Today our first group got to writing their LEGO stories while our second group began building. Before writing we went back to review our anchor chart on what belongs in the beginning of a story. We talked about using adjective to describe the setting and the characters. We also talked about starting the story where everything is going 'fine' until the 'bad thing' or the 'problem' happens. Today, however, we were just focusing on writing a good beginning. Breaking up writing like this into small chunks helps our little learners write better stories. They used their drawings and photos of their creations to guide them.
Our second group built their settings/vehicles, practiced imagining their stories, then worked in small groups telling their story to a partner or two. Tomorrow they will be doing their 'puppet play' style show with their lego to the whole group before writing the beginning of their stories. Miss Soa and I have not seen our students so engaged in a writing activity yet this year. We really think that the LEGO is motivating them to write more, and be more creative/imaginative.
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Our first group of students began their 'Build it, Draw it, Write it" activity. Miss Soa and I found that students were better able to tell creative stories using the LEGO as a tool to help them. First they were asked to build a setting or mode of transportation for their LEGO character. Then the students went to their desks to play with their characters and creations. They had to think of a story for them that had a beginning, middle and end, with a problem and solution. After working this out, the small group got together with Miss Soa and performed their LEGO stories like a puppet play. Next they will be writing their stories.
This morning we continued to discuss characters and our LEGO learning connections. We were working with +8/+9 mental addition facts. Students created LEGO superhero foldables. They wrote facts on the outside of the LEGO mini figures. and when opened, they wrote the answer. Students worked together to solve each other's questions. Today, we talked about how stories need settings. Our little learners went straight to work to build the settings for their stories. We discussed how our settings need to make sense for our LEGO characters. While some students were busy building in our construction zone, others were using LEGO Movie Mixer to show digital stories with a beginning, middle and end. We talked about how the beginning introduces the characters, the middle tells the problem, and the end resolves the problem, or has a solution. They then showed their movies to the group on the projector.
We completed our LEGO mini-figures today. After discussing how every good story has a main character or two, we created our LEGO main characters, discussing their back stories and any special things that they can do. Tomorrow we will begin to learn through play by building settings and transportation for our characters.
As mentioned in my questionnaire on home activity engagements, one of my research interests is bridging the gap between how and what students learn at home, and how and what they learn at school. With our Storytelling unit of inquiry approaching, this was a perfect time to incorporate home literacy engagement. Nearly all of your questionnaires mentioned use of LEGO at home. With this information, I have planned to incorporate LEGO (where appropriate) in as much of the learning we do at school as possible for this unit. Hopefully you will find your children playing with LEGO at home in different capacities. Please take out your LEGO at home, expect sore feet, and allow your child to learn through play! Today, we introduced our unit by reading the central idea, and our lines of inquiry from our Unit of Inquiry board (that is displayed much too high for little learners). We talked about the provocations and what each one meant, then went to work on creating our own 'main characters out of LEGO on paper. We will be creating stories around these characters.
We also used LEGO to stamp out our word study words in play-doh. Play-doh was another 'toy' that many of you mentioned that your children use at home. I look forward to the many creative stories that are told through the inclusion of LEGO in our classroom! |
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