If I Lived In a Snow Globe

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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!

Published Authors

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We have completed our first official writing project using the whole writing process!  When we last left off, we had used our pre-writing activity to create a rough draft.  With some teacher assistance, we edited and revised our work to create final drafts using our best printing.  To illustrate our writing, we made a fun snow globe craft. (If you shake it, snowflake glitter moves around inside!) Everyone was excited when we finally got to complete our big snowman on our snow globe bulletin board.

The students are so proud of their work, and so am I!  We had lots of great discussions about how “real” authors take their time to make sure their writing is as good as possible.  Pretty soon, we will be ready to tackle our next writing project: president reports!

If I lived in a snow globe…

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In first grade, we begin practicing working through the whole writing process from prewrite to publish.  In order to explain why writers go through this process, we compared writing to building a snow man: You need a strong base to support a solid snowman and solid writing!  And, just as a snowman wouldn’t be complete without a fun hat, our writing isn’t complete until it’s published!  In our classroom, we publish our writing on our Authors’ Board.

For our first formal writing, we explored what it would be like to live in a snow globe.  I brought a few snow globes into the classroom to share, and we read the book, “The Snow Globe Family” by Jane O’Connor.  Amazon says, “Oh, when will it snow again? wonders the little family who lives in the snow globe. They long for a snowstorm? if only someone in the big family would pick up the snow globe and give it a shake. Baby would love to. She notices the little family, but the snow globe is too high for her to reach. But then Baby is alone during a snowstorm. Will the snow globe family get a chance to go sledding, too?”

Next, students completed a prewriting sheet in which they wrote how they would feel, what they would see, and what they would do if they lived in a snow globe.  We then used our notes write a rough draft before editing, revising, writing a final draft, and finally publishing!

To complete our projects, we made some fun snow globe art!  The students drew a snow globe scene before adding glitter glue snow.  Finally, we topped the piece with a clear plastic plate and added some snowflake glitter that actually moves when you shake or tip the snow globe.