Reading to Write

Reading to Write

Some teachers and parents complain that their students or children cannot write. Big problem! 

Guess what? This is a secret so please keep it confidential. Some teachers and some parents don't know how to write either!

The solution is simple. Read first, write later. Children and adults who read widely are usually well-informed, have a wide vocabulary, and have an instinctive understanding of grammar.

The bridge that connects Reading and Writing is a writing class in which a teacher who knows (1) how to write and (2) how to teach writing allows the students to stumble and fall. But the teacher gives constructive feedback and cheers the students to get back on their feet. Then run and sprint!

Bella's writing ability at this point is at the beginners' level. But she loves to read! 

She loves to read so much that she reads her picture books, Bible stories, math books, etc. long after everyone has gone to bed.

She loves reading aloud and acting out different scenes. She had a lot of fun reading this particular book:

http://trellian.cachefly.net/girl_images/bigarticles/whosafraidbadbook.jpg

Written by Lauren Child, it is a post-modern picture book. No, I didn't tell Bella and the other kids that they were reading a post-modern book. That's the amazing and interesting thing about it. They took to the book like fish takes to water!

Free Writing Output by Bella

"I Was Lost in the Big Z O O!"

by Ysabella Anne C. Asuncion

April   , 2015

"I was lost in the big zoo." This was the writing prompt which I gave the kids for their first free writing activity. This was what Bella wrote:

I was lost in the big zoo when we went there one summer. I kept looking at the koalas until I relized (sic) that Mom, Dad, and Lucas were out of sight. I felt sad and started to cry. The animals stared at me. I cried louder and louder till my Dad found me.

Bella's Acrostic Poem

B E L L A

by Ysabella Anne C. Asuncion

May 1, 2015

B - eautiful

E - xcellent Singer

L - ovely Lady

L - oving Dawter (sic)

A - spiring Artist

Note:  I keep a child's "invented spelling" to document his/her development. In this case, Bella invented "dawter" based on the sound of  the word. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Mother's Day

by 

Katherine Caye C. Pablo

May 1, 2015

We read a Mother's Day poem, together with other poems. When it was time for the children to write, I didn't tell them to write a Mother's Day poem. When I was a kid, I always felt "pressured" to write one and I thought whatever I wrote lacked sincerity.

The poem which Kat wrote is straight from the heart, I'm sure. She wrote it on lined pad paper, then she drew a heart on two sheets of lined pad paper. She asked me to help her cut the hearts. Then she taped them together which gave her a heart-shaped card. And last, she cut what she had written and taped it on the inner heart.


Mother's Day is a 
time for Moms everywere (sic) 
too (sic) rest, Have fun and enjoy 
their family time together.
Especially you, Mom.
So please take a brake! (sic)

Putting Together a Story

by 

Katherine Caye C. Pablo

April 18, 2015

I gave the kids a mini-lecture on how to put together a story:

1.There must be a setting in which the main characters are introduced. 

2. Then a problem crops up which the characters try to solve. 

3. Finally, the problem is solved and the story ends.

This was what Kat wrote: 

Taeyon breaks her leg and cant (sic) perform in the concert unles (sic) she rests her legs for 3 days. Then she rested for 3 days and is able to perform in the concert in the Philippine Arena in Malolos.

I told Kat that her readers need to know how the story began. What is the setting? Who are the other main characters? What brought about Taeyon's accident? 

Kat wrote two more paragraphs:

Taeyon took her dog for a walk.Then she got hungry. She looked for a food store. When she found one she went their (sic). While buying, Taeyon's dog ran away.

She chased after her dog and fell down. When she fell, she twisted her leg and went to the hospital.

I was impressed with Kat's ability to put together her story's beginning, middle, and end. But she began with the end. Don't we all do that sometimes? 

Lovely City

by

Katherine Caye C. Pablo

April 18, 2015

Kat is Sam's younger sister. Kat's 1st free writing output was very short. It was probably her first time to do free writing. This one, her second free writing output, was much longer. She seems to be frugal with written words. (definitely not when she has someone to talk to!)  Take note of the nobility of her innocent vision. Ah, if only...

In a lovely city, their (sic) was a big pile of dump. One day, a child said let's clean up the dump. The next morning, people came to the dump and started cleaning up the dump. The dump started getting smaller until it's clean and they turned it into a park!

They Need Help!

                                                                 by
                                  Samantha Kaye C. Pablo
                                              May 1, 2015

Sam wrote this poem in class, in response to poems with a social message, notably Janet S. Wong's "Speak up." 


              Looking outside my window
       I saw a boy outside. I checked
       what he was doing. A trash can
       did I see. He picked a can 
       from a noodle soup treat.

             A bottle with no water.
       He opened it right up, shook
       it toward his dry lips, on the drooling
       hungry mouth. I sighed and wondered.

             What other things does he do, to try
       to live every day. Imagine all the food he
       eats from a dirty garbage can. All the heat
       they go through, to search and beg for food.

              They need to go to church, they'll 
        love it there. But how can I convince them?
                        How can I help?