Time to Celebrate!

Today was one of those days that makes you want to fall asleep at 5:00! You know what I am doing? I'm laying in my bed catching up with HIMYM. A veteran teacher once told me that if you're not tired at the end of the day.. you're not doing something right. Let's just say, I felt like I had lost my marbles today but I'm 98% sure my students enjoyed every minute of it. I'll be posting about the Metric Olympics on another day. :)

This week, I've been thinking a lot about writing and how I can use my basal to the fullest AND give my students plenty of opportunities to write. Sounds easy enough, right? Ha- yeah okay!

While my brain is writing-centered, I wanted to blog about one of my favorite days in second grade. A professor of mine told our class about hosting a writing celebration in her son's classroom. I knew that I had to do the same thing with my students!

It all started with Gail Gibbons and Lucy Calkins. If you're in the education world, I'm sure those two names ring a bell. With the help of a colleague and a student teacher, we created a month long expository writing unit. In this writing unit, the students used Gail Gibbons books as mentor texts to create their own All-About Books. Throughout the unit, we studied nonfiction text features and elements of expository writing. By the end the month, each student had taken a piece of writing through the writing process and published their very own All-About Book to treasure.

At the end of the unit, I wanted to celebrate! I planned an elaborate Writing Celebration where my students would be transformed into MOVIE STARS! On the day of their celebration, my students would be given gold stars, walk down a red carpet, and read their book on stage.  We invited parents, grandparents, and other classes to join us for our big premier!

It was an incredible day (perfect attendance I must add).   I wish I could show the 100's of pictures taken, but I can't. Lucky for us, Q's sweet mom has agreed to letting her son be our model for this post.

First step: check in with security before walking the red carpet.

Next, walk down the red carpet with PRIDE and show off your All-About Book to the paparazzi! 

Who are you wearing! You're beautiful!

Say cheese! The papparazi is waiting!

Proud Author

After each student had walked down the red carpet we gathered around the stage in our room to listen to each author read. When students arrived that morning, I looked and all 20 students were crowded around the stage reading from their book box. Excited, much?

Karaoke and Props!

Thanks to a few borrowed items and a captivated audience, the Writing Celebration was a hit!

It was a special morning for my students and that's what matters. Their hard work had paid off and they were proud of it! The best part was their favorite representative from THE Writing Company in NYC made a special appearance that day. Who could ask for anything more?