Sunday, November 23, 2008

Questions and Answers

We are currently focusing on writing Question and Answer Non-Fiction in Writing Workshop. For this unit I am again drawing ideas from First Grade Writers by Stephanie Parsons. After reading several books of this type and analyzing them, we have begun working to write our own. I have done mini-lessons on generating a question that one is interested in and has some knowledge about, as well as the ability to learn more. Then I modeled choosing a question and planning out a book based on that question. It has to be a broad enough question to generate a variety of answers to keep the book interesting. One child came up with the question, "What color are hippos?" and we talked about how that would be a very short book. We have also talked about fact-checking our information. Several students now have non-fiction books on their topics to support them as they gather and check information. We have also looked a few things up on kid-friendly Internet sites.

By the end of the week some students had finished a first book and begun a second one. Others were working to expand their first books. After Thanksgiving each will choose one from what they have written to revise and edit in preparation for another celebration.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Five Little Pumpkins



Halloween is always a fun time with young children. Last week we used Halloween rhymes and songs for reading practice. Five Little Pumpkins is a group favorite. Students enjoyed taking turns being the pumpkins. We checked to be sure each pumpkin had the correct label (first pumpkin, second pumpkin, etc.) Students could refer to the pocket chart if they forgot their lines. At the end the pumpkins enjoyed "rolling out of sight!"