Writing with Thinking Maps

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having a co-worker do a writing lesson with my class.  She is the master when it comes to using Thinking Maps.  I love watching others teach, I become inspired and learn new ideas or ways to approach something.  I've been having difficulty moving my students along in their writing.  They know have some sight words under their belts, they are able to segment words in order to write the sounds, but getting them to write a complete sentence that doesn't begin with "I like my…" has been challenging.

To start off, Mrs G read my class a book titled On the Farm.  Then they created a circle map about all the things you might see on a farm.

Next they took the information from the Circle Map and put it into a Tree Map.  She was great at having the kids use the sentence frames when telling their ideas.  If you notice the first two thought sunder each heading are simple.  We can see the cows. and  There are tractors.  She then asked the students to be a little more descriptive with their thinking which led to We can pet the ducks and There are pigs rolling in the mud.

Then it was my turn to talk to the kids about their pictures and how their writing and their pictures needed to go together.  I asked them to write one sentence about something they could see or do if they went to a farm. We left the Tree Map up for the kids to refer to.  Depending on their writing level, some kids used it for help with spelling, others used it to copy and some didn't refer to it all.

Here are a few pages from our writing journals.  Overall, I was thrilled with the lesson, my kids enthusiasm and their final products.

Now I need to find more books to bring literature and writing together.  Having the literature really seemed to help my ELL kids.  It gave them a tether, something to hold onto and help them think about as they were writing.

Do you have favorite books you like to use to support your writing?  I'm compiling a list, so list away.