This is the first lesson of my 2nd Grade Writers' Workshop. As we step into the year, I want students to become introspective and EXCITED about writing! I want to create an awareness for the students that writing SURROUNDS us! Using the glasses and taking the time to "LOOK" helps them to see all of the examples! I want them to realize that writing is not as scary or cumbersome as they may think! I also want to EMPOWER them to be creative! My goal is to help them identify themselves as writers and authors.
This is also a very purposeful beginning to this year as the students learn how to follow the steps of writing through experience. They are beginning to work together as writers and thinkers. I feel that developing the ability to organize, collaborate and be introspective about their writing will make successful and confident writers!
*For the powerpoint, using pictures of things in the school was much better than using internet images. The kids recognized the posters or artwork from the class and hallways and it had much more meaning than images from the internet. Feel free to change the powerpoint and replace my images with pictures from your class and school.
Underlined words below are lesson vocabulary words that are emphasized and written on sentence strips for my Reading & Writing word wall. I pull off the words off the wall for each lesson, helping students understand this key 'reading and writing' vocabulary can be generalized across texts and topics. The focus on acquiring and using these words is part of a shift in the Common Core Standards towards building students’ academic vocabulary. My words are color coded ‘pink’ for literature/’blue’ for reading strategies/’orange’ for informational text/'yellow' for writing/’green’ for all other words.
Activity:
I want to build awareness in the students that writing surrounds us and it is used in different ways. We are ultimately looking for different kinds of writing (informational, narrative, and persuasive) so it is helpful to have some ideas in mind of what you have in the room before you start this activity.
Introduce the concepts (use the 'Where's Writing' powerpoint)
Model the skill (put on your glasses)
Guided Practice (have the kids take turns with the glasses to answer)
The kids LOVED the glasses. They all knew about Waldo and they loved using them. It was a great discussion on turn taking and I got much better participation because they wanted to try them on. I thought about each student making their own, but I think it would have taken too much time and cutting inside the circles would have been difficult.
Discuss group work
Students are participating in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and determining and then following agreed upon rules for discussions. (SL.2.1) This prepares them to participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Explain the task
Let groups work and monitor
** You may notice that I've changed the pictures from the students' samples. I wanted them to be more clear for the kids.
As groups gather information from provided sources, they are assessing the accuracy and evaluating the information from each source. (W.2.8) They integrate the information and categorize it, justifying their category choices with evidence. Students are writing from sources (the powerpoint information) and acquiring and utilizing academic vocabulary, a key shift in the Common Core State Standards.
Share
This a great activity to talk about "perspectives". We can evaluate the speakers' point of view and look at their evidence to justify their conclusion. If students have unique ideas, spend a few moments talking about how we respect others' ideas. This is a great "teachable moment" to show students that different perspectives should be valued as long as they have clear reasoning or evidence.