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Ruth Ayers

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from Two Writing Teachers

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Creating Classroom Environments: Introducing Writer's Notebooks

Of all the wonderful things about starting a new school year - fresh school supplies, blank lesson plans, new classroom library books - my absolute favorite thing is introducing writer's notebooks to a new set of students. I decided many years ago that writer's notebooks should be introduced with a certain amount of celebration and fanfare. After all, I am trying to convince the students that their writer's notebook will soon become their most sacred, most beloved school supply. It surely deserves a little pomp and circumstance, no?

Here are 4 tips to help add a little flourish to your introduction of writer's notebooks.

1. Hold the notebooks.

If your students bring in a writer's notebook as part of their school supplies, consider collecting the notebooks on the first day of school and setting those aside. I know it is tempting to let students write in their writer's notebook on the first day of school. Teachers are eager for students to begin a heart map or a list of writing territories in their notebooks. However, I recommend holding the notebooks for a day or two while you build up some excitement. Wait until the students are clamoring to get their hands on a writer's notebook. Then, wait one more day.

2. Provide mentors.

Before students begin writing in their own writer's notebooks, you will want to show them some mentor notebooks. Students will need to see the possibilities a notebook can hold for them, and they need to envision what their own writer's notebook might look like. There are plenty of samples readily available online. Author Amy Ludwig Vanderwater hosts a one-of-a-kind website called Sharing Our Notebooks. Click around her website and you are sure to find many inspiring examples to show your students. This summer, she curated an amazing collection of writer's notebooks samples. Click here to access the collection. Show a few samples on your smart board or print some samples for groups of students to look over. You might be surprised what you can find when you peruse the web for samples of writer's notebooks. I mean, even Taylor Swift uses one!

3. Showcase your own writer's notebook.

Here is where you are guaranteed to hook 'em. Students love to peek inside their teacher's own personal writer's notebook. Show them all the writing you did this summer in your notebook. (You did write this summer, didn't you?!) Show them several different types of entries and invite them into your life as a writer. Click here for a peek inside one of my own writer's notebooks.

This is my favorite part about launching writer's notebooks. Thumbing through my past notebooks, showing the students some entries that I loved and entries I sometimes wish I could tear out, telling them stories about my daughters and my husband, and exposing my true self as a writer. They lean in with eagerness and wide eyes. And then...

4. Distribute the notebooks in a ceremony.

Usually on day three, four, or five of writing workshop, I stop mid-sentence as I am sharing my own notebook, look at the class solemnly, and ask, "You guys don't think you want writer's notebooks, too, do you?" Heads nod up and down. I take a deep breath and a long pause. "Okay, yes. I think you're ready." I hit play on my iPhone and let the sounds of a song chosen specifically for the occasion fill the room. (For a great list of song ideas, see Beth's post titled, " Songs for Celebrating Writing." You could also use a familiar favorite such as "Pomp and Circumstance.") As the music plays, students come up one by one to receive their notebook. I shake each student's hand as I hand him or her the notebook. "Congratulations, writer," I whisper to each student.

After the ceremony ends, I gather everyone on the carpet once again. "So, writers," I ask them, "what will your first entry look like?" After a few minutes of sharing, I will send them off to write. I smile as they walk to their writing spots, clutching their new writer's notebooks to their chests.

Let's chat on Monday, August 10th at 8:30 p.m. EDT , when the eight of us host a Twitter Chat about classroom environments. Just search and tag #TWTBlog to participate.

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Of all the wonderful things about starting a new school year - fresh school supplies, blank lesson plans, new classroom library books - my absolute favorite thing is introducing writer's notebooks to a new set of students. I decided many years ago that writer's notebooks should be introduced with a certain amount of celebration and fanfare.

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Amy VanDerwater's blog. 6th grade teacher, Michelle Haseltine, had her students blog about their notebooks on Amy's page. Check them out!!

