There was great anticipation in Tara Pistillo’s first grade class at East Lake Elementary School on May 28, as students sat at their desks with their All About stories in front of them. Soon, their smiles widened as their fifth grade buddies walked in from Danielle Fraccalvieri’s class.
The fifth graders took a seat alongside their buddies. Ms. Pistillo gave a quick overview of the assignment and the work her first graders have been doing to become better writers.
Each student crafted an All About book on an animal. They used books from the school library and public library, as well as online resources like PebbleGo, to do their research. The project took about six weeks from start to finish.
Students included information about their animal’s appearance, food and habitat, along with fun facts. Their books included features such as a table of contents, diagrams with labels, illustrations with captions and an about the author page.
The animals they chose ranged from the familiar – horses, pandas, rabbits and tigers – to lesser-known creatures like the axolotl, peregrine falcon and snowy owl. Ms. Pistillo has been doing this project in her classroom for about a decade so her students could learn more about nonfiction writing. Her authors were proud to share their books and the knowledge they gained with their fifth grade friends.
The two classes have gotten together for buddy activities several times during the school year. A few months ago, the fifth graders shared facts about the famous people they researched for their biography reports with their younger peers.