Here are some highlights from the start of our project:
Chapter 2 launch
We launched the next step in the project with a book investigation. Usually when we look at books, we are in the mindset of a reader. We choose books based on what we find interesting, and we read to learn or be entertained. However, the purpose of this book investigation was to get into the mindset of a writer. Book authors often read books to get inspiration from their own work. Writers pay attention to more than just the story, but also how the story is written.
Students were given time to comb through a variety of fiction books from the San Marcos Library and make observations from the mindset of a writer. After investigating several books, they shared their ideas about what they noticed and read from the mindset of a writer.
Keys to a story
Before we can start writing our own stories, we have to understand the structure and important elements to a story. While stories include many wonderful details and can take a variety of different forms, they all share 4 important elements.I'm not quite sure how it happened, but as a class we started calling these 4 elements the 4 keys to a successful story.
1. Characters - People or things that the story is about
2. Setting - where the setting takes place
3. Problem - the conflict in the story
4. Resolution - the action the characters take to resolve the problem
Each day we unlocked a new key. First, we started by looking at these keys in our own life. How would we describe ourselves, inside and out? What is a problem we face in our life right now, and what are some ways we could resolve this problem?
Then, we turned to literature! We have been reading a wonderful series of picture books by Ezra Jack Keats to understand the keys of a story. These books all have the same main character, Peter, and have unique and beautiful illustrations.
1. Character: Characters can be described in many ways. We can learn about a character by how they look, what they do, and the things they say. Developing a character in all of these ways is important because it helps the reader get inside the character's mind.
2. Setting: The concepts of setting and background are similar, but different in important ways. The setting includes the background, or scene, but also describes how the environment feels. The setting can sometimes play a major role in the actions in the story, such as in Snowy Day.
3. Problem: A problem in a story can come from a variety of different situations. It could be caused by an event, a character's changing feelings, or a conflict between characters -just to name a few that we have read about. Sometimes there is one big, clear problem, while other times there are a lot of small problems that add up to a larger problem. Some series books, like Amelia Bedelia (one of our favorites!), always follow the same problem pattern.
4. Resolution: You may be wondering, what is the difference between solution and resolution? Solution means the way to solve a problem. When we use the word, we are usually talking about the one answer to to a problem. Resolution is the action a person takes to help make the current situation better. Just like problems can take many forms in stories, so can resolutions! There is often more than one way to resolve a problem in a story. In fact, we had a lot of fun coming up with alternate endings to some of our favorite stories by resolving the main problem in different ways!
We have a live chart up in the class where we can add sticky notes for each key as we read more books. We add sticky notes as a class, and students add as they read independently. These sticky notes not only help us identify the keys to a story, but will hopefully serve as inspiration when it comes time to write!
Describing words
As we got in the mindset of a writer, we realized that having a strong base of describing words is going to be important. First, describing words are important for developing a character in the planning process of writing. Second, we found that writers often use describing words to make their story more interesting for readers. While we are mainly focusing on adjectives, we are thinking about all of the ways we can add detail and excitement into our writing. We have had so much fun doing Mad Libs as a way to learn and practice using describing words!
Fundraising
The fundraising part of our project has provided a really authentic way to learn about money! As a class we looked at our goal of $3,000. We looked at how much money we have raised as a whole second grade, and how much money we have left to raise. Wow! We have raised $1,941 money and have $1,059 left to raise.
We have also investigated a variety of concepts through money. Along with identifying and counting coins, we have used money to practice double digit addition and subtraction with regrouping.
Village fest!
The 2nd grade is going have a booth at Village fest to help raise the remaining money At this booth we are going to sell t-shirts and have a space for backyard games for people to play and earn prizes! This week we focused on the t-shirt. Students were given the task of creating a t-shirt design that represented our project and people would want to wear. As a second grade, we voted on the t-shirt designs. Congrats to Gwen in Mrs. Fuentes's class for having the winning design!
A big thanks to Mrs. Christine for helping us make the t-shirts!
Here are some pictures from our week