Writing Safari

Two summers ago, I attended the Oklahoma Writing Project's Summer Institute.  If you want to learn more about the Oklahoma Writing Project, check it out here.  On Wednesday, I was at the Oklahoma City Zoo for the first K-2 Writing Safari.  Classrooms were invited to sign up to attend for a small cost an interactive writing lesson at a station in the zoo.  My station was at Grandma's porch which is near the petting zoo.

It was chilly in the morning but overall it was a perfect Fall day in Oklahoma.  Each station had a different focus usually depending on the animal surrounding the space. I was, however, in a unique spot and went with a focus on what was going on in most children's world at the time.  I decided to use spiders and picked a non-fiction text, Super Spiders that I had read the children in my own classroom.  

I had two different classrooms visit my station.  The first group was kindergarten and the second group was a second grade classroom.  While I was doing the same lesson with both groups, I had to plan for developmentally appropriate for each age group.  With kindergarten, I planned to have them write one fact from the book and then have each child draw a picture.  I told their classroom teacher that I would revisit this when they got back to their classroom and follow up by having them use interactive writing to write more facts.

This is the kindergarten work sample from our short time together.

As I planned for second grade, I still wanted to model interactive writing while incorporating independent writing.  We did one fact with the use of because and a supporting detail from the book as a whole group.  This is what they worked on independently as well.  If it were my classroom, I would gave used their independent work to make a class book with a cover page as another means of student publication.

It was a really great experience.  It is always a great opportunity to reflect and grow as a teacher and especially as a teacher of writing.  I am so thankful that my class got to participate in this opportunity.  I am thankful that they built their background knowledge outside of the classroom.  Since I was with other classes while they were at the station, another certified teacher from my building attended and helped support my learners.  I am so thankful for amazing colleagues because it takes a village!