Mrs. Kostynick's 1st Grade - 2nd Visit

Mrs. Kostynick sees me peeking in the window, and comes to the door.  "Come on in!" She invites me.  "We're having an exciting day.  We're just getting started on writing some poetry of our own."  I take her up on the invitation and step in.

Mrs. Kostynick shows the kids an example of the special paper they will work with today.  It has an oval in the middle and a whole lot of blank space around the edges.  In the oval, they'll write their topic.  All around the oval, they'll write words and phrases that describe or represent the topic. 

She encourages them to use their senses and to "think like poets".   Once they've filled the page with images and ideas today, tomorrow they'll pull their thinking together into a poem.

"Let's try this together." She suggests, and prompts them to quickly generate ideas and turn them into a poem about their SMARTBOARD.  It is obvious that they've had previous exposure to the wonderful vocabulary of this work, like REPETITION, ACROSTIC, FREE VERSE and SENSES. 

As they brainstorm ideas together, Mrs. K listens to their ideas and provides just enough scaffolding to lift them up when they are close, but not quite hitting the mark.  Every one of these first graders is so excited to contribute, and Mrs. K both helps them stretch their own thinking, and gives them just the right amount of boost to touch what is still slightly out of their grasp.

In little more than 10 minutes, starting from scratch, they've finished composing.  Blake turns to me midway through and says, "We're really good at this.  We write really good poems!"

Our Smartboard
Touch, Touch, Touch
Looks white as snow
Special Pens
Magical Eraser
Work, Work, Work
Play games
Making Patterns
Marking Learning Fun

When it is time to begin their independent work, I am tickled to see that many students are able to pull out a LONG list of possible topics that they have previously generated.  This is not only an incredibly handy and efficient reference, but also a hallmark of a classroom where writing is a routine to count on and plan for!

Thanks for making writing such an absolutely predictable and routine part of your first graders lives, Mrs. Kostynick!