Two days worth of lessons last week had 3rd-5th grade students working in groups to create projects about checkout procedure for younger students. Their projects could be skits, songs, raps, jokes, drawings or a combination. This idea worked well but for some groups it was just too overwhelming without proper guidance. I don't mind kids taking time to think and plan out a project, but we only had 55 minutes together. That night after the 2nd days lessons, I dug a little more on the internet and found this Northern Nevada's Writing Project lesson via NYLearns.org. This required the book The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski. I think this a pretty funny book, so I was all for the revised project. The book's format introduces a "top secret rule" then the "official reason" and the real reason which is an outlandish and humorous story. Students are introduced to the same concept for their writing with this pre-writing sheet. I tweaked the rules to reflect library expectations, such as "Don't let the library shelves get messy," "Don't run inside the library," "Don't draw in the books," and so on. They could choose one rule to write with its official reason and real reason and illustrate it. Or they could choose several rules. My students had me smiling a laughing bringing up their ideas to me. Examples included the real reason you are not supposed to run in the library is that the carpet will bite you or that the real reason you don't sit on library tables is that you'll turn into one and can only be turned back when another student sits on you. Image from http://www.harpercollins.com/9780688153397/the-secret-knowledge-of-grown-ups
This past Friday, a 2nd and 3rd grade class watched a Scholastic webcast during library featuring the authors Dav Pilkey and Jeff Kinney. It was part of their centers time, so they watched about 7 minutes at most. The idea was to expose them to authors so they could start to see them as real people. And what two better authors to see then two of the most popular authors in children's chapter books?! The webcast was great because it featured children in the audience who threw out suggestions for the authors to create a story smashup.
It was a very visual affair with the stage being covered with sketchpads for the Pilkey and Kinney to draw the characters, setting, and conflicts for the impromptu story. This part offered students a chance to see the creative process in beginning a story. The webcast intentionally stops on a type of cliff-hanger since the viewing audience doesn't know how the story ends, but that is where the process becomes interactive. What a great tech-y way to present a writing prompt! In the coming weeks, I plan on passing over power to students and asking them to finish the story. Later this month, Jeff Kinney will be featured in another webcast for the big reveal of the cover, title, and color of the next Wimpy Kid book! You can bet I'm signed up for that one, too. The author Andy Griffiths will be discussing his new series via webcast, The Treehouse Series and I plan on having my 5th graders watch this one. I already have the books on order. My mom had a good point in asking me if I put these webcasts on my Only2Clicks site and I will be including ones that are easily accessible under the "Author & Book Websites" tab. Typically, you have to register for webcasts, but I have ones that are available with the click of a button.
