Important Things About Our School:

Tiger Table

Illustration with Student Sample

Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Tiger Table • Clustering – Illustrated Step-by-Step• Student Paper

*TigerTableClustering.ppt and TigerTableClustering.doc are the same document in their respective formats. Please feel free to use either document.

Important Things About Our School

What follows is a complete prewriting process using the Clustering Strategy.Included:page 2 – Initial brainstorming of possible ideas for the topicpage 3 – Adding more details to the ideaspage 4 – Selecting a narrow topic from the last cluster page 5 - Adding details to the narrowed topicpage 6 – Creating a controlling ideapage 7 – Filtering information to use or abandonpage 8 – Planning for elaboration by adding iconspage 9 – Organizing my writing by numbering the strategies page10 – Final paper

2Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Here is my initial brainstorming of possible ideas for the topic Important Things About Our School.

3Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Next I added more details to the ideas surrounding Important Things About Our School.

4Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

With more details added, I could see that I had a lot of ideas about Tigers, so I decided to cluster just on Tigers. This is how I narrowed the topic from Important Things About Our School to Tigers

5Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

I still needed more for my narrowed topic Tigers, so I added details to the cluster.

6Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

I carefully considered what about tigers I want my readers to know. Once I decided on Tiger Table, I then created a controlling idea.

7Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Next I filtered the ideas/details I wanted to use or abandon.

8Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Next I planned the elaboration strategies I would use by adding elaboration icons.

9Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Finally, I organized my writing by numbering each part in the order I plan to write.

10Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

Dear New Student, Imagine you’re up on stage at a large table with a few of your friends and all the kids are cheering for you. “Tiger Pride, Tiger Pride, Feeling, Feeling Good Inside,” they all shout with enthusiasm. This is what it is like to be at Tiger Table. Tiger Table is an important part of our school.

Tigers are our school mascot and orange and black are our school colors. That’s why we call this special event, “Tiger” table. When you do a good job at something, you’ll get to go to Tiger Table. That means you will be called up to the stage during lunchtime. On the stage there will be a long table covered with an orange tablecloth.

11Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

About two kids from every class are chosen to sit at this table and wait for the fun to begin. Mr. Payton, our principal, will call out your name and read a great thing that you did at our school. The kids scream and yell for everyone. At the end, all the kids yell out our school tiger pride chant.

Not only do you get to be recognized at Tiger Table, you’ll also get some extra treats. Each student gets a pencil and certificate. The certificate explains why you deserve to be at tiger table. You also get a special thing to eat. We used to get a candy bar, but they decided not to give us junk food. Now we get a juice box, which is not as good as a candy bar, but it is something.

12Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.

The first time I went to Tiger Table I was a little nervous. My name was called over the microphone and it startled me. I felt like everyone was looking at me so I climbed the stairs not really knowing what to expect. I waited and listened to all the great things that were being said about the other kids at the table. When Mr. Payton got to me he said, “Sharon is at tiger table today because she is helpful in class and a good friend to everyone.” As I came up to get my award, I looked down at my class’s table. They were the loudest of all and it made me feel proud.

You can go to Tiger Table for lots of reasons. Keeping your desk clean, being a leader, helping others are just a few ways you might get selected. Don’t worry. Everyone eventually gets to go, so you’ll get your turn. All you need to do is follow the rules and be a good friend. You will like going to Tiger Table as much as I do.

13Copyright © 2008 Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. All rights reserved.