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Hi Friends, I have been away from this space for some time, but I will be back beginning September 2021. While I adored being a classroom teacher, I also missed writing and teaching from here. I am no longer in the classroom, but instead you will find me here and at The Poem Farm. If you are interested in sharing your notebook, please just let me know. See you soon! xo, Amy

I know that some of you are home from school these days, and I hope you will find some new notebooking ideas here. I love keeping a notebook for writing, for drawing, for making a place for ideas and dreams and wishes and facts and feelings. This blog is home to many peeks into others' notebooks, and in each post you will find photos, notebooking-thoughts, and an idea to try. Feel free to poke around, notebook by your side, and explore your own brain and heart. Sometimes we don't know what we really think until we write. If you like writing poetry, feel free to visit my other site, full of poem writing ideas - www.poemfarm.amylv.com xxxx, Amy

Readers - if you or one of your students or friends keeps a notebook and would like to share in this space, please send an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com. I welcome your contributions and will send you the post specs for this blog.

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Hi Friends, I have been away from this space for some time, but I will be back beginning September 2021. While I adored being a classroom teacher, I also missed writing and teaching from here. I am no longer in the classroom, but instead you will find me here and at The Poem Farm.

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This a found poem from our attendance question that inspired me to write in my notebook more.

By making a list my imagination grows bigger and bigger for more ideas to write a story. The question can be deep or it can be a simple question but whatever it is you can make it as creative as you want!

Thank you again to these writers from Michelle Haseltine's sixth-grade classes, for taking over Sharing Our Notebooks this month. What a delight! Please check in each Saturday morning in May to see who wins each week's notebook giveaway!

Please know that Sharing Our Notebooks welcomes all kinds of notebook keepers - of any age and interest - to open up their pages and share their process. If you are interested in writing in this space, please contact me, Amy, directly. I welcome you!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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This a found poem from our attendance question that inspired me to write in my notebook more. By making a list my imagination grows bigger and bigger for more ideas to write a story. The question can be deep or it can be a simple question but whatever it is you can make it as creative as you want!

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Chartchums

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At Chartchums we use yoga as a way to stretch our bodies and calm our minds. Many yoga classes we attend begin with the chanting of ōm, a mantra that helps bring the mind, body and spirit together for the individual and a sense of combined purpose for all those in the class.

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Chartchums

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Hi again! We are back with a bonus mid-week post to give some more tips on drawing for your charts that will help every child in your classroom achieve independence in learning. We have also noticed quite a few new visitors, so before we get to the drawing bits, we would like to take a...

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Amy VanDerwater shares a list of practical ideas to get writers excited about filling the pages of their notebook.

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This fabulous list of notebooking ideas grew from a request by teacher and writer All are invited to contribute to the list, and if you are willing to share an idea, just click
Kimberley Moran in May 2015. It started as a place to gather ideas for summer notebooking, but these are not only summer ideas. They are notebooking ideas for all year long!
If you're ever not sure how to get started writing in your notebook, simply visit one of the below links and try out one of the getting-going ideas. Some will resonate with you more than others, and this is as it should be. But we can learn from each other, and such learning only happens through sharing and trying.
here.
Please feel free to share this site with any friends you have - adult or student - as the more contribute, the richer our list will be. This is a co-op of writers notebook ideas, and we're all members.
Above you will find two bookmark documents. Simply print back to back, and you'll find your way back here easily.
Just click any entry and...happy notebooking! May you discover more of who you are as you move your pen (or pencil or crayon) across the page...

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This fabulous list of notebooking ideas grew from a request by teacher and writer All are invited to contribute to the list, and if you are willing to share an idea, just click Kimberley Moran in May 2015. It started as a place to gather ideas for summer notebooking, but these are not only summer ideas.

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With classroom-tested tips from our Curricular Resources authors on how to improve your teaching of writing at any grade level, each Writing Masters installment will share author insights and practical suggestions on teaching writing in the classroom that you can use the very next day. This week in the Writing Master series, Ralph Fletcher goes on a ramble and promotes using the writer's notebook.

Ralph Fletcher

I've got a new passion: photography. Taking lots of pictures these days. One of my favorite things is to go on a "ramble." I load my camera equipment into my car and drive. If I see an intriguing spot I stop. Sometimes I pull out my camera and take some photos. Other times I poke around a bit, find little to interest me, get back in the car, and keep driving. What I cherish is having the freedom to meander and stop wherever and whenever I want. It feels almost like being a kid again.

