Getting Lost in Stories

Room 4's Expedition this year is: "Opening Books": Why we read,  Why we write.  As part of their expedition, Julie Hoffman’s kindergarteners spent a few months studying author/Illustrator Eric Carle (You may remember Eric Carle from The Very Hungry Caterpillar). The children immediately fