Last week, the text of the week was all about two brothers who were creating a poster and having a really tough time getting along. We talked a lot about compromising and ways the boys could resolve their problem.
As our Fun Friday activity last week, the boys and girls were charged with working with a teacher-selected partner and creating their own poster for a pretend food drive.
All week we had continued our talk about author's purpose (P.I.E: Persuade, inform, entertain) along with the 5ws.
Prior to starting this activity, we talked about:
- What's a food drive?
- What happens to the food we donate?
- What food is appropriate to donate to a school-based drive (canned goods yes, dozen eggs, no)
- What are the features of a great poster?
- What does a poster advertising an event need to include? (The 5Ws)
- How will we compromise when problems arise?
Students began the posters on Friday and then on Monday, I asked them to revisit their work with a more critical eye. Did they meet the success criteria we had created as a class on Friday? In many cases, students found their work did not and they asked to start over.
We likely won't finish the posters (perhaps at indoor recess one day), but the exercise was very effective indeed. I believe every child has not only a good understanding of six points indicated above, but also a better understanding of why we establish expectations prior to starting a task, that rushing doesn't produce better results and that sometimes after setting things aside for a bit, you can look at your work with a more critical eye and see how your work can be edited, modified or "sparkled-up".
