Special Visit by Author Liz Scanlon

Today second graders heard from Liz Scanlon, author of All the World, A Sock is a Pocket for Your Toes, and Think Big. To start she highlighted some her favorite books and some of her favorites to read to her daughters. She spoke to the kids about the craft of writing--a perfect complement to our writing workshop. The first step in Liz's process is coming up with an idea from the world around her and in her head (her imagination). Then she brainstorms lists of details, after several iterations she works on rhyming. After several drafts she shares her work with her editor and gets feedback on how to make the story better. "You don't get it right the first time." Well she talked about how to overcome writer's block, by finding inspiration outside, in the world right around her. She encouraged the kids tom"think big!"

Ask your child what they learned from Liz's talk. Do they remember what a thumbnail sketch is? What is "writer's block?" Where to find inspiration?

Writers Hard at Work

Today we reviewed our writing process. We look for inspiration in our everyday lives, jot ideas in our "Tiny Topics" notebooks, plan our stories, write notes, then we start our drafts. Willows worked hard to add more details (and pages) to their stories. They also enjoyed a mini-lesson on "powerful endings." We are learning so much about each other through our stories!