Voice


 * Voice **

 []

 Voice is found throughout one's piece of writing. It gives a sense that a person is truly speaking and cares about the writing. Voice gives the writing it's own personality. It truly keeps the reader wanting to read more. Several activities promote the use of voice. Students can be exposed to several forms of a story such as "Three Little Pigs" and the class can discuss how the voice was different in each piece. Another activity compares voice in music. Students can listen to [|I Will Survive] by Gloria Gaynor and Cake, then decide who had the stronger voice. Students can choose one character in a story and rewrite the story from that character's viewpoint

Voice Picture Books

 Alexander, Who’s Not Going to Move by Judith Viorst Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney Koko’s Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco Stellaluna by Janell Cannon The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles The Teacher From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activities: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">* Use two contrasting artistic pieces have students use a Venn diagram to describe the similarities and differences. Write a few sentences about the voice of the pieces. Discuss as a class. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">* Read two pieces of writing, one containing lots of voice the other having weak voice. Have the students identify the strong voice piece and the weak voice piece. Have students talk about the two pieces in terms of likeability and voice. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">* Have students write a persuasive piece using voice. Have them chose a topic that is near and dear to their hearts. Put these pieces into a class book entitled, Let us Persuade You. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">* Have students sit in a circle on the ground start the game by having students close their eyes. Have one student be 'it' and chose one person to touch gently on the head. This will give the signal to that student to share their 'I love/hate statement'. Have others guess who is talking. Continue this game until everyone has had a turn. After the game talk about how voices were easy or hard to recognize. Discuss how the voice was one clue to the person but the statement was another big clue. Many times the student would have been recognized by statement alone. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">* After reading one of the voice picture books have the students form some opinions of the author. Ask the students to describe the author and draw a picture of him/her. Use sections of the book to back up students' opinions. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">* After reading many voice picture books have students make a list of other words that describe voice. (angry, passionate, loving, hate, charming, thoughtful, kind) Post this as a wall poster for students to reference, Voice is... |

Return to home page