They say pride is a bad thing, but if it is wrong, then I don't want to be right!
Last week I felt myself brimming with pride as I listened to all of your children present, to their classmates, their first ever published writing assignments.
This year, we have been working a lot on the basic conventions of writing. We started at the foundation with proper pencil grip, and worked our way up through the skills ladder. The kids learned where to put uppercase and lowercase letters, placing periods, and that spaces go between words. We work a lot on both inventive spelling and copying, as well as sight word rapid recognition and spelling. All of this work went into creating their first published pieces.
Once we were ready, we began working on our first writing unit: opinion writing. Our opinions were going to center around Mo Willems' books, specifically which book character the kids preferred. To prepare, we read lots of Mo books...maybe 15 or so. We read them character by character, beginning first with Pigeon, his most popular books.
As we read through the books, we wrote practice papers. For each set of character books we read through, the kids would write their opinion about which book was the best. Eventually we would add a sentence about why they had that opinion.
When we had finally read through all of the Pigeon/Duckling, Knuffle Bunny, and Elephant & Piggy books, the kids had the task of choosing their favorite character of them all! The writing required 3 full sentences using both copying of sentence starters from the board and their own inventive spelling to complete their thoughts. The kids had to state their favorite character, why that character is the best, and a time in the book that they exemplify that trait.
We spent about a week of writing time on the first drafts. Then, we worked together to find misplaced uppercase letters, parts without spaces between words, and errors in the spelling of words that were meant to be copied properly. Once errors were found, edits were made and composed into a final draft. The kids had their first visual improvement of their writing happening before their eyes and they became increasingly motivated to become great writers as each day passed. Once their final draft was complete, they got to draw and color a picture to accompany their piece.
Finally, they got to present their work to their classmates. They read what they wrote with very little assistance from me, and showed their artwork. I made copies of their work which you saw a few days ago as they made their way home, and their original copies will be laminated and bound into a book which we will keep in the classroom library for Daily 5 and pleasure reading!
Last week I felt myself brimming with pride as I listened to all of your children present, to their classmates, their first ever published writing assignments.
This year, we have been working a lot on the basic conventions of writing. We started at the foundation with proper pencil grip, and worked our way up through the skills ladder. The kids learned where to put uppercase and lowercase letters, placing periods, and that spaces go between words. We work a lot on both inventive spelling and copying, as well as sight word rapid recognition and spelling. All of this work went into creating their first published pieces.
Once we were ready, we began working on our first writing unit: opinion writing. Our opinions were going to center around Mo Willems' books, specifically which book character the kids preferred. To prepare, we read lots of Mo books...maybe 15 or so. We read them character by character, beginning first with Pigeon, his most popular books.
As we read through the books, we wrote practice papers. For each set of character books we read through, the kids would write their opinion about which book was the best. Eventually we would add a sentence about why they had that opinion.
When we had finally read through all of the Pigeon/Duckling, Knuffle Bunny, and Elephant & Piggy books, the kids had the task of choosing their favorite character of them all! The writing required 3 full sentences using both copying of sentence starters from the board and their own inventive spelling to complete their thoughts. The kids had to state their favorite character, why that character is the best, and a time in the book that they exemplify that trait.
We spent about a week of writing time on the first drafts. Then, we worked together to find misplaced uppercase letters, parts without spaces between words, and errors in the spelling of words that were meant to be copied properly. Once errors were found, edits were made and composed into a final draft. The kids had their first visual improvement of their writing happening before their eyes and they became increasingly motivated to become great writers as each day passed. Once their final draft was complete, they got to draw and color a picture to accompany their piece.
Finally, they got to present their work to their classmates. They read what they wrote with very little assistance from me, and showed their artwork. I made copies of their work which you saw a few days ago as they made their way home, and their original copies will be laminated and bound into a book which we will keep in the classroom library for Daily 5 and pleasure reading!
The kids were so proud of themselves and each other, and I was so proud of them, too. It couldn't be avoided. They did their best work and put forth their best effort to get to some fantastic finished products. Since the days we spent sharing their work, they have been incredibly motivated to write.
We are now starting our next writing unit, and I CAN'T WAIT to see what great things our little authors accomplish along the way!
We are now starting our next writing unit, and I CAN'T WAIT to see what great things our little authors accomplish along the way!