Small Moment Writing (Foundation to Level Three)

Learning Area: English Strand: Literacy Sub Strand: Creating Texts

Outcomes

Level FCreate short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge (VCELY160)using image-making and beginning writing to represent characters and events in written, film and web-based texts

using speaking, writing and drawing to represent and communicate personal responses to ideas and events experienced through texts

creating short spoken, written and multimodal observations, recounts and descriptions, extending vocabulary and including some content-specific words in spoken and written texts

using beginning concepts about print, sound–letter and word knowledge and punctuation to create short texts

Level 1 Create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and appropriate multimodal elements (VCELY194)referring to learned knowledge of text structure and grammar when creating a new text

applying new vocabulary appropriately in creating text

learning how to plan spoken and written communications so that listeners and readers might follow the sequence of ideas or events

beginning to consider audience in designing a communication involving visual components, selecting images for maximum impact

Level 2Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge of text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (VCELY230)learning how to plan spoken and written communications so that listeners and readers might follow the sequence of ideas or events

sequencing content according to text structure

using appropriate simple and compound sentence to express and combine ideas

using vocabulary, including technical vocabulary, appropriate to text type and purpose

Level 3Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (VCELY266)using print and digital resources to gather information about a topic

selecting appropriate text structure for a writing purpose and sequencing content for clarity and audience impact

using appropriate simple, compound and complex sentences to express and combine ideas

using vocabulary, including technical vocabulary, relevant to the text type and purpose, and appropriate sentence structures to express and combine ideas

THINKING, TALKING, SKETCHING, DRAFTING, REVISING, EDITING AND PUBLISHING A SMALL MOMENTS UNIT

Vocabulary: small moment, show not tell, zoom in, snapshot, personal narrative, big picture, adjectives, emotions, action, sketch, logical sequenceTeacher Prior Knowledge: Understanding that a small moment personal narrative, is one small moment in a student’s life which is stretched to include specific detail, feelings and description. It has a strong focus on audience engagement. Understanding of the Writing Process; brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing. Learning Intention: Students to use the Writing Process to create several small moment stories.

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Whole (10 minutes) – Small Moment Overview

Discuss with the class they are going to write a Small Moment Story. Watch the You Tube Small Moment link (below) stopping and discussing each of the sections in a small moment. (Note the clip doesn’t include, setting the scene – give a brief detail about this)

Learning IntentionTo assess the knowledge of students writing of a small moment story.

Part: (25 minutes)All students to write their own Small Moment story – this will be our pre writing sample. Students are expected to write for 20 minutes without interrupting other students.Allow students the opportunity to brainstorm, plan, draft, revise, and edit to help in your assessment of their specific needs.If they don’t know these terms, make a note of this for future teaching.

Whole: (15 minutes)Students choose a sentence or descriptive language, which they are really proud of to share with the class. Not the whole story.

Success Criteria – Students attempt to write a Small Moment story, to the best of their knowledge.

Analyse students’ pre-test to assess what their point of need is and group similar needs. Use this grouping for explicit teaching during focus group sessions.Analyse specific needs for individual students to ensure this is addressed during student conferencing times.Students who you have assessed working at Foundation level, may like to do a modified small moment. After they have sketched their beginning, middle, end they may like to only write one sentence underneath each sketch. (If you have any support staff, they may like to work with this group)Students working at or towards Foundation level, may like to record their small moment orally first, to ensure they remember their small moment in a logical order.Assess students understanding of the Writing Process (brainstorm, plan, draft, revise and edit) and the structure of their text (beginning, middle, end). Make a note for explicit teaching where needed.

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Whole Activity – Brainstorming Small Moments Students listen to the story Owl Moon – You Tube Clip posted below. Explain the term zooming in, and show an image of a camera lens and how it zooms in to a smaller part (link below) also you could use the Google Map of Australia and how you zoom in to smaller places (link below).

Learning IntentionFor students to understand how to brainstorm ideas for Small Moment writing.

