on paragraph writing, research, and main ideas.

The children can create a class collage together. Inspire them to write a whole class narrative or poem ‘in the round’. Each student participates by offering one elaborative sentence each, thus, building on the sequence of events or descriptions. Allow time for discussion and encourage the class to work together. The class can copy the story or poem and it can be printed as a final copy if done on the computer or smart board. Attach to colored paper, embellish, and display as desired.

The class can also focus on particular words when their writing is complete. Have them write synonyms and antonyms to increase their vocabulary, or even creatively use their ideas for analogies. Perhaps they can take each sentence and elaborate them for practice.  You can also print the class story and cut the sentences into strips and use to put in sequential order. You can also use the sentence strips as sentences to diagram. Have the children pick-apart the sentence, labeling the parts for practice.

Recreate a story illustration or non-fiction picture with pre-made animal or object cut-outs to inspire riddles.  Use a picture to generate ideas and descriptions about the scene without giving all the information away. End the paragraph with a question and see if other kids can answer the riddle. You will be amazed at the various responses and ideas they will write about the same visual.

Another way to use their scenery is to create a main character out of scraps and glue on top of the background. This visual will be a great inspiration for character development and focusing on the main character. You can glue the existing picture to a larger piece of colored construction paper, leaving a framed-edge. Either type or write words or phrases that describe the main character along the frame.

If you want to be more creative, try using stencils, foam paper, pre-printed pattern paper, pre-made animal shapes or stickers to create a subject/character to be glued on top of the scenery. The ideas are limitless.

 Share aloud with classmates. Create a bulletin board, collect the writing and include in your classroom library.    All can be found at www.visualccl.com

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Kim Waltmire and tagged expressing primary grades presentation silhouettes visual arts visualizing main characters character development riddles science and literacy animals elaboration sequential order ELA elaborative writing sentence elaboration sequence of events narrative writing poetry expository writing informative writing paragraph writing second grade story elements story order scenery plot big ideas small moments common core common core writing supportive thoughts descriptive writing stem science English Language Arts retelling retell worksheets reading literacy recounting stories reading Visual reading visual writing visual learning visual literacy pre-writing vocabulary.

Collaborative Discussion Cards

I used collaborative discussion cards all year long and you will too! The conversations are incredible and have a purpose and your students will undoubtedly increase their understanding of the text. See Props with a Purpose in my store for more… All can be found at www.visualccl.com

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Kim Waltmire and tagged collaboration Visual reading common core writing recounting stories retelling stories primary grades props with a purpose conversations discussion cards common core reading literacy reading writing process Writing activities critical thinking text sentence starters discussion starters.

Burning Questions

Have you ever wondered about something? It’s time to dig deeper and ask those burning questions about the topic. One creative way to enjoy this activity is to use a hula-hoop and place it around the specimen/ object(s) you are wondering about. If you don’t have a hula-hoop, try using a rope, string, yarn or masking tape. Place the object(s) inside the circle if inside. Kids can sit around the rug on the floor and view what is inside the circle. If outside, place the hula-hoop on the ground or up against the tree, plant, etc. Allow the children to take turns observing something in the circle and ask an appropriate question. Record the burning question, highlighting the “question” word and move onto the next student. You can do this until you have exhausted potential questions. You might even consider one question and a response each time as well. Be creative, but allow one another to dig deeper and elicit a conversation. Use this activity for small or large group collaboration.

Extensions: List questions, list questions and potential answers, Assign questions to be researched by students, collaborate with higher grade for them to research and illustrate and share presentation at completion (turn into a book), display !

Check for Visual Reading and Writing Activities for the Common Core in my store. All can be found at www.visualccl.com

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Kim Waltmire and tagged visualizing Visual reading visual writing asking questions burning questions creative creative writing listing questions visual reading highlighting questions common core common core writing stem science and literacy topical writing.

Using Cards as Writing Visuals

                                                  It’s time to write about the visuals on cards. It’s time to describe the action seen and use your imagination to create a narrative story, poem, expository paragraph and more.  Brainstorming is a wonderful way to generate new and descriptive vocabulary. Leave on a chart for inexperienced writers to use. Try the same with verbs as well.    

