Flying through First Grade!

We spent last week doing some fun writing since finished our curriculum for writing.  We had a wonderful time!  We wrote thank you letters, sweet notes to our mentors and buddies who helped us with our reading, and we wrote about what we learned as the year flew by!

I gave the students the writing paper and had them write about the many things we did during their first grade year.  When they were finished, we gathered on the carpet and made a list of items that make our writing "star" writing.  The kids listed: spaces, capital letters at the beginning of sentences, punctuation at the end, lowercase letters in the middle of our sentences, sentences that make sense, and word wall words spelled correctly. After they made the list, I assigned a bird part to each writing aspect.  I told them they had to earn their bird!  If their writing wasn't done correctly, their bird wouldn't be done correctly either.  They thought it was SO silly! I wanted them to understand that their writing looked silly when it was not done correctly.  I gave them the chance to go back and check their writing and then I conferenced with each one as we went through the list.  Some birds look great! Others, as the students said, "can never stop flying or rest" because they don't have feet.  Some birds are blind.  I even had a headless bird!  The kids had a blast with it and it really helped them see the importance of each item they listed.  Next year, I think I will do this more than just at the end of the year! It was powerful!

 This bird is the headless one.  The smart kiddo made the top part of the body the bird's head.

Go HERE to get a copy of this and other end of year writing templates!

Thank you to Mrs. Hennessy for the inspiration!