Lowcountry Learning: Chrysanthemum and The Secret Knowledge of Grownups

Hello! My students and I are off to a good start! We spent the first month getting our procedures and expectations going. I have some chatty cheetahs, but my students look out for each other and so far are working well.

One of the ways I like to introduce a new book is through a picture walk and jot. I'm using Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes for today and tomorrow's focus. I have these giant post it notes that my grandparents had bought me at a garage sale. Seriously, these things are huge. Here's a link to staples for reference! My kids were impressed! Anyway, I make a copy of different illustrations from the book and glue one on each post-it. For this activity I made 6 different post-its. The focus on this activity was looking at the illustration and writing a jot. It could have been a question, a thought, a comment, or a prediction. Each group starts with a different one and they have 2 minutes to write all around the post-it. At the end of two minutes, I grab the post-it poster no matter what and switch to the next group. The time limit keeps the students moving and ensures that they are actually working. When they get the 2nd post-it, they have the option of giving their own thought, commenting or answering another thought, or writing their own question. Switch at 2 minutes.

Even though most of the students had heard or read this story, they didn't really get the chance before to investigate or question what was in the pictures. They were anxious to get to the next picture and were super focused to get their thoughts out.

The posters look really cool with marker graffiti all around the picture.

We ran out of time today, but tomorrow we will take a look at some of the comments and questions they came up with looking at the illustrations.

Tomorrow's focus will be how the author uses the illustrations to affect the mood of the story. I will be posting pictures once we are finished!

The second lesson I wanted to share was a Writing Lesson to start the juices flowing for the kids in a fun way.
Have you ever read THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE OF GROWNUPS ? Image result for the secret knowledge of grown ups

Image result for the secret knowledge of grown ups

It is a hilariously funny book about the REAL reasons grown-ups create rules for "us" kids. It really is a fun read and the students really get in to it. Starting at this new school I've gone back to teaching the 6+1 traits of writing. I found that this lesson is a good one to use when talking about ideas because the students can take a rule they hear all of the time in their own lives and provide a funny twist. They get to think about their personal lives and also incorporate some fantasy.

After I used the story as an interactive read-aloud, I tasked the students with thinking about the rules in their own houses. Once they chose their rule, they had to write the "official" grown-up reason for the rule. That's the "story" that grown-ups use to trick the kids into listening. The students then had to write the "truth". The crazy, made-up, fantastical story that the grown-ups keep from kids.
We took this writing assignment step-by-step. Pre-write-listing out different rules and what the crazy story behind them could be, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Final Copies.
The final copies are being put on tan construction paper and then crumbled to look like the files in the book. The second page of their writing will be lighter colored construction paper.

The students really took this assignment and ran with it! I get a look at some of their expectations at home, and get a glimpse of their imaginations!
I can't wait for them to finish put here is the start of the finals!