Part: 25 minutesExplain to students, small moments can happen at any time, at playtime, in school, during breakfast. The Writers’ Notebook, you will be able to add to when you think of small moments. You won’t write a story about every small moment, as writers you will have 10-20 times more ideas than stories. To help students think of small moments, display the list of ideas below. Remind students it is not a general idea, such as ice-cream makes them happy, this is a specific time when they remember how happy they were to have an ice-cream, maybe after a hot day at the beach.Reinforce they are just generating ideas, not writing complete sentences ie. bit by crab, caught big fish, fell and broke arm.*Students should feel comfortable to add to their small moment’s page in their Writer’s Notebook, if an event happens at home or at school.

Focus Group: Wander around the room and bring students to the teacher table or on the floor, who are having trouble being specific in generating their small moment ideas.

Student Conferencing: Begin your list of student conferencing using checklist or annotated notes.

Whole 15 minutesFind a partner and talk about your small moments, try to narrow it down to one which really stands out, which you may like to write about in more detail in future sessions.

Success Criteria Students have a list of about 10 different small moment ideas to draw on over the next few weeks of writing.A greater understanding of a small moment compared to the big picture.

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Whole If children are having trouble brainstorming small moment ideas, another way is to use a T-Chart (below)Show the You Tube clip – Roller Coaster (link below)

Learning IntentionTo help students having difficulty with the concept of small moment stories, give them another example.

PartStudents who confidently brainstormed small moment ideas, independently write their own small moment story. Ensure students write on every second line, to encourage the revision and editing process in future lessons.

Focus Group – students who have difficulty thinking of ideas. Children make their own t-chart looking at a day/holiday, then breaking it into small moments.

WholeStudents who created a T-Chart share with the remainder of the class.

Success CriteriaAll students have a good understanding of what constitutes a small moment story.

If students are still unsure of a small moment, make a class small moment together. An easy idea is to have a race. Outside ask students to line up in race formation, mark a beginning and an end. Ask them to discuss their thoughts at the beginning of the race, during the race and at the end of the race. Use butcher’s paper or portable white board to record their thoughts (remember to include the five senses and their thoughts)Once back inside, write a shared or interactive small moment. Remind students it is about the ‘small moment’ – the race. They don’t need to include getting up in the morning, dressed, or what they did after the race, it is about the race.Some ideas which may be included in the small moment about the race:Beginning – nervous, excited, toe on the line, next to, listen for starter, sweat, rain, heat, butterflies in stomachMiddle – breathing heavy, footsteps behind/beside, felt sick, legs wobbly, shoelace untied, fell over, who was in front, cheering from crowdEnd – proud, happy, exhausted, collapsed, energised,

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Whole ActivityOral story telling – Sketching DraftDiscuss the difference between sketches and illustrations. (link below for SmartBoard) Ask a student to choose a small moment to orally retell in front of the class. As they are retelling the teacher sketches an image of the beginning, the middle and the end of their small moment story. Explain when creating your draft you sketch rather than illustrate. It is a way to plan each part of your writing. The sketches are in grey lead with details added which are important to the story.

Learning IntentionFor students to understand the terminology think, talk, sketch when it comes to planning a story.

Part: 25 minutesHand out to students A4 paper folded in 3 sections. Ask them to sit with a partner and orally tell their story giving a beginning, middle and end. The first part is setting the scene, Where? When? Who? Be descriptive when talking, so they know exactly where you were at the time of the small moment.The second is the small moment, why was it so memorable – what could you see, hear, smell, touch, taste – expand on details. The last part is the end, how did you feel at the end of the small moment, what were your thoughts.Once students have orally retold their story, they sketch each section on the beginning, middle, end.

Focus Group: Wander around the class and any partners who are having difficulty retelling their story bring on floor or at teacher table to work through step by step the process.

Student Conferencing: Use checklist, annotated notes or Small Moment Assessment Rubric to assess students understanding and ability to think, talk, sketch their plan.

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Whole 15 minutes. Students sit in a small circle (groups of 4) one at a time orally tell their small moment story using the sketches as prompts.

Success Criteria Students have used think, talk and sketch to plan a small moment story.

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Whole Activity – setting the scene (beginning)Use the book Owl Moon (link below) and only show the beginning. Emphasise how they set the scene, because the author has zoomed in on a small moment, they have to help the reader, know where they are. Model a small moment beginning of your own (remember to talk, sketch first)– add in the weather, and help a reader know exactly where you are. Avoid the beginning, ‘One day…’, ‘Once upon a time..” (fairy tale start) or ‘In the morning I woke up..’ remember it is a small moment, not the whole day.

Learning IntentionFor students to understand the term zooming in, setting the scene and to begin thinking about the purpose and audience.

Part: 25 minutesStudents while on the floor, talk with the person next to them about their beginning. Encourage the listener to ask, what could they see, hear, was it day, night to help them set the scene. (Partner conferencing example questions below) Once both students have discussed their beginning, they can go back to the table to start. All students to attempt writing – help can be given during student conferencing. Remember to tell them to check their sketch they wrote in the last session. Students are to write on every second line, some students may need a dot to be placed on every second line if this concept is new to them. Writing on every second line will help with the revising and editing process.

Student Conferencing: Use checklist, annotated notes or Small Moment Assessment Rubric to assess students understanding and ability to create a beginning which engages the reader. During student conferencing assist pre or beginning writers.

Whole 15 minutesIndividual students share with the whole class their beginning. Model how to be a good listener and questioning to help the student think of what to include in their writing. Explain the term draft means it is being continually improved and how conferencing with the teacher, small group or partner can help you improve your draft. Remind students of the Writing Process chart.

Explain the next writing session we will write the middle – the action in the story.

Success Criteria Students have created a beginning which engages the audience and sets the scene for their small moment personal narrative.

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Learning IntentionStudents to learn to write a logical sequence in a personal narrative, which will transfer onto longer narrative pieces.

PARTStudents discuss their middle with a partner, using their sketch as a prompt. Once they have both discussed their writing they begin to write independently. Remind students to make it exciting for the reader, but stay on track, it is just about the small moment not several small moments.Remind students this is only a draft. They will have a chance to revise and edit their writing.

Focus Group

Student Conferencing

Whole 10 minutes. Students share their stories with a partner for 5 minutes. As a whole class, ask a student what they enjoyed about the partner story they read.

Success Criteria Students write the middle of their small moment in a logical sequence.

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Whole – 10 minutes – EndLook at mentor texts; Owl Moon, Roller Coaster or Knuffle Bunny, which have a great ending and includes the author’s thoughts or feelings.Teachers to model their own ending to their Small Moment story. Include thoughts and feelings, remember thoughts also have quotation marks.

Learning IntentionFor students to understand the importance of conclusions in Small Moment stories.

Part: 25 minutesStudents talk about their ending with a partner. Ensure students understand the ending is not the end of the day or the holiday it is the end of the small moment. Write their ending, ensure they are not just adding on to their middle, ask them to check their ending is in line with their plan (sketch), The ending needs to include their thoughts.

Focus Group

Student Conferencing: Continue to conference students using a checklist, annotated notes or rubric for future focus group work.

Whole 15 minutes. Choose a different partner to read their whole story to.

Success Criteria Students have written an ending which includes their thoughts and/or feelings and is relevant to the topic.

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All students on the floor Explain the term ‘show not tell’ when writing emotions.Role play being happy – ask students to describe what being happy looks like, facial expressions, actions, body etc They are not allowed to say the word happy. Write examples given on butcher’s paper. Students with a partner, practise an expression while their partner uses descriptive language to explain the emotion.If time, choose a group to share.

Learning IntentionFor students to understand the term ‘show not tell’ when using emotions, and to use a blue pencil when revising their work.

Part: (25 minutes)Students think of an emotion, write descriptive language describing the emotion. For example instead of saying, I am sad they could write, ‘ Tears are flowing from my eyes, my lip begins to quiver, and I need a tissue.’

Students re-read their own small moment to see whether they could use descriptive language to enhance the emotions used in their story.

Student Conferencing students:

Focus Group:

Whole: (15 minutes)Students read their sentence to the class, while other students have to work out which emotion they have written about.

Success Criteria – Students attempt to write their own descriptive language instead of writing an emotion.Students revise their writing to include descriptive language for emotions.

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Revise adjectives and make some class lists of words which could be added to their story – words for weather, words for times of the day, words for day, words for night….Remind students of a proper sentence structure.

Learning IntentionStudents understand why we revise in the Writing Process and are beginning to revise independently.

Part: 25 minutesStudents re-read their story. Use a different colour to add in descriptive words to help readers visualise their Small Moment.