Remember to allow the opportunity for your learners to write with an explanation in mind.  Let them see the picture before they write. Train them early to ‘visualize’ and see the details or understand the reasons why they explaining specific directions.

 

This lesson can focus on various skills. When you are introducing the purpose of writing to explain, allow the children to draw on previous knowledge, as well as be inspired by the pictures. Try this activity every week and create a journal or a ‘how to’ booklet to collect this writing genre. This activity can give you an on-going progress assessment as well.

 

Additionally, you can use this activity every week for practice along with reinforcing writing in sequence. A fun way to change-up this lesson would be to have a copy of their writing and cut directions into strips. Use the visual as an inspiration to help a partner place the directions in sequential order. This can be a fun workshop activity. Laminate the pieces and place in an envelope for storage.

 

Additionally, allow the children to highlight adjectives and verbs in different colors, identifying its proper use. Have them write synonyms and antonyms to increase their vocabulary, or even creatively use their explanations in poetic form. Perhaps they can take each sentence and elaborate them for practice.  You can also use this activity to enhance existing story topics. For instance, you may be reading about space, so allow the children to write about ‘how’ to be an astronaut. Perhaps they can create a sculpture of a space ship, use photographs, pictures or coloring pages of their topic. If you have stickers, try them to save time. Just illustrate the background. 

                                                                                       

Remember, if time is a challenge, keep pictures or cards of animals, people, or places available, with or without a background for your students to use rather than spending time illustrating. If you have time to illustrate, try stencils to trace and add details as needed… ‘seeing is believing’.

 

Lastly, glue your work to colored paper and display illustrations or sculptures creatively. Share aloud with classmates. Collect the writing, create a bulletin board or put examples into booklets, and keep in a ‘how to’ basket to be shared by others in your classroom library.

Check for Visual Reading and Writing Activities for the Common Core and The Art of Visual Writing Book in my store for this lesson and more. All can be found at www.visualccl.com

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Kim Waltmire and tagged cards writing writing creative writing writing activities writing process writing sentences pre-writing visual writing detailed writing creative writing paragraph writing elaborative writing informative writing common core writing descriptive writing visual arts visual representation visual learning verbs visualizing Visual reading Visual learning visual literacy activities details adjectives reading narrative writing English Language Arts Language arts stem supportive thoughts story order sentence elaboration scenery creative common core critical thinking character development student learning small moments story elements science sequential order descriptions ELL ELA elaboration expressing elaborated sentences text teaching strategies topical writing authors purpose riddles retelling retelling stories recounting stories reading literacy art animals asking questions main characters teaching grammar questions sequence of events burning questions highlighting questions plot poetry presentation primary grades Special Education complete sentences display photographs Visual literacy visual reading creating conversations collaboration Common Core pictures animalspeople places illustrations.

Props with a Purpose

I use what I call Props with a Purpose when I want to engage my students in the lesson. I use many ‘ hands-on’ props to elicit discussion, frames to help kids focus on details and question cards to help them dig deeper. It is amazing to see my students use these props for collaborative group discussions. We use ‘ My Turn Cards ‘ each participant can have a turn to speak and share. Once the kids are trained to use props like these, the lesson becomes more interactive and exciting; of course even more challenging. You need to try it. It’s time to see it and share it!!!  There are bookmarks for reading, writing, comprehension, and discussion starters. I also include bookmarks for factual, informational and comparison paragraph writing as well.   Check Props with a Purpose in my store for more ideas. You will like it for sure! All can be found at www.visualccl.com

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Kim Waltmire and tagged retell notebooks recounting stories retell worksheets reading retelling stories reading literacy retelling writing process creating creative primary grades critical thinking creative writing curriculum conversations classroom strategies collaboration common core writing common core character development collaborative groups discussion discussion cards details detailed writing descriptive writing descriptions guided reading Common Core comprehension writing strategies writing writing creative writing writing activities Writing activities pre-writing visual writing narrative writing illustrations informative writing visualizing highlighting questions visual arts visual learning visual representation sequence of events factual writing bookmarks big ideas burning questions elaborated sentences elaboration elaborative writing vocabulary sentence elaboration main characters informational writing comparison writing Special Education speaking discussion starters cards interactive props partners Visual reading special educaion writing and speaking ELL ELA ellaboration elementary expressing English Language Arts text.