Lorraine Waterhouse's recipe for turning fourth-graders into writers won a bake-off of sorts when scores on the English Language Arts test came in May.

Not only did her 21 students pass the test, they were among the creme de la creme. Glencliff Elementary in Niskayuna, Schenectady County, was in the top 10 schools for percentage of kids performing at the highest level.

She is guided by Niskayuna's program of grade-level expectations, which prescribes skills expected of students each year.

Waterhouse said credit for helping her kids perform at such high levels deserves to be spread around. Her 24 years experience has taught her that "every parent who reads a book to their child, who talks and listens to their child, is helping them. The 1,000 Book program helps. Every classroom experience before my class has started them on the road." The book program encourages parents to read pre-school children up to 1,000 books by the time they enter kindergarten.

Waterhouse's students this fall received their first assignments on their last day of school as third-graders: Study geography on New York maps, read Sign of the Beaver and have a picture taken of a summer activity.

"The students' first writing assignment will be based on that picture," said Waterhouse. "First we work on getting their thoughts together. At the same time, we work on remembering details and improving their vocabulary. Then we work on improving their writing."

Those processes - organizing ideas; improving details and vocabulary; revising and editing - are the base for lessons throughout the year.

Organization

Explicitly stated standards are set forth on a checklist for each piece of writing. In the fall, the checklist includes: an attention grabber for the opening, details on when and where the story takes place, enough of a middle to prove your point, and an ending that closes the story and wraps up loose ends. Students are expected to use correct spelling, capitalization and punctuation.

Waterhouse, a member of the Niskayuna Teachers Association whose president is Sue Penny, advises teachers to use graphic organizers. These are pre-writing exercises, such as lists or flow charts, to prod students to organize their work. For example, when students read Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, they list six ways the big boys from Hardscrabble Settlement frightened the teacher for use in a writing assignment.

Focus on vocabulary

Improving vocabulary starts the first week of school, with brainstorming. Each class comes up with a list of words for "said." The record so far is 70, including suggested, declared and warned.

Students brainstorm descriptions and transitions. A June visit to the classroom found 50 words for big, 11 words to add information, and six words to compare information.

"I make it clear from the beginning that I want students to stretch," Waterhouse said. That also means understanding proverbs and idioms, even cliches. That leads to another brainstorming session on "excellent expressions." Students list as many as they can think of - pretty as a picture, drop in the bucket, the sky's the limit - and add to it throughout the year.

Waterhouse has lessons on powerful "sense" verbs, drawn from taste, sound and sight. Students write how it makes them feel when they smell turkey cooking or chocolate-chip cookies baking.

"I use those lessons for kids to see how powerful words can be," she said.

Taking notes

New York state now expects fourth-graders to take notes on articles they read and hear. From the first day of class, Waterhouse dictates assignments to hold kids accountable for listening.

"I don't write assignments on the board anymore," she said.

When reading articles, she directs students to underline words they don't know, details they like.

She has also incorporated note-taking into sessions when community members speak to the class.

As a group, students brainstorm what speakers meant and their main theme.

Personal connections

Students receive chapter assignments on Farmer Boy, comparing their most recent birthday party to Almanzo's birthday party and dinner at Almanzo's to dinner at their home.

Other assignments, made across the curriculum, ask students to read to perform a task:

• Locate Malone, Schenectady and Rexford on a state map;
• Lemonade costs a nickel in Almanzo's time. It costs $1.75 now. How much is a half-dollar worth in today's money?
• In the 1800s people harvested 20-inch blocks of ice. How many 1-inch ice cubes will the family get from one 20-inch cube?

Another essay asks children to illustrate a poster of a non-threatening alien in a meadow looking at a mouse. Students dream up questions they would ask the alien - Are you lost? What do you want? Why are you green and have three fingers? - before they write.

Keep raising the bar

Through the year, higher expectations are reflected in checklists. Writings must describe a smell, sound or taste; experiment with a vocabulary word; use at least one quotation, properly punctuated. By spring, the checklist has grown to 18 points, including the expectation that a character's feelings or thoughts are described. This prepares students to excel on the fourth-grade ELA test.

"At the beginning of the year, students write three lines and stop because their hand hurts," Waterhouse said. "By the end of the year, they're writing 10 pages and there is no stopping them."

- Sandberg