Writing to Teach...and Making Connections With Similes!

Hello Everyone!
Happy Spring!!! Some of you are still in the grip of winter with snow and ice!  Here in Texas, the temps are warming up, the trees are budding, and there are flowers everywhere! I am such a warm weather girl, I can't wait to put coats and sweaters away!
Springtime in first grade is just as exciting.   The kids are really becoming independent learners and so into researching things they want to know about.  In writing we are working our way through a writing to teach unit.  Kids love to share what they know.  They are experts at so many things!  Our first chapter book is based on what kids know most about...themselves!!!  We are using most of what Lucy Calkins suggests in her Units of Study. The first chapter books turned out pretty well. Here are a few pages of the published books. The kids were so proud to share them!!!

I have shared the templates and information for this written expression project before, but I have added a couple of things.  Lucy Calkins has a good list of how writers teach their readers.  I added that and a quick poster of the sequence of writing to teach.

If you are interested in this little expository writing unit, CLICK HERE!!

If you noticed, one of the "How Can I Teach My Readers" ideas that Lucy suggests is to include comparisons in writing.  I don't know a better way to teach kids about comparisons than to introduce similes!! We have had a blast with that this week! 

I started off with some amazing mentor texts!  My kids can't get enough of these!  

We then brainstormed some of our characteristics!

The kids did their own brainstorming and planning for their own Simile books!

So after they got the hang of similes, we decided to create a visual for some Spring Similes!!

I put together a little simile unit to help guide us through.

The unit is about 20 pages of templates, lists, posters, etc.

If you want to try it with your kids and need some free printables, CLICK HERE!!!

I know that my kids will use some similes in their next chapter books!! Sometimes you have to spend a little extra time on something that will help kids make those important connections.  Their writing will benefit from that side trip! 

Well, thanks for making it all the way through this post!! You are as patient as an ant!!! :)  I hope some of this will help you help your kids make connections in their writing!  

Till next time...Have a wonderful rest of the week!!  And for those of you who still haven't seen any signs of spring, I hope they come soon!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Publishing Poetry and Mothers Day Similes

Hello Everyone!
I hope you are having a great weekend.  I don't know about you, but the end of the year is approaching waaaaay to quickly!  I still have so much I want to do with my kiddos. I don't want the year to end yet!!!

 We had fun celebrating poetry and Shel Silverstein this past week. After reading "Lazy Jane" by Shel, we wrote our own concrete poems about water.  To publish we wrote our poems on a raindrop shape, and laminated them to look like real raindrops.

After getting inspired by Shel's poem "Tired" we wrote our own list poems about what makes us tired. 

We published them by writing them on a sweet little sleeping bag with our faces peeking out.

Our Brainstorm anchor

Then we enjoyed the inspiration of Shel's poems "Ouch" and "Bandaids"  and wrote our own poems about times when we say, "Ouch!"  We had fun with bandaids as well!!!

Our Brainstorm anchor

I'm telling you, we have some poets and we didn't know it!!  Thank you Shel Silverstein for inspiring us to discover our inner poets!!! :)

If you want a quick little poetry writing unit inspired by Shel Silverstein, CLICK HERE!!

This coming week we will be celebrating mom by presenting our musical on Thursday night!!  The kids have worked so hard and are so excited!! I am too!!  We will also be celebrating mom by writing a sweet book just about and for her!!  If you are a mom, you know there is nothing like a thoughtful piece of writing by your little sweetie to make Mother's Day so special.   We will be incorporating the use of similes to create our books. 

For your free Mother's Day Simile book printable CLICK HERE!!

There are about 12 different simile pages for the kids to write and illustrate. We will bind them and add some pizzazz to the cover.  We love celebrating our moms!!

Well, Gotta Run!!  Off to watch our Dallas Mavericks beat the Spurs! Go Mavs!!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!  We love your support of this little blog. 

 Thanks for stopping by for a peek!! 

 These kiddos are amazing!! 

They love sharing their work with you!

Joyfully!

Nancy