Last week we finished another bend and published our second small moments. In this last mini unit, students focused on making the moments come to life. Students learned that when they make their characters both move and talk in their pictures and writing, the stories begin to get more exciting. Partnerships during the last few weeks helped students be thorough in describing their moment as they asked one another questions using the words, who, what, where, when, and why. Students even read their stories, acting out and making a video in their heads to determine if they included every step. Many students even tried out using quotations in their own writing and all students enjoyed finding talking marks in their own books they read. As one student shared with others last week, "I think this small moment can be published at Bear Pond Books!" That's how GOOD these stories are! Students spent a day revising and EDITING their small moments. Students are being detectives in their own work to determine whether their writing makes sense, includes appropriate capital letters, and has punctuation in the write places. INQUIRE with your child what their small moment was about that they "published." Throughout the year the writing focus will shift. We will still be working on small moments for a bit longer, but will be eventually moving into expository writing, opinion pieces, poetry, etc. This past week, you may have heard from your child about their All About Book on Tigers. This was a pre-assessment that the entire grade completed to find out what students could when presented with a task that had them sharing their learning from a book about Tigers. In the spring, we will assess again and see their growth. Students had a lot of fun completing this activity and learning a little bit about Tigers!
