The Year 1s at Astor International School have been working hard on their books in English!
We have been going through a process that looks a little like this:
1. Pre-Writing (ideation): students will think of a big idea and write down the title of their book.
2. Draft: Just write! Students also draw pictures that match the sentences on the page.
3. Editing: Checking to ensure we have C.U.P.S. in place.
This means:
Capitalisation of the first letter in the sentence, names, and the word 'I';
Usage of words;
Punctuation.
4. Spelling by re-reading our work and understanding what it means.
5. Penmanship: Penmanship was introduced to the students this term as they are more aware of their letter formation and as we study the layout of different books. Students will look through their books to make sure that the words are neat and can be read easily, and the pictures are illustrated beautifully. At this stage, students tend to rewrite their words or sentences in preparation for the next step.
6. Peer Reflection: students will exchange books with a friend and they will read each other's work and give the following feedback:
What I like?
What I want to see more of?
Questions I have.
After receiving feedback, students might choose to work to include the feedback their friends gave them or move on to the last stage (publishing).
7. Reviewing: Students delete, add, revise, or exchange (swap pages for a different page) based on their new understanding of what readers are looking out for.
8. Publish!
We studied books such as “The Blue Balloon” by Mick Inkpen and noticed that the author used flaps to create surprises for the readers. Since then, the students have been looking to add flaps to the books they were creating.
The students also held a book launch to which all parents and guardians of Year 1 were invited to Astor International School. The students shared a page of a book they had made and their families were then invited on a gallery walk.
It was a great moment for the students to show what they had accomplished in class and for their families to celebrate their hard work!
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