Another month has gone by here in Room 27! For the past few weeks, we have been immersed in everything non-fiction! Not only have we been reading non-fiction and discussing various text features that help us to better understand expository texts, our wonderful writers have also been collecting data for their upcoming Animal PowerPoint presentations! We thought we'd walk you through the process of informational writing, so that you too can see how different non-fiction writing is from narrative writing. The process has been long and arduous, but our end products are destined to be a technological feat (once we create them)! Enjoy our "virtual animal safari" below to get a glimpse of how non-fiction writers work!
Before the holiday break, each of us made a list of the top three animals that we'd like to learn more about. From that list, Ms. Hofmann located an expository text on one of our chosen animals. Each book was individualized by animal and level. When we came back from the break, we received our books. Now, it was time to "get to know" our animals! Here we are getting up close and personal with our animals, as we Post-It interesting facts learned to share with the class. The unbridled excitement was palpable. Can you feel the energy too??!!
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| Watch out Ethan!!! You may need a bigger boat! |
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| Josh can't wait to share python info! |
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| Why the face Ryan? Don't you swallow frogs whole too?! |
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| Don't let that vampire bat near your neck Logan! |
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| Ava is using a flow diagram to better understand a dolphin's life cycle! Text Features rock! |
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Mia is clearly thrilled to learn where cheetahs live!
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After discovering our animals, it was time to use headings to guide us through the note-taking process. Our headings included Appearance, Habitat, Diet, Babies, and Fun Facts. As we recorded facts gleaned from our reading, we tried to remember that we don't need to use complete sentences when using bullet points. We also attempted to put facts in our own words so as not to copy the author directly. It's okay if we did though! Note-taking is challenging!!! Here we are engrossed in our studies!!
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| Jessy includes a text feature in her illustration...a map! |
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| Cole wrapping his head around the habitat of a boa constrictor! |
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| Kevin putting the final touches on his great white illustration! |
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| Souma, how do gila monsters give birth? |
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| Arion needs TWO pages to record all of his facts about jaguars growing up! |
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| Ryan- How can you possibly focus with all of those baby spiders on your desk?! |
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| Ever swim with the dolphins Sophia? |
Phew! Using books to research was fantastic! We used the Table of Contents, Glossary, Index, headings, captions, and other text features to deeply understand our learning. However, this is the 21st century! Let's collect a few more details using online databases. Pebble Go is perfect for grade 2!
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| During library, Mrs. Mattern gives us a quick tutorial on how to use Pebble Go. |
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| Rebecca diligently listens and reads about hammerhead sharks to hammer home her points!! |
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| Meera- don't fall down the rabbit hole! |
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| Kevin- that great white looks hungry! I hope you don't look like a seal to him! |
Once we collected all of our data, it was time to revise and edit our work to make it even better! Our audience has high expectations, and we wouldn't want to disappoint! So before we start creating our PowerPoints, we must use a checklist to assist us during the revision and editing processes. Then we will conference with a teacher to polish our writing. We will hopefully learn a new writing tip or two when we meet with an adult! Remember, use a colored pencil to show exactly how you improved your piece!!
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| Madeline carefully combing through her writing. Love the focus! |
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| Max is systematically ordering his bullet points by importance! |
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| Ellen meticulously marks up her rough draft to improve her piece! |
As soon as we finish our edits, it will be time to transfer our information from the graphic organizers to the computer. On Monday, we will choose our PowerPoint backgrounds/templates and begin work on our title slides. Though we know it will be a LONG, LONG, LONG time before our PowerPoints are finally published, we are ready to tackle the challenge!
Speaking of tackling, we hope you enjoy Sunday's Superbowl game! Go Seahawks!
We will be back soon with another MU Campus Connection!