Going on a ramble feels similar to keeping a writer's notebook. "Writing should be like riding a bike down a hill," Don Murray once said. "You're zooming along, trying to keep your balance." I have always liked this description. I want to feel easy and comfortable and generous with myself when I write. "At ease!" I tell my troops. I cut myself some slack when I write in my notebook.

Google lets its employees devote 20% of their time to projects of their choosing. (This has led to some of their best creations, including Gmail.) I admire this idea and take it even further in my writer's notebook, where I devote not 20% but 100% of my time and efforts on what I want to write about.

And who knows: maybe it could eventually become a book.

Self-indulgent? You bet! Lately I've been taking lots of photos of hummingbirds. In my notebook I'm constantly writing about them: impressions, sounds, flashes of light, facts, migratory patterns, etc. A friend who saw me jotting in my notebook asked, "Are you working on a book?" Well, no, not now. Maybe not ever. But I have learned that if I'm fascinated with a subject I can sometimes write well about it. And who knows: maybe it could eventually become a book.

My notebook is a potpourri of life-stuff, full of anecdotes, off-beat experiences, irritations, dreams, ideas for poems and books, worries, speculations, and goals. Sometimes after a wonderful dinner I might record exactly what I ate and drank. When my kids were young I used my notebook to detail the particulars of family life.

Here's an entry I wrote when my boys were small.

I've noticed that Joseph and Robert go through a box of Popsicles in a definite order.
First they eat all the cotton candy
Next: bubble gum
Next: watermelon
Next: fruit punch
Next: lemonade
Next: grape
When I go to the freezer I just grab a grape Popsicle so I won't upset anyone.

A novel by Anne Tyler has hundreds of these details, which are absolutely necessary to create fiction with a ring of truth. My writer's notebook is crucial to my process. It's where I gather "sleeper cells" and larvae, some of which emerge and pupate into books.

Many teachers have brought the writer's notebook into the classroom and seen how it can help young writers. I have a special interest in nurturing boy writers, and have written several books about that subject. For boys, the writer's notebook presents challenges as well as opportunities. If teachers stress the notebook as a diary to vent and pour out feelings, well, some boys might recoil from that idea. I have had better luck describing the notebook as a place to collect stuff: facts, stats, quips, jokes, rock lyrics, artifacts, drawings. Many boys (as well as girls) are collectors and seem to resonate with the notebook as a kind of "shoebox" for collecting.

The writer's notebook is not "the" tool in the writing classroom, but it's a powerful tool you'll want your kids to have. It gives students a safe, private place where they can find their stride as writers. So much is "done to" kids in school. The writer's notebook is a place where they can do the doing, where they can write with ease and confidence, where they can experience pleasure, and find their stride as writers.

Ralph's resources for the writer's notebook:

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Ralph Fletcher has been a mentor to teachers and young writers everywhere. Ralph's latest Heinemann books continue this tradition. What a Writer Needs, Second Edition mentors teachers and writers in the elements and craft of writing. Mentor Author, Mentor Texts brings inspiration to teachers and students by sharing Ralph's own writing across numerous genres plus writer's notes that reveal his thinking.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Next week Carol Jago shares tips on engaging the unengaged writer.

Click here to see the full Writing Masters Blog Series lineup, and, using the form below, sign up for email alerts when each new blog is posted.

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Writing Masters: Keeping A Writer's Notebook with Ralph Fletcher

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With classroom-tested tips from our Curricular Resources authors on how to improve your teaching of writing at any grade level, each Writing Masters installment will share author insights and practical suggestions on teaching writing in the classroom that you can use the very next day.

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Looking around Instagram and Pinterest, there are so many styles of lettering. It can be overwhelming. In this post, I'll show you 9 super simple lettering styles you can try in your bullet journal.

*This post may contain Affiliate Links. Please see my Disclosure for more information.

Being honest, lately, I've been slacking in the Bujo Department. But, I'm killing it in the practicing doodling and lettering department. I've been so hooked on creativity and artsy stuff lately, that my planning has fallen by the wayside. I should just write, "spend all day doodling and lettering" on my to-do list.

