After two years of creating, conspiring, and co-writing, my writing assistant (Zac Kieser) and I have finished our Twice-Told Tales–Classic Stories With Spin-Off Versions for Read Aloud or Read Alone Fun. Just in time for Christmas gift giving and second semester classroom use! So what exactly is a “Twice-Told Tale”? And what is a book containing twenty of them? Let’s start with the Classic Tale first…..
It’s winter! That means snuggling under a fleece, matching sweatsuits on, and reading all day. (Okay, you don’t have to do the matching sweatsuits…but trust me, your kids will remember that when they are adults….um…..I’ve been told!)
I have a lot of material at the blog about reading aloud to your kids—unit studies, morning read aloud, Bible time, story time, family read aloud, and more. We did them all…nearly every day for twenty-five years….and I wouldn’t trade those hours for anything!
But there are logistics…especially if you are trying to do this with a large family…multiple ages and interests, etc.
In my Directed Writing Approach, every detail of every project is laid out for your student. None of my writing projects are “writing ideas” or “writing prompts.” Every writing assignment contains step-by-step instructions with much hand-holding along the way. The student is “directed” in how to write and what to write at all times—from brainstorming to research to outlining to rough draft and finally to revising.
That is where I start. The very basics. Catchy. Easy to recite. Simple to remember.
From there, we branch out to the explanation: Prepositions show position of one thing to something else.
Of course, prepositions show time, space, and direction (among other things) of one thing to another thing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Did you know that there is a group of pronouns called reflexive pronouns? I know, right? Not mentioned that often. I hardly remember studying them in school at all. And yet, we use them all the time—and even eloquent people use them wrong quite often. (How many interviews or speeches have you heard someone say, “Then my friend and myself….” or “He began talking to my friend and myself…” WRONG!
I’ve been teaching Major and Minor Works in every class and every private writing student meeting for two weeks now–and I feel like a broken record!
(Since I was teaching so much about it, I have provided teaching for my blog readers too—did you see these:
1) Color Essay Video Teaching (lots of detailed instruction on Major and Minor Works in the video AND the free lesson)
2) 5 Tips for Major and Minor Works From Language Lady (Yes, I got carried away and made a slideshow about it too!)
3) Tricky Tricks Download–print these off for your students!)
