Before Winter Break, Mrs. Hardy and I took down our rain forest bulletin board and replaced it with a mysterious shape.  After I added snowflakes and trees, some students correctly identified it as a snow globe. “It would be better with a snowman,” someone suggested.  Little did they know…

In the new year, we have been learning about the writing process.  Until now, our writing focus has been on basic mechanics: capitalization, punctuation, writing complete sentences, etc.  Now, students are applying what they have learned in a more formal way.

We learned that writing is like building a snowman: without a good, sturdy base, our creation will be weak.  This means starting out with a strong prewrite.  We will be learning about many different forms of prewriting activities, but for now, we are focusing on getting as many ideas on the page as possible.

Next, we write a rough draft.  This means taking the ideas from our prewrite, turning them into complete sentences, and putting them together in a way that makes sense.  This draft does not need to be perfect, because our next steps are editing and revising.

In first grade, much of the editing is done by the teacher.  Students play a role in editing during individual meetings or by taking the first pass over their writing to check for capitals and periods.  First graders are also working to revise their work by adding any missing information or rearranging the order of their sentences for clarity.

Finally, we publish!  Most of the time, we share our writing by hanging it on our writing wall.

Because we are using a snowman analogy to build our written work, our first piece of formal writing is all about “If I lived in a snowglobe…” After we read, “The Snowglobe Family,” the students imagined what they would feel, see, and do inside a snowglobe.

If I lived in a snow globe I would feel happy, cold, and small. I would see a house, snow, and trees. I could sled and slide. I could build a snowman.

I would feel cold, happy, and glass. I would see snow, people, and maybe dogs. I would catch snowflakes, ski, sled, and have fun. I would eat a crumb, and I would drink half a drop of tea.

Once upon a time in a snow globe there was a little girl. She loved to build snowmen. She felt tiny. She saw big people outside the snow globe. She liked to read. She felt happy and cold outside.

If I lived in a snow globe I would play snowball fight. Then I would build a snowman. Then I would take a nap. Then I would play with my cousins. We would play hide-and-go-seek in the snow.

The students followed each step of the process carefully.  To illustrate their writing, they created fun paper snowglobes, and added themselves to the scene!

As we completed each step of the writing process, we added a piece of a snowman to our snow globe bulletin board!  The students were excited to watch the snowman take shape along with their writing.

Today, I surprised them by publishing the completed snowglobe writing and art while they were out of the room.  When they returned, we enjoyed celebrating our hard work!

The pictures really don’t do these wonderful pieces justice. Be sure to stop by our classroom to see them in person!