Writing

We did a very quick writing activity this week. It's funny - the most amazing pieces often come with little direction - just a high-interest prompt.  Check out this very vivid quick write...

Student Treasures Books Arrived!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Student Treasures, where have you been all my life? Student Treasures is a free book making company. Students complete writing and illustrations, which gets turned into an awesome, hard-bound book. For primary, the class writes one class book and teachers get a copy for free and kids have the opportunity to purchase copies.  In upper grades this is usually done as an individual project - 20 distinct books, and each student gets a bound copy of their original documents and the opportunity to buy a copy of the book.  For primary - and for my first time - we chose to do a collaborative ABC book about our favorite classmate - our class pet, Willie! Have to say - it was a struggle at times because it was a collaborative endeavor. We all depended on each other to do our personal best - to be present at school - to FINISH illustrations and writing! We completed this task like 20 little BOSSES! Here's just a taste of our book...

 If you're around at Open House you can check it out and even pick up an order form to get your own copy! I will definitely treasure this Treasures book for years and years to come!

Last Field Trip...

What? Last field trip? Say it isn't so! It is so.  At least with this class, as 2nd graders, it was our last together. And boy, was it a doozy.   Have you heard of 826LA? Click here to learn about their amazing programs and field trips! When I learned about the writing focused field trip that 826LA offers  - I was super excited! Basically, these writing superheros worked with two classes of spellbound writers-in-training to extract a group story that each student then finished on their own. At the end of the trip, each student had a bound copy of the book - the story they helped to create with an ending all their own.  Magical.

What Is The Best Part of You?

We read the fantastic book, The Best Part of Me, and practiced respecting ourselves by verbalizing some part of us that we just love! Check out what my students think is the best part of them... Trust: the writing that accompanies the photos is amazing - but you'll have to wait til Open House for that!

Rump

So we have JUST enough time to read Rump before school gets out. A chapter a day and then Hello Summer! We loved Jack so much - and so many characters are recognizable now for my students - Rump is already a hit! Here's a little taste of how we sketched to demonstrate our understanding and then used that to help us write!

Tellin' Stories

This afternoon my ELD class began sharing the magical chameleons stories they finished writing recently. About half the class was able to share today and - Oh.My.Goodness - the stories were amazing! There were swords, zombie queens, nachos... you name it. Because my ELD class is comprised by students from all the 2nd grade classrooms, the kids were a little hesitant at first to read their stories, out loud and proud. Their inhibitions faded fast, though, and they became expert storytellers! I'm so looking forward to hearing the rest of the stories!

Taking it off the map...

If you know me, you know I love, Love, LOVE Thinking Maps. The way they help my students organize their thinking is just magic! 
This student created a Bubble Map to describe tomatoes and then used that information to Take it Off the Map - using it to write.  Specifically, he was using the Bubble Map to help him revise a mentor sentence to make it more interesting with vivid word choice!
This is exactly what I've been guiding students to do, what we've been practicing together, and now to see him utilizing the skill independently makes my teacher heart soar!

Got it Covered

So we held a little friendly competition to see whose design would grace the cover of our class book. There were so many awesome submissions! I couldn't decide - and why should I? Our class decided to put it to a vote! Everyone who went to the library today got to cast their ballot for the design they thought was the best choice for our book. And the winner is...

Treasure Books

Have any of y'all ever published Treasure Books with your students? This is my first year doing it so we're working on a class book together and just going step by step. We decided to write about something we are supremely passionate about!  WINK!  We are not done yet - but we will be soon! Here's a glimpse of our progress so far...

 

Fairy Garden

So in Reader's and Writer's Workshop we are working on fairy tales - reading, comparing different versions, writing - the gamut. During the break this week I got to thinking about how to spark the imagination of my students as they write their own stories.  So often, my students struggle to come up with an original theme after being exposed to so many existing tales. I want to steer them from writing new versions of existing stories and really using their imaginations to come up with something unique and their own. I think this should do the trick - a fairy garden! I'll be adding this to our writing center rotation on Tuesday!