A Little Persuasion

I've been a little MIA lately....Sorry! Between school and closing on our house in less than 2 weeks - I have no free time! I have only 2 days until Spring Break. You know....we haven't had any snow days this year so we actually get the 3 days before our actual spring break! (Even though we are supposed to get snow TONIGHT!)
I wanted to catch you up on a few things we did this past week. We began Writing Through the Year Unit 4 from Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills. We have already done units 1 and 2, but I didn't start them until the end of October. I skipped Unit 3 (How To writing) because we are required to do a persuasive unit in the 3rd marking period which is what Unit 4 includes. Our very first day of this unit, we wrote a persuasive piece. Here are a few examples:



I am so proud of my babies. This last piece is one of my favorites. She was a student who knew 3 letters when she started kindergarten. She was a student who was a Tier 3 student until about November…then she started taking off! I am SO proud of that girl!!!
These writing units have literally changed how I teach writing. I have always felt writing was a weakness of mine – not now! What I love most about this is how independent it has made my kiddos. The units encourage from Day 1 that the students do it independently. No “How do you spell?” or “I can’t do it.” Writing time in our classroom is so quiet. They work and work and work. Seriously! I don’t have to tell them to write more or what else can you say. They just keep writing and writing and writing! I like that this fourth unit has a lot of different reasons to write giving us a little variety!
Monday we are going to finish up our long a literacy centers. We are going to take a break on Tuesday and enjoy Easter activities including an Easter Egg hunt! Then…SPRING BREAK!!! WOO! HOO!