Learning about Reading and Writing through Author Studies

Studying the craft of writing by looking closely at an author's life and craft is a wonderful way to grow readers and writers. This is a huge undertaking but always so worthwhile!  Here is a peek into how we went about studying these authors...

1.  Lots of prep work during our study of Jan Brett in December.  I did the study, they learned from me.  This is how I teach...first I do, then they do!

2.  I collected books from these authors and immersed them in a number of books from each.  Then the children picked the author they wanted to study. I continued modeling by studying the author Ezra Jack Keets with them each day before they went off to do the work in their groups.

3. Each day I gave them a different task to work on.  These included:  

• Reading the books for enjoyment.
• Noticing text features and common threads between the author's books.
• Researching their authors by reading book jackets, reading author blogs, and watching videos on the web.  We safely researched by using the kid friendly search engine KidRex.  

Finally, the children were given 4 options for their final presentations: 

1.  Creating a ShowMe 

2.  Making a video

3.  Developing a chart

4.  Writing a letter to their author 

Each group then presented to the whole crew.  This is as important as the study...learning how to create and collaborate in groups and communicate clearly to an audience. 

Our budding artist Ziva enjoyed writing a letter to Eric Carle!

Ask your child how they presented their information!  Each of them grew as learners through this experience!