Third Graders Share their Passions through Writing

            Third graders have been working on their first major writing project of the year, the “I Love” project.  Writing can be challenging, so it was great to see how excited students were to write about something that they love.  Prior to beginning this project, students began the year by completing a “heart map,” on which they wrote a number of things that they love and could potentially write about in the future.  They will keep these in their writing folders so that if they are ever looking for something to write about, they can refer back to it.

            After completing their heart maps, each student chose one topic to write about.  To help them brainstorm ideas about this topic, they began by answering questions about what they love about this thing or activity and their favorite related memories.  They also worked on a “Prove It” sheet where they had to come up with five different ways they could prove that they loved their object more than most people.  

After students had some time to write, we did an activity called Concentric Circles where students spoke with a number of different partners, each for about 30 seconds, and shared one thing that was special about the object or activity they chose.   With each new partner, they had to share something different, which helped students brainstorm additional details to include in their writing.  Writing about something that the third graders are experts about and truly love made the writing process both accessible and exciting for the students, and we look forward to sharing the students writing with their families on conference day.