However, it's March. It's a fresh start. I'm cracking down on my planning routine. But, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop doodling on every piece of paper and practicing my lettering multiple times a day.

In today's post, I'm going to show you some very simple lettering styles you can start using in your bullet journal right away. You don't need any fancy supplies. A black pen, a pencil, and an eraser will do the trick. Having something to add color and a small strip of washi can be helpful, but it's not required.

The following styles of lettering are easy to recreate. Be sure to check out the tutorial video embedded near the bottom of this post. I'm using Tombow Fude Pens

and Tombow Mono Drawing Pens

(01, 03, 05) for these styles. I received these pens in my recent Well Inked Box, which was sent to me complimentary.

This box is a quarterly art subscription box out of Canada. I have received two of these boxes and have been over the moon about both. The first was a watercolor box that came with watercolors, a brush, a brush holder, and watercolor paper. That box gave me the push I needed to try my hand at watercolor. And I'm so glad I did. The second box is for the journaler, letterer, and doodler. So it's pretty much MY box. I did an unboxing in my lettering video below that you can check out.

1). Faux-Block Lettering with Serifs

I use this style frequently in my bullet journal. It's very simple, yet very bold. To create this style, simply draw a rectangle in place of the lefthand stroke of a letter. In the instance that you have a letter with a stem, like capital T, you would turn the stem into a rectangle. Then, to add serifs, just add small dash marks to the ends of the strokes of each letter.

2). Faux-Block Lettering with Curls

Just like the style above, you will create rectangles in place of the lefthand stroke of each letter. Then, at the end of the stroke, add a single curl. You can add designs inside your faux-block letters if you wish.

3). Block Lettering With a Shadow

When creating block lettering, the one thing you should keep in mind is that you are no longer writing. You are drawing. Draw out your letters. Afterward, you will add your shadow. To add a shadow, imagine a light source. In my example, the light source would be on the upper righthand side, because the shadow is casting down and to the left. You can imagine your light source coming from wherever you want. Just be sure to stay consistent with which side of the letter strokes you add your shadow to.

4). Negative Space Block Lettering

This is a very simple lettering style. Draw you block letters as you did in the previous style. Then, draw a rectangle, square, circle, or another shape around your letters. Fill in the shape with a black pen or marker, leaving the letters hollow.

5). Bubble Lettering

Instead of creating square corners on your letters, make them round to create this style. Then, much like the shadow above, you are going to draw a line on the outside of each letter. Be consistent with the side you add your line to. Some artists call this a floating shadow. Finally, add some rounded lines and dots on the interior of the letters. This gives it a 3D rounded feel.

6). Expanded Script

This lettering style is very simple. Take your normal cursive writing, stretch it out and make it more angled. This style looks really good paired with one of the bolder lettering styles above.

7). Tall and Skinny

This is my go-to writing style when I'm in a hurry and don't want to create anything too elaborate. Make your letters very tall and skinny. Then, with any letter that has a curved terminal (t, e, c), extend it up higher. You can also bring certain strokes down further like I've done with the lowercase A above.

8). Sticker Letters

These are very fun and can add a playful look to your headers or to certain words in a quote. Write out your letters in a simple font. Then, add a bubbly outline around the letters. To add depth, create shadows around the outline the same as you did with the block letters above.

9). Lined Shadow

Start with any font you'd like. I used a simple script font. Then, like the block letters with a shadow above, imagine your light source. Instead of adding a thick line to the outside of each letter, add short diagonal lines, mimicking a shadow.

Simple Lettering Styles Process Video + Well Inked Box Review

Be sure to check out the process video on these simple lettering styles, and get an inside look at the Well Inked Box.

Last Tips

If you are looking to get into brush lettering and improve your skills, I highly recommend checking out Loveleigh Loops E-Courses. Jillian and Jordan are extraordinary women with incredible combined lettering knowledge. Whether you want to stick to the more traditional calligraphy style or the more modern bounce brush lettering, they are amazing. I have been going through their Letter Logic Course and it has helped me improve my lettering tenfold.

