Primary Voices, Vol. 10, No. 2, October 2001

Table of Contents

Issue Theme: Drawing on Experience

• Message from the Editors

  Katie Wood Ray and Lester L. Laminack

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  Abstract: Illustrating the theme of this issue, "Drawing on Experience," in which teachers at King's Highway School share their experiences using sketch journals for themselves and their classes, the editors present "an art card."

  Keywords: Elementary

• Drawing on Experience: Connecting Art and Language

  Karen Ernst daSilva

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  Abstract: In the early grades, drawing is an important part of the literacy process. Children read pictures to understand, make pictures to tell what they mean, and write the pictures into words. Continuing to use drawing past those first developmental years not only helps students to make personal connections with their writing, but also results in more natural writing with a wider range.

  Keywords: Elementary, Language

• Revising Teaching: Drawing, Writing, and Learning with My Students

  Elizabeth Olbrych

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  Abstract: As a writer, Olbrych uses her sketch journal not only to reflect on her own life but to inform her classroom practice. Here she gives us an account of the evolution of artists-writers workshop throughout the year in her fourth-grade class.

  Keywords: Elementary, Writing

• Choice Matters

  Darcy Hicks

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  Abstract: Art teacher Darcy Hicks reveals how she structures choice and integrates reading and writing in her art classroom so that children can experience thinking and learning in ways that are personally meaningful. Offering several choices of medium and activities allows children to explore concepts during artists workshop that are within the contexts of their own lives and work.

  Keywords: Elementary

• Reading Ourselves

  Dawn Sherriff

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  Abstract: In her third-grade classroom, Sherriff helps her students "read their worlds" by incorporating poetry, picture books, and art into writers-artists workshop. Here she describes how she begins the school year with poetry, providing structures that allow children to experience and discover their own literacy connections through sketch journals.

  Keywords: Elementary, Reading

• Collecting Myself

  Peter von Euler

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  Abstract: Beginning to sense a disturbance in the balance between school and family, von Euler started a sketch journal to build a bridge between his personal and professional life. He describes how he writes and sketches in his own journal, and how he uses the technique in his fourth-grade classroom during writers-artists workshop.

  Keywords: Elementary, Reading

• Experience Is the Doorway

  Karen Ernst daSilva

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  Abstract: .What are the structures that make writers-artists workshop work at Kings Highway School? Here, daSilva outlines the steps to success in recreating the process in your classroom.

  Keywords: Elementary

* Journal articles are provided in PDF format and can be opened using the free Adobe® Reader® program or a comparable viewer. Click here to download and install the most recent version of Adobe Reader.