Favorite T.V. Show

Each week the students write using The Write From the Beginning Program. The program teaches the students to write using Thinking Maps. Over the last several weeks we have been writing "to tell why." The students have written about their favorite food, their favorite color, their favorite toy, and this week they wrote about their favorite t.v. show. They first brainstormed their favorite shows on a Circle Map. They then chose one show to write about in a Flow Map. On the Flow Map they had to write three reasons why it was their favorite show. They also had to include adverbs in their writing. They then used the Flow Map to help them write sentences. After they were finished, the students came to guided writing with me to edit and revise their work. After revising their work, the students created their own television to illustrate their favorite t.v. show. Sorry there are no pictures - I forgot to take any!

KidBlog Update!

The students have been blogging away! They have written over 250 posts so far. Their latest blog entries are about additive patterns. When they wrote about additive patterns, they first created patterns in Kidspiration which then then exported to our class' shared folder. They then had to import the photo into their blog. Although the steps to export and import seemed tricky at first, the students were up the challenge and were very successful. They have also been using our writing strategies from Write From the Beginning to write personal narratives. They have also been practicing writing sentences using word wall and phonics words as well as using adverbs from our grammar lessons. When you get a few minutes, read their great posts at their KidBlog.

Someone Special

Last week the students wrote about someone special to them using their Write From the Beginning strategies. They first created a Circle Map followed by a Tree Map. They used the Tree Map to help them write sentences. In small group, we went over their sentences and the students wrote their final draft. The students wrote some really sweet things about their family members!

Stocking Descriptive Writing

Last week the students created a Christmas stocking as a part of their homework. Yesterday and today the students used Thinking Maps to write about their stockings. The students first created a Circle Map, followed by a Tree Map which they then used to write descriptive sentences. The Thinking Maps are a part of our daily writing program, Write From the Beginning.

Turkey Descriptive Writing

Using our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students wrote descriptive pieces about a turkey. They then colored a turkey however they wanted. Below is an example of their writings and turkeys.

Pumpkin Writing

Each week we write using a program called Write From the Beginning. The program uses Thinking Maps to teach the students how to organize their thoughts and sentences. This week we wrote about real pumpkins. The students created a Circle Map followed by a Tree Map to write three sentences describe a pumpkin. After writing their sentences the students received one-on-one feedback on how to edit and improve their writing. They wrote their final drafts on pumpkin paper to add to our hallway pumpkin patch.