Fiction Writing!

This is WAY late, but I always say, better late than never! :) 

Back in September, my kiddos learned all about writing fiction! We had such a fun time! I created a genre study unit and put it on TpT! Click HERE to check it out! 

To begin our three week unit, we started by looking at fiction books and writing down what we noticed they all had in common. The whole first day of writing we read books and wrote down our observations so we had a good background on what makes a fiction book.

On Day 2,  we brainstormed ideas on what we could write about. After talking together and reading a book, I gave the kids a web where they could write down their ideas for book topics.

On Day 3 we focused on characters! We read a book and pointed out the characters and identified the main character. I had the kids look back at their webs and choose an idea to write about. They then picked a main character and illustrated it in another web. They also used words to describe their character in the bubbles around it. I modeled it by choosing a character I would write about: Rachel. 

On Day 4 we talked about setting. We talked about how every story has a setting and we brainstormed ideas for where each of our characters would be in our stories. We read another book and identified the setting. I then had the kids illustrate their character in their setting (forgot to take pictures of those!).

Finally, the kids started writing their stories. I had them write just as we always did in writer's workshop starting with me modeling in a mini-lesson, letting them write independently for the majority of writing time and finally ending each day with share time. 

After they finished writing their stories, I typed them up and let them illustrate their published books. I even had them write an about the author page and printed out a picture of each them for the back of the book. They turned out so cute!

Our last step was to create posters for our books. I hung them up on each kid's side of their table for our celebration day.

On the last day of our fiction unit, I invited our book buddy class and parents to come to our classroom and see everyone's hard work. The kids stood by their posters with their books and everyone would walk around and listen to the kids read. Our principals and librarian came too! They were very impressed. I only do big celebrations like this a couple times a year, but I try to publish my kids writing at least once a week so they have something to work toward. I always let the kids read their published books to the class when they finish. I am amazed at how hard my kids work in their writing and it makes me so happy to see how proud they are to share their work with others. 

Hope you enjoyed learning about fiction writing in my classroom! I created a short packet with mini-lesson ideas and writing pages on TpT for both fiction and nonfiction writing in K/1. If you are interested, click on the pictures below! I also created a combined packet with both units that will save you a dollar! The first three people to comment below will get the bundle for free!