As part of our writing unit this year, students have been
studying various types of writing styles, including persuasive writing—which
was covered with our Santa In Disguise project—and narrative writing—which we
recently addressed and just finished in conjunction with our Photocard
assignment.
The latter involved further third-grade exploration into the
different parts of speech in addition to how those varying components actually
translated into word choices, especially when it comes to descriptive
writing. Students also learned how
those parts of speech and word choices then tied into reading and all of its
own elements.
Through the course of our on-going class discussions,
students discovered just how important it is to develop a good, strong plot
when writing and to make sure that plot shows a rise in action en route to
solving whatever problem they may have chosen to address as part of their own
fictional writing. In addition, we
also examined the difference between “showing” versus “telling” when writing,
with students learning that it is almost always far better to “show” than it is
to simply “tell”. The importance of dialogue as a means of “showing” was
examined as well, with demonstrations on the proper use and placement of quotes
within their own work.
However, it was our study of figurative language that really
grabbed the third-graders attention. Their fascination with similes, metaphors,
personification, alliterations, hyperboles, idioms, and examples of onomatopoeia—still
ring loud and clear as spontaneous bursts of group shout outs pour forth from
our classroom door on a regular basis, each and every time an example of any
one of these seven types of figurative language are read and/or spoken aloud
during, not just reading, but also any and all of our other subject areas, too!
After sorting through a stash of old Christmas cards that
are kept from year to year, students were then asked to choose a card that
inspired them in some way, shape, or form and to compose a narrative story that
related to the picture found on their card of choice. A lot of in-class time
was devoted to this particular writing project, resulting in the third graders
becoming not only well acquainted with the writing process itself but also very
well informed with respect to the importance of editing, revising, and
ultimately rewriting portions of one’s own work.
Students and teacher alike used classroom ipads in order to
complete this assignment, with the composition and rewriting portions done by
the students via implementation of the Showbie app and the necessary editing
component completed by the teacher through the use of the Explain Everything
app. Working back and forth between these two applications, student and teacher
were able to individually confer, honing and reworking their initial draft into
a finely-crafted and finished piece of narrative work! Once all of the necessary
editing, revising, and rewriting were finally finished, each student’s story
and accompanying card were then published with the help of a third app called
Photocard.
Please click on the following link to check out your student’s
own work along with that of his or her classmates!
