Small Moments

I'm learning a lot about Lucky Calkins and the writing process. I haven't been a big fan of hers but I'm gradually warming up to her ideas and theories. I recently started reading one of her books. The book is provided below if you are interested.

Today I took her ideas into action and really tried to implement her practices. I was only able to complete two activities. I must admit I did add my own step in this process. (not sure if this is a step she does) I noticed the students seemed to grasp the concept better than I thought they would.

                                             "AFRAID"

I told the students that the entire watermelon was centered on  being afraid. The seeds represent the small moments when they were afraid. I created a horrible watermelon and added sticky notes with small moments when I was afraid.

They drew their watermelon

They wrote 4 small moments when they were

afraid on sticky notes.

Next, students were instructed to share their 

small moments with their group. After talking with

their group they picked one small moment.

The next day students created the witches hat (as they call it) to outline their story using the 5 story elements.

Students wrote in their writing journal about their story.

We conferenced together as we determined the corrections that needed to be made. The next step was to write their final product on the watermelon. I will provide you the link where I downloaded the cute copies of the watermelon for free. 

The last step was to staple the final paper together and share our "Afraid Moments"