A writing celebration at Lockhart Elementary School was the culminating activity in a project that spanned multiple subjects. English language arts, science and social studies came together as third graders wrote books about animals of the Amazon Rainforest.
In social studies, students learned about Brazil as part of their exploration of communities around the world. The focus in science has been on animals, while literacy lessons centered on nonfiction reading and writing.
Each student strived to become an expert on his or her respective rainforest creature, including the capybara, crocodile, monarch butterfly, sloth, toucan and more. For their research, they used books from the school library as well as online resources such as Epic Books, PebbleGo and World Book Online.
Following weeks of writing, illustrating, peer editing and revising, the students were ready to publish. Their finished books included nonfiction text features such as a glossary, table of contents and photos with captions.
The writing celebration took place in the classrooms of Colleen Kennedy, Connie-Jo O’Neill and Therese Burch. Parents, grandparents, instructional coaches, department supervisors and central administrators were among the special guests. In each room, students came up one by one to introduce their animals and share a fun fact. Then, the young authors sat and read their books to their visiting family members.