Some students may wish to ‘ban the boring’ and change boring words such as ‘said’, ‘walk’ for more descriptive words.

Focus Group:

Student Conferencing: Give students ideas of how to improve their writing, ask questions to help them clarify what they have written.

Whole 15 minutes. With a partner students read their story.

Success Criteria Students understand the revise process and use a different colour to add/delete words to enhance the meaning of their story.

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Whole – 15 minutesRevise- sentence startersMake up a story which continually uses the words and, then as sentence beginnings. Ask students their thoughts on the story. Read the story again without the ‘and, then’ ask students which story they prefer and why. Below is an example of transition words, which can be made into a chart or students can generate their own.

Learning IntentionStudents to revise their work to ensure a variety of sentence beginnings and transition words

Part – 20 minutesStudents re-read their writing and cross out any words which are not necessary, ‘and, then’. They look at the transition word list to see which word would enhance the meaning of their story.

Focus GroupStudents who use ‘and, then’ often in their writing. Or, students who are working in Level 3, who may be on to compound sentences.

Student Conferencing

Whole – 15 minutesAdd to the list of sentence starters which students have used.Ask a student to read their story aloud, with other class members listening for sentence starters or transition words.

Success CriteriaStudents have a list of transition words or sentence starters they are able to use when writing.

FOUNDATIONParticipate in shared editing of students’ own texts for meaning, spelling, capital letters and full stops (VCELY161rereading collaboratively developed texts to check that they communicate what the authors intended

LEVEL ONEReread student's own texts and discuss possible changes to improve meaning, spelling and punctuation (VCELY195)adding or deleting words on page or screen to improve meaning, for example adding an adjective to a nounreading own work aloud to listen for grammatical correctness: checking use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks

checking for inclusion of capital letters and full stops

identifying words which might not be spelt

LEVEL TWOReread and edit text for spelling, sentence-boundary punctuation and text structure (VCELY231)reading their work and adding, deleting or changing words, prepositional phrases or sentences to improve meaning, for example replacing an everyday noun with a technical one in an informative text

checking spelling using a dictionary

checking for inclusion of relevant punctuation including capital letters to signal names, as well as sentence beginnings, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks

making significant changes to their texts

LEVEL THREEReread and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation (VCELY267)using glossaries, print and digital dictionaries and spell check to edit spelling, realising that spell check accuracy depends on understanding the word function, for example there/their; rain/reign

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beginning to use dictionaries and classroom charts to check and correct spelling of less familiar words

using a word processing program ( for example add, delete or move sentences)

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Whole – 10 minutes – editing punctuationRevise proper use of sentence boundary punctuation.Explain quotation marks for thoughtsLearning IntentionStudents learn to edit their work, depending on ability checking for correct use of punctuation.

Part:Students edit their work, either using an editing checklist or as a whole group on the floor. Ask students to read their writing aloud to ensure they have used full stops at the end of a sentence, and not written a whole story with only one full stop.Ensure they understand how to use question marks and exclamation marks.Depending on ability level of students, they edit their own quotation marks, or a teacher adds these in.Students check they have capitalised appropriately.

Focus Group:

Student Conferencing:

Whole 15 minutesStudents re-read a partner’s story to ensure they have used sentence boundary punctuation and capitalised appropriately.

Success CriteriaStudents have edited their Small Moment story to the best of their ability.

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gWhole – 10 minutes – editing spellingBrainstorm with students a list of ways they can find correct spelling of words they have misspelt, such as dictionary, word lists, have-a-go books, ask a teacher or google. Show how to underline words in their writing they think are spelt incorrectly.

Learning IntentionStudents to learn how to edit their work for spelling errors.

Part: 25 minute

Students independently edit their own work for correct spelling. Use a red coloured pencil during editing, for both underlining and writing correct words. Students should have enough room to write words above, as they should have only written on every second line.

Focus Group:

Student Conferencing:

Whole 15 minutesSome students read their whole story aloud to class.

Success Criteria Students have underlined incorrect spelling words in red and attempted to spell these words correctly using a variety of strategies.

