Much time was spent on looking at table of contents. As writers begin to write longer chapter books, it was helpful to break apart their books into separate sections. Students learned how this is helpful to a reader and began experimenting with interesting chapter titles for their table of contents.
Over the last few weeks, students spent a lot of time looking at expected first grade writing. In reflecting on what objectives each student was really good at, students then looked at areas they wanted to improve on. All first graders should be editing for punctuation, upper case letters, and meaning. Students should be elaborating on their writing and including details. This should look like 3-4 sentences on each page. Students are learning and should be trying out interesting opening and closings, using the word wall and spelling rules that have been introduced, and trying out new and interesting words (expert words) that are multisyllabic. In teaching books, students are spending equal time on their pictures, where they not only draw but include descriptions, captions, labels, comparisons, and diagrams.