Download Mini-Lesson on Predictable Charts

Mini-Lesson on Predictable Charts
Mini-Lesson
“Mini-lessons are explicit and focuses on lessons that the teacher creates to demonstrate
a particular skill or strategy. The demonstrations are planned according to the needs of the class
as a whole. This means that the teacher must recognize that some children will need additional
support beyond the mini-lessons, while a smaller group of children may already understand the
skill being taught. (This is the compromise teachers must make anytime we teach to a whole
class.) Yet, the mini-lesson plays an important role in writers’ workshop because it provides the
teacher with a daily context for teaching children critical skills and particular content for success in
writing. During the lesson, the teacher carefully observes her students and makes mental notes of
those who might need extra support during writing conferences and small-group assisted writing
lessons. Mini-lessons are designed to be specific and brief, lasting on average about ten
minutes.” (p. 36)
Mini- lessons are typically divided into two areas. First the teacher demonstrates a
specific writing skill or strategy. Then the teacher coaches the students to apply what has been
demonstrated to a piece of writing. (p.48)
Mini-lessons can be divided into 4 broad categories in writing: organization (what to do),
strategies (how to do), skills (specific what to do) , and author’s craft (how to write for an
audience. Dorn, L. & Soffos, C. (2001) Scaffolding Young Writers: a Writer’s Workshop
Approach, p. 36.
Five-Day Cycle for Predictable Charts
Today, we are quickly in ten minutes reviewing the format for using predictable charts.
Day 1 and 2: Dictation of sentences.
The teacher reads a book, introduces a topic, students have been on field trip, or etc. The teacher gives the
students a pattern or model sentence to follow. The children dictate their sentences using the model given,
and the teacher writes the sentence on a large piece of chart paper, putting the children’s names in
parentheses at the end. The teacher lets the children read their sentences back as she points to the words.
Day 3: Touch reading the sentences and matching words.
The teacher asks the students to “touch read” their own sentences on the chart. Touching each word as they
read the sentence, helps students to track print.
(Can also ask students to count the words in the sentence. The number of times a certain letter occurs in the
sentence. The longest word. The shortest word. Discuss capitalization and punctuation.)
Make and give students their sentence cut-up in clear plastic bags. Have students match their cut-up
sentences on the predictable chart.
Day 4: Sentence Builders
Using three of the cut up sentences, including the students’ names, pass out the words to as many of the
children as there are words. Tell students they are going to build sentences from the words they have in
their hands. The students come up to the front of the class and order themselves by the words in the
sentence. Do this one sentence as a time. (can have the students find certain words. Look for words that
begin or end with certain letters. Discuss where the word(s) beginning with capital letters go in the structure
of the sentence. Discuss where the word with the punctuation at the end of the word goes in the sentence.
Etc.)
Day 5: Making a Class Book
Begin by letting the students read their sentences from the chart, one sentence at a time, and then let the
class read the chart together with you. After reading, give each student his/her cut up sentence. Model
gluing your sentence on a blank piece of paper – at the bottom of the page. Have the students glue their
own sentences on the paper. Have the students draw a picture of their sentences in the space above the
pasted words. The teacher makes a book cover and staples/binds the pages together. The class book can
be added to the class library.
You may want to have the students write their own sentence at the bottom of the page, instead of pasting
the cut-up sentence on the page.
Predictable charts are a way for teachers to write with children and help students see themselves as
readers, and writers. Predictable Chart lessons can be easily developed as multi-level. For example, some
students learn that what they say can be written in words. Other students learn that you write from left to
right, starting at the top of the page and work to the bottom. Other students will learn how to structure
sentences using capital letters at the beginning and punctuation at the end. Teachers can focus on a
specific skill to demonstrate as she writes down the dictated sentence.
Hall, D. & Williams, D. Predictable Charts: Shared Writing for Kindergarten and First Grade. pp. 3-19.