Persuasive Paper

This week we begin to talk about writing papers with opinions.  To introduce the unit we reread a favorite book from Kindergarten called Click Click Moo.  It's the story about how cows found an old typewriter in the barn and typed letters to Farmer Brown demanding that he supply electric blankets for the cold barn.  It's the perfect book to show our students how words can make a difference.

We discussed how we could also write letters, like the cows had done, to change our world!  We discussed how we can get our thoughts onto paper, sometimes ending up with a messy copy, but when we want to really impress people with our opinions and letters, we have to make a really neat copy that is appealing and easy to read.  We showed the students several examples of "fancy" paper, so they could see the kind of paper that writers sometimes use when they want to really impress the reader.  Then we asked each student to design his own special stationary paper.  Each child went right to work designing a special piece.  We told the children, that just like any publisher, the Ruark-Timmons Press would be publishing some of their designs for other students to use.  The students each displayed their sample and the class voted on their favorite designs.  We ended up with about eight different papers.  Of course, a few students didn't think any design was better than their own, so we assured them that they could always design a one of a kind paper when they got ready to write their final draft!  This exercise excited the children and I hope it will inspire them to work hard to get ready to write that final draft.

Get ready because this is a group that is going to rock the world!