Reading Like a Writer

Today we continued to work more on our Cynthia Rylant-ish writing project. We worked on reading like a writer. We have actually done this before but I wanted the students to work on naming some other techniques in Rylant's writing. Below are some of the sentences that we looked at the first time we worked on reading like a writer.

• The earth has rained and snowed and blossomed and wilted and yellowed and greened and vined itself all around him.

• Then the skies break open into blue and white and yellow and pink, and it like one great long breath of freedom and air.

• His hat is borrowed, his suit is borrowed, his hands are borrowed, even his head is borrowed. 

• He has been with the owls in the evening and the rabbits at dawn. He has watched a spider work for hours making a web like lace. He has seen the sun tremble and the moon lie still.

I still find it amazing what the students are able to notice and figure out when they look at great writing. They can easily figure out what Rylant is doing, why she is doing it, what they might name it, if they have done it themselves, and finally if they have seen other authors use the technique. You can find the two Reading Like a Writer worksheets in the writing folder to see all of this great work.

Students are finally getting the chance to pick the one idea from their writer's notebook they are going to turn into their next writing project. They are working on adding those final little pieces of Rylant-ish writing that are going to make their projects shine. This might be a great time to look through the writer's notebook at home. You could ask to see what Rylant techniques they have decided to try in their writing and how they are planning to create their next piece of writing.

I hope you had a great start to your week.