Author studies

I am sure most of you are aware of the authors we have been studying.  For weeks and weeks we have been focusing on 6 authors and learning their styles.  We've been discussing questions like, Why did this author choose these words?  What do they like to write about?  Why do you think they made this book?  What do you learn from the illustrations?

The children were somewhat aware that I communicate what projects they do with families, but I really spent time talking about the blog.  I showed them entries from the start of the school year and showcased the words I chose to type and the pictures I chose to add.  I let them know that I wanted them to get a chance to do some blog entries.

The children gained a lot of knowledge, so it is time to share!  I sat down with each student and asked them which author they would like to write about.  From there, they wrote down their first draft.  They then looked back and edited what they needed to by adding spaces, changing letters, and writing more.  

Using David Shannon books as a guide, this student formed their ideas on their author.

Once the children were satisfied with their work (I did not edit anything for them) I explained the typing process.  The children needed to know how to space, where the punctuation was, and how to capitalize.  For those children working on the idea of proper capitalization, we talked about it.

Here we started typing.  The next step is to decide which photographs or illustrations will support all the students' writing.