Day 6: Mrs. Wray's 2nd Grade Writers

2nd Grade Writers

Two groups of students in Mrs. Wray's 2nd grade class are involved in a project that is helping them grow as writers.  Both groups are researching information about bats.  They are going to turn the research into a book that they will share with others.  Abbie describes the process.

Starting the Project
The students used the chart below to start the research.  "We started out by writing down what we thought we knew about bats."

"Then we read a book about bats.  If we read about a fact we thought we knew, we moved it to Confirmed Facts."

Anything new the group members learned, they added to the New Learning column.  After gathering enough information, they grouped facts that went together and labeled each group:

What the two student groups will do next is create sentences from the facts and turn them into a book.

What We've Learned as Writers So Far
"I've learned nonfiction parts like headings and the table of contents.  I've learned what a book is supposed to be like.  It's not supposed to have just a little bit of facts--people want to know about lots of facts."  --Abbie

"It's fun!  I have learned what you need in a book. I'm glad we can write our own books!" --Lenora

"Writing helps you read.  You learn new words that you read." --Peter

"You really have to work at it.  If you write one word per sentence, your readers are going to fall asleep!" -- Steven