Informational Writing

All too often we assume that students have had the same experiences that we or our children have had in our lives. Yet this is often not the case. Last week we used the Kagan structure of take off, touch down to determine which students have carved a jack-o-lantern with families or friends in the past. When there were several students in each class who did not stand up we knew that it would be difficult for them to write about something that they had not experienced. Even students who had carved a jack-o-lantern in the past had a hard time explaining how to do it! Working together the students were able to articulate the best steps of how to carve a pumpkin.















Next, enter, Mr. Pumpkin! The students worked together to design the face of the jack-o-lantern. They voted on what the eyes, nose and mouth would look like. Next, they had to describe to me what the steps are in carving a jack-o-lantern. We worked together to make sure our directions were clear, specific and could be followed by someone else to create a carving. The instructions included cutting a circle around the stem, taking out the seeds and drawing the face onto the pumpkin. They then determined that the face should be carved by using the knife to cut each feature out. Once that was finished the students decided where the jack-o-lantern should be kept.

 

While the pumpkin was being carved the students wrote and drew the steps that are required to make the jack-o-lantern. They will now be able to take this information and use it in their writing. They will be writing from a shared common experience. The information that they gathered will be used this week to create a step by step guide using the  Seesaw platform. The students will work to replicate what they saw within an informational context of writing.