Writing Project Update

Project One Completed:

The IMA students finished their first guided literary nonfiction projects and you can see their stories on our class wiki (http://imaexplorers.wikispaces.com) Our literary nonfiction book study and first supported writing projects (the cottontail or coyote story) now lead into independent literary nonfiction projects based on the standards for our grade levels.  For their second project, each student selected a topic of interest, planned a story, and are currently conducting research to support the story.  In our first project, students focused on learning how to organize and set a purpose for their story.  During the second project, IMA writers will focus on the craft of writing and will learn to create interesting leads and use active words and descriptive language to bring life and details to their writing. 

This is such an exciting time for the IMA writers!  Their extended reading and writing projects have made such a difference in their literacy development.  The careful selection of vivid words and scientific vocabulary, writing stories with a structure and purpose, while becoming digital writers are just a few of the positive benefits of this unit so far.  We will share our second writing projects with you as they develop, so keep checking our wiki.

Looking Ahead:  Our next unit will combine the power of biographies with narrative writing as students learn to create stories about their own lives.  Memoirs, personal narratives, and creative narratives are a challenge, but the children are ready to try new forms of writing.  Our continuing poetry studies will focus on narrative poems that reflect personal aspects of readers and writers' lives.

New Literacy Project

The IMA kids started a new literacy project this week.  Literary Nonfiction, a blend of information and a story, is an exciting genre for growing readers and writers.

The students began the project exploring and examining Literary Nonfiction books from our classroom collection. After identifying the important elements of this fascinating genre, the children experimented with this form of writing and wrote short, exploration pieces using photographs and Habitat experiences as a source for writing ideas.

The next step was to plan a collaborative story.  One class is writing a story about a day in the life of an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit that lives in our school's outdoor lab.  The other class is writing a book about an injured coyote who visits the outdoor lab hoping to find an easy meal due to his injuries.

The classes planned their story-lines, started conducting  research, and now the blending of facts with our stories will begin!   Our word studies, sentence studies, and vocabulary work are being inspired by nature...Imagine that!

We will keep you posted on our work.  And it is true-we will be adventuring outside into the Habitat throughout this writing unit so we can think like coyotes and rabbits!

A Holiday Book Ritual

As we count down the days to Winter Vacation, I try to share at least one holiday book a day with each IMA class.  Today we read, Who Would Like A Christmas Tree?  The reader follows a year-in-the-life of a pine before it goes home with a human family as a Christmas tree December.  Starting in January, the book shows how the evergreen supports different wild animals, birds, insects, and plants living on the Christmas tree farm.  The reader listens to each animal or plant describe how one pine tree offers the gift of life.  

This piece of literary nonfiction blends the magic of the holidays, habitat information, and clever drawings that give the reader a sneak-peek into the lives of local animals.  It is a book that could be enjoyed by readers of any age and will be read and reread for years to come. 

http://www.amazon.com/Who-Would-Like-Christmas-Tree/dp/0547046251/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a#noop