Writing

Reading and Writing are integrated into activities throughout the day.  Almost every day, there is also a designated read/write period.   During this time, the children are engaged in various reading and writing activities.  

Last week, during "Quiet Reading" (more about this at a future date) many of the children were reading a picture book called: If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most.   In the book a child thinks of all sorts of things the dinosaurs could do if they were living in the present day.

Capturing on the children's interest in this book, I asked them to think of their own ideas about what the dinosaurs might do if they came back.  Each children wrote and illustrated a page and now our class has its own version of the book in our classroom library.

The children also made books about insects.  The books were finished and sent home on Friday.  

This activity combined following directions, forming letters, and learning the parts of an insect.   Using the book, How to Draw Icky Bugs, I would put letters on the board.  These letters were put together to make insects.  Zs became legs, Ms became mouths, skinny Us became wings...The children followed step by step till the insects were completed, with a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs and 2 antennas .

This was a fun lead-in to work we will be doing on penmanship in the coming weeks.