Teddy Bear Writing

The students are learning to use Thinking Maps to help organize our thoughts into writing. In this lesson the students wrote words to describe a teddy bear on a Circle Map. They then transferred those words onto a Tree Map. The Tree Map helps the students understand that every sentence must include a noun and a verb. The Tree Map was used to help the students write their sentences. Every week I work with the students to edit their work one-on-one during guided writing. As we read their sentences together, I ask questions such as "What should go at the beginning of the sentence?" and "What should go at the end?" We correct the work together and the they write a final draft of their writing.