Put a tiny piece of paper with your name on it into a basket.
Teacher assigns a scribe, and both teacher and scribe take part in the circle of naming things: Scribe writes what everyone likes to get as a present: book, plane ticket, Wii, camera, laptop, chocolate, printer (and three “passes” — people aren’t required to speak).
Go around again. It doesn’t have to be a physical present; can be emotional. Second round: a nice day, security, contentment, heater, love, new sweater, movie, reliable friend, peaceful country (Iraqi), chat with friends, better handwriting, better alarm clock. Several passes again.
[A large yellow-abdomened spider just tried to crawl onto my arm. It soon found itself airborne, but that didn’t phase it.]
Then we had to write a letter to one of our classmates in this format: Dear _____, I would like to give you _____ because _____. Yours, ____
I wrote to Moloko telling her I’d like to get her a singing engagement at Carnegie Hall because she loves to sing for people. I received a letter from a visitor to the class who wanted to give me a new digital camera because mine broke last week. I don’t know how she knew that! [Oh: she didn’t. She just made that up.]
Then we had to write a thank-you letter in this format: Dear _____, Thank you so much for ______. It was (is) ______ because _______. Sincerely, _____
In a normal class she’d have students return the name to a bucket as soon as they’d finished writing a letter and pick out another name to give a present to. Likewise, every person who gives a present needs a thank-you letter in reply.
- Penny Ur: Grammar Practice Activities
- Zero Prep: If she had one book to take, it would be this.
Format: letter-writing
The final phase would be to pick your favorite present and tell the others what it was and why you liked it.
Stages of Process Writing
- Brainstorm ideas/think
- Pair share, ask questions
- Reflect/write, add details
- First draft: focus on topic sentence
- Peer editing: questions S <—> S
- Second draft (based on peer feedback). Revisions.
- Peer editing (mechanics, grammar, syntax, vocabulary)
- Third draft (based on peer edits). Give to teacher
- Final draft
- Publish
My favorite object:
- How/when/why did you get this object?
- What does it look like?
- What does it feel like when you touch it?
- Why is it important to you?
- What memories does it bring to you?
[Ginna note: give people enough time to think of something they care about truly, because they’ll be writing a lot about it.]
Peer review: First, state to each other what was the purpose of your paper? What were you trying to tell your readers? You’re not looking at content any more, but grammar, punctuation [you don’t say “put a comma here”; you say “punctuation.” You don’t say “use past tense here”; you say “tense.” Etc. It’s not our job to correct but only to note. Sarah just circles it when she reviews a paper one-on-one, but you can use this set of correction symbols:
Agr = subject/verb or pronoun agreement
Then read each other’s papers.
Peer feedback: Underline one or two parts you liked best. Would you suggest more details? Is there anything you don’t understand?