Monday, February 18, 2013

Non-Fiction Writing Craftivity

I am always looking for new ways to make non-fiction writing more fun and hands-on.  I do mainly non-fiction writing with my ELL students so they learn new content vocabulary and practice writing skills.  We had already completed our unit of writing with transition words, so I always follow transition words with some sort of cycle writing, life cycles, water cycle, rock cycle, etc... .   I wanted to make this more of a "project" for students, since we have been doing so much writing lately, so here is an easy craftivity I came up with, all you  need is a few pieces of construction paper, markers, and if you want, some typed up labels.  This could really work for any "cycle" type writing.  On the outside students drew their diagram and under each step, they described it in their own words.  I was so happy to see them using their new vocabulary words in context!  Please feel free to comment how you make non-fiction writing more interesting and hands-on! 


4 comments:

  1. We are working on the water cycle right now. I love this idea! My students always do some sort of drawing of the water cycle, and I am really loving your idea of the adding the writing to the drawing. This will be perfect for my 3rd graders.

    Amy
    Common Core Teacher's Toolbox

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! It was little prep time to construct too, just two pieces of construction paper and type up some labels quick!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great idea! I can use this in my writer's workshop. I am even thinking about how to make the book round and other shapes too!
    Forever A Teacher, Forever A Learner

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is a great idea for integrating science with writing skills. Now that you've mentioned it I can see how you could do this with a life cycle such as the Monarch butterfly. Thank you for sharing.

    Zoom Zoom Classroom

    ReplyDelete