Sharing Published Informational Text Books

Today was the big day, our informational texts were finally published and ready to share with others.  I'm sure there are other teachers out there like me, but it seems there is never enough time in a day or organizational systems to keep me on track with everything I need to do.  When a project finally comes together and the finishing touches are in place, I get to check something off the list.  My third graders were feeling the same.  Each and every child had gone beyond what they have ever done as writers.  They were proud of their books and anxious to read the books of their friends, as well as share with their second grade buddies.

These are the final product based on our informational text unit.  Specially bound with cool duct tape, the kids were able to choose from a variety of colorful designs.

A sample cover page by a child in my class.  She considered herself an expert in the area of Autism.  Once she chose the topic, her writing came to life.  She even took on extra work at home.  The puzzle on her cover signifies the bases of her book.

When kids share their writing with a real audience they discover the reason for writing a piece that interests others.  I saw one of my strugglers, changing the word gose to goes on his published piece before his buddy showed up to read his work.  Other children felt the pleasure of kids giving appreciations for work well done.  With this informational text project, the class discovered how the layout of a page can help the reader to understand their message.

The kids even started to talk more about non-fiction features while reading non-fiction and organizational text structures.  When you hear one child comment to another, "Look this is comparing and contrasting..." you know the  lessons are taking hold and kids are making real world connections.

Now that's what I'm talking about...Digging into Learning!!!!