It was a PERFECT day to celebrate writing in 4th grade by "camping out." The teachers had set up camp chairs, fishing poles, camp fires and tents. The kids were reeled in for some fun crafts of writing! Helen White, their fantastic Literacy Coach, planned out, with the help of the teachers and myself, 5 different stations for the students to choose from. We had 3 rotations so it was asked that the students choose wisely, based on what they each felt was needed the most in their own writing.
I taught the craft of applying transitional words and phrases to connect from one idea to the next in an orderly fashion. Meanwhile, the other teachers taught snapshots w/leads and conclusions, Ba-da-Bings, strong verbs, and From kernal to draft. The kids use "then, next, finally" quite frequently. In fact, "and then," pops up about every other sentence. So, I thought it would be fun to pass out a transitional words tool sheet that reminds the kids of better alternatives to the overused transitions. We talked about some of the words they came up with, such as - Nevertheless, Meanwhile, back at the …, Consequently, etc. The kids realized that there's so much more out there in the world that's available in their own writing.
Here comes the best part - storytelling time. I told each group the old folktale "The Dark, Dark, Woods," but I modified it and slipped in as many transitional words and phrases as I could, based on the words and phrases chosen earlier by the kids. I asked the kids to stay focused during the tale so they could flip their thumbs up when they heard me use the transitional words/phrased to bridge from idea to idea. What a blast! The story only took about 5 minutes but it certainly helped the kids understand the beauty of the placement of these words. I've included a simple text below. Just know, that I changed it around with each telling. Consequently, the kids kept me on my toes!
In conclusion, I highly recommend you trying this activity yourself or another, using storytelling as your hook to the concept being taught. It works!
| sue's_version_of_dark_dark_woods.pdf |
| list_of_transitions.pdf |
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