FOUNDATIONConstruct texts using software including word processing programs (VCELY163)using simple functions of keyboard and mouse including typing letters, scrolling, selecting icons and drop-down menu

LEVEL ONEConstruct texts that incorporate supporting images using software including word processing programs (VCELY197creating digital images and composing a story or information sequence on screen using images and captions

adding images to digital written communications such as emails with pictures of self, classmates or location

LEVEL TWOConstruct texts featuring print, visual and audio elements using software, including word processing programs (VCELY233)experimenting with and combining elements of software programs to create texts

LEVEL THREEUse software including word processing programs with growing speed and efficiency to construct and edit texts featuring visual, print and audio elements (VCELY269)using features of relevant technologies to plan, sequence, compose and edit multimodal texts

The following activities you may like to include in your Small Moment writing unit: Students publish their small moment either Word Processing, digital story, newspaper or handwritten and turn into booklet form Author Profile – students write their own Author Biography to be included in their published small moment book Self – reflection – students’ reflection on their attempt at the Writing Process – brainstorming, planning, draft, revise, edit, publish Self-reflection on Small Moment structure – beginning, middle, end

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Sketch, Write, Revise, Edit, PublishStudents write a new small moment personal narrative, choosing a topic from their Writer’s Notebook. Ask students the steps involved in writing a small moment story and write these points on the board.Give students a chance to think and talk before sitting them at their tables.

Learning IntentionFor students to understand the whole process of creating a small moment personal narrative from thought to draft.

Part: 40 minutes

Students practise writing independently with 30 minutes of uninterrupted, silent writing. They sketch, then write their beginning, middle and conclusion. Students should be able to see the reminders for each of the different sections displayed – ie beginning – setting the scene, middle –show not tell, logical sequence, conclusion – thoughts/feelings.Students are given extra time and a blue pencil to revise their work and a red pencil to edit their work.

Student Conferencing: Observe students work habits during this time with a checklist begin work promptly, organised, etc

Whole 5 minutes. Share their work with a partner.

Success Criteria Students have used the writing process to complete a small moment story to the best of their ability.

Week 1 Session 1 – Small Moment introduction

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=small+moments+seed+story+youtube&qpvt=small+moments+seed+story+youtube&view=detail&mid=C12471DED87FE9E4C9B2C12471DED87FE9E4C9B2&FORM=VRDGAR

Week 1 Session 2 – Zooming in – camera lens

The term zooming in – show on Google Maps of Australia https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Australia/@-29.2335973,134.0557829,7z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x2b2bfd076787c5df:0x538267a1955b1352!8m2!3d-25.274398!4d133.775136 zoom in to smaller detail

Image of a camera lens https://www.google.com.au/search?q=long+camera+lens&biw=1366&bih=673&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih6MjSmd7NAhVBI2MKHcjrDWQQsAQIJA

Small Moment examples

Owl Moon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN8W05hBbSM

Roller Coaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GL8SbRdHk

Knuffle Bunny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZJko6pndAo

T-CHART – page 5 on this PDF https://inclusiveed.wikispaces.com/file/view/Grade+1+Small+moments.pdf

Transition Words variety of lists for teacher reference http://www.readingrockets.org/content/pdfs/transition%20words.pdf

http://www.smart-words.org/linking-words/linking-words.pdf

Week 1 Session 2 - Small Moment Ideas – written (These can be printed on cards for future use or during free writing time)

A time when I was scared…A time I was nervous…A time I was excited…

My first time in a pool….beach…..big slide….water slide…..plane…..new car…..A holiday small moment…..A time I was proud…One time on my bike….scooter…..skateboard…..rollerskates…..tricycle….motorbike….horse An event with a family member….grandparents…..cousins…..Hospital visit….Sporting goal….kick….mark….New neighbours……Unwrapping a present….Pet story……animal story……fishing story….Boat……car……caravan……truck storyPlayground….park….circus…..zoo

Small Moment Ideas – visual

(Take photos of images around your local area, where students may have experienced a small moment)

Week 2 Session 1 – Sketching beginning, middle, end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFWcSnRIAmc

Short 2 minute video on beginning, middle, end with a sketch for each part – just remind students the example is a fictional story, we are writing a small moment

which really happened. Use pencil only, sketch main parts and try to sketch action.

Partner Conferencing – questions to help

What was the weather like?

What could you see?

What could you smell?

What could you hear?

How were you feeling?

What were you thinking?

Was it night time or day time?