Let me know what you would like to see more of on The Petite Planner. You can contact me with your comments or suggestions on my About Page.

Have you signed up for the VIP Resource Library yet? You get access to all of my free printables, plus exclusive content directly in your inbox.

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9 Simple Lettering Styles for Your Bullet Journal - The Petite Planner

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Looking around Instagram and Pinterest, there are so many styles of lettering. It can be overwhelming. In this post, I'll show you 9 super simple lettering styles you can try in your bullet journal. *This post may contain Affiliate Links. Please see my Disclosure for more information.

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What do you want to use? Markers? Scissors? Glue?

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Watch the video of Jack introducing his book to you.

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With the signature wit and humor that have garnered him legions of fans, Gantos instructs young writers on using their "writing radar" to find story ideas in their own lives. Incorporating his own misadventures as a developing writer, Gantos inspires readers to build confidence and establish good writing habits as they create and revise their stories.

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A few weeks ago, I presented an hour-long workshop to our district's elementary special education para-professionals. These are the people who work with our most struggling students, frequently in a one-to-one or small group setting. These people do intense and critically important work for our district, and, more importantly, for children.

One of the greatest challenges of their work is building independence with a population that tends to be dependent. As a district, we assign one-to-one para support only when a student is so impaired that he/she needs constant support. Therefore, talking to them about ways to build independence with their students seems almost like an impossibility--a foray into an oxymoron. That being said, I have been in classrooms since this workshop, and I have tried to help some of the paras figure out ways that they can move away from students, but have those students continue to get some writing done.

To have students, at any level, work successfully on their own, educators at all levels should understand the four components of an effective writing conference. The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project has an incredible collection of videos of instruction, including one of Jennifer Serravallo conferring with a fifth-grader about considering audience. While the skill may not be relevant for all elementary students, this short clip is a powerful example of the structure of a writing conference.

1. Research: Ask the student questions-

"What are you working on?"

"How is it going?"

During the research part of the conference, the student should be doing most of the talking. This is also an important time to remember that the teaching is about the student and not about the writing piece. If there are flaws in the writing piece (and there will be), we are not trying to make the piece better; we are trying to teach the student how to make this piece and future pieces better.

2. Compliment: Find something specific to tell the student that he/she is doing well. I have found it extra effective to do this step loudly enough so that other students working in the immediate vicinity hear it and are reminded by it. Really effective comments can incorporate some of the teaching points from recent workshops.

"You are working so hard to use proper capitalization rules! Look at how you have capitalized....!"

"Look at the amount of writing you have done! You really have worked on our lesson of keeping your pencil moving--wow!"

"Love that you are trying out different beginnings in your writing!"

3. Teaching point: Both student and educator should walk away from the conference knowing the explicit learning that has happened that will help not only the current piece of writing, but also future pieces of writing. This is a responsive moment in the conference, and an incredible opportunity for differentiation. It's not about the minilesson--it's about what that student needs at that time. Some examples, thinking across different grades and genres are:

"I want to show you how writers stretch out words so that readers can read their pieces."

"Let's take a bit of a challenge here. Sometimes writers slip in word for word quotes from books in order to make their points stronger."

"When we write stories, sometimes writers slip in background information about characters within the action."

4. Next Steps: Speaking of accountability, this is folded into next steps.

I love the line "I'll be back and I want to see the evidence of my great teaching." Students laugh at this one.

"Moving forward in your writing, you have a new challenge--here's what it is..."

"I have a post-it and I'm writing down what you are working on so that you remember on this piece of writing and on future writing pieces, as well."

I created a chart that could help remembering the steps of a conference and I could even see teaching students with it. It is important for students, as well as educators, to know their responsibilities in a conference.

Conferring is a wonderful tool to use in order to build independent writers, and each step is so important to the end goal of stepping away from the student with a mutual understanding of purpose and intent.

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A few weeks ago, I presented an hour-long workshop to our district's elementary special education para-professionals. These are the people who work with our most struggling students, frequently in a one-to-one or small group setting. These people do intense and critically important work for our district, and, more importantly, for children.