We're in our first unit on information writing. Students are writing about a topic they are an "expert" on. Students are learning the structure of information writing, how to elaborate, and craft moves to interest their reader.
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This week students got to present their Informational Animal books to second graders, and then they got to read each others books. Next week we'll start our final writing unit-- Writing Adapted Fairy Tales!
An extension of our opinion writing unit, students are learning the genre of literary essay writing. We're applying the same structure as opinion writing: state your claim and then support it with reasons and examples. Students are learning to write leads that make the reader care and write conclusions that provide a final thought/insight on the idea. This is challenging work that the students are rising up to! Texts we're using for this unit are:
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson One Green Apple by Eve Bunting Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman We have begun our third writing unit-- Changing the World: Persuasive Speeches, Petitions, and Editorials. The first lesson of our unit had us jumping right into writing persuasive speeches. With teacher and classmate support, students participated in a writing "boot camp." Students wrote a persuasive speech for Mrs. Whidden using the opinion statement: HES students should be able to earn Friday movie day at lunch. Students started learning a structure of opinion writing:
Opinion statement + reason + details that support the reason = a paragraph Students wrote quickly using ideas shared as a whole class or using their own ideas. Then, they had to choose just a part of their writing they thought would be most convincing to share with Mrs. Whidden. Mrs. Whidden visited our classroom and listened to each student share their part of the persuasive speech! Now, we wait to see if our request will be met! Not only are students going to learn how to write convincing persuasive pieces, they will also learn that their writing can make a positive difference in our world! We started our second writing unit of the year-- The Art of Informational Writing! A unit overview letter went home with students outlining some of the lessons that will be taught during this unit.
We finished up our first writing unit-- Writing True Stories. To celebrate the learning and hard work, students "published" a favorite story they wrote. They hand wrote their story trying hard to incorporate the revision and editing they did independently and had helped with. These stories will be hanging up outside the third grade classrooms! If you happen to be in the school, stop by and check them out!
Third graders are entering a writing contest put on by Young Writers. Check out this website for more information about the contest:
https://youngwritersusa.com/contests/crazy-creatures/
Students were so excited to design and illustrate their Crazy Creature in Art class two weeks ago. Last week and this week, students worked on planning, drafting, and typing their Crazy Creature saga, which could only be 100 words long! A copy of your child's Crazy Creature saga will come home soon.
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AuthorMrs. Rich Archives
November 2018
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