Catching Up

It's been a while since I've blogged here, so I wanted to go over recent Units of Study that we have done. In November we looked at the questions of how authors and illustrators use pictures to support and enhance their texts. This study was inspired by Katie Wood Ray’s  book, In Pictures and In Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing Through Illustration Study. The students were great "noticers" as we studied books. Then they worked to include some of the techniques we explored in their own books.

In December we studied  “Small Moments."  We looked at how authors zoomed in on particular moments in time. Then students choose their moments to zoom in on and worked to remember details to include in their books. Students wrote about moments such as losing a tooth, scary happenings on Halloween, touching a python, and a Thanksgiving party.

Revision

We have been reading over our Small Moment stories with our writing partners and working to finish them up. Today we had a mini-lesson about revision, and students worked to read through and revise their stories. Some added in more words to make their stories clearer. Others added in details. Some added to their pictures to enhance their stories. Soon we will be having another celebration to wrap up our Small Moment unit!