Kick-off: This
lesson was completed at the end of the school year. It was part of our
Reading Round-up day. Each child was asked to bring to school or pick from
the classroom one of their favorite books. Each child shared why they chose
their book. We all realized that most of the books were because of a
memorable character or event.
I
then shared my favorite book, Tops and Bottoms. It drew a round of
cheers because we used it several times throughout the year. It is a book
that can be used for many, many mini-lessons and springboard into wonderful
writings.
After reading we made a character chart and listed all the characters. We
narrowed the list into what we considered the main characters: Bear, Mr.
Hare and Mrs. Hare, and made a 3 column chart. Each column had the heading
of one of the characters. We wrote all the things we could say about each
character.
Next, each child or partner team, picked one of the characters and wrote
5-W’s poems for their characters. Each child or partner team picked one of
the characters and wrote a 5-W’s piece telling- who, did what, where/when,
and why . We have done these 5’W writings before so it didn’t need much
introduction. Of course, most children wanted to add a picture to go with
what they wrote.
Last, we celebrated each others writing by a group sharing session. Here are