Ta-da! These are boxed sets of first graders' fiction series, and the result of a lot of hard work.
For weeks now during both reading and writing time we have been immersing ourselves in fiction. As readers, we have been practicing strategies for getting to know characters well in order to be able to really fully enjoy the adventures in books along with them. We've been reading a lot of great series books by a favorite author, Cynthia Rylant. We noticed patterns carrying over from one book in a series to another, and have really enjoyed getting to know characters particularly through series.
In writing workshop, each student wrote a series of stories about the same pretend character (or characters). We tried to bring in techniques we noticed and loved in Cynthia Rylant's books, such as a pattern of a list of three things to add details. We tried to add dialogue with quotation marks, tried to show not tell, tried to add "sparkle" words, show character's feelings, and give our readers a good ending. (We even looked at some "meet the author" blurbs at the backs of books we've read, and wrote our own "meet the author" page.)
We worked hard to revise, and fix up these stories, then we fancied them up with covers, titles, and illustrations. Finally, we each designed a box to contain our series. We checked out some published boxed sets for what they included in order to plan our own. Some students even wrote a blurb about their series on the back, or advertised it with a fun tagline on the side.
Students have been incredibly motivated by this big project to show off their work. I know you will want them to read their series to you the moment they bring it home....soon! We're hoping to visit second grade and get to share some of our stories with them this week. I haven't taken nearly enough pictures of us at work during this project, but here are a few.
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