In writing we have been writing informational texts. We call them teaching books. As a teacher, I want my students to have a well-rounded idea of what that can look like. It's really easy to fall into a routine of writing about animals, school, or fairly basic topics. There is a lot of value in this because students can focus more on the writing strategies than the writing topic. But then on a random Thursday morning, the daring teacher wants to stretch their brains...
Today our class did a bit of research, recalled what we've learned in social studies class, and chose a writing topic based on those social studies topics. It should have been a huge disaster. Who knows how much they actually remember from our past social studies units? Plus putting these facts into "chapters" is much more difficult than putting an animal book into chapters (All About Animals, Animal Bodies, Animal Diets, Animals Playing). Like I said, it should have been a mess. It wasn't though. Students wrote about Martin Luther King Jr., maps, American symbols, the state of Missouri, and many other wonderful social studies topics.
I was thrilled that the students were able to integrate their knowledge of social studies into the framework of writing an informational text. These kids are impressive.
I can't wait to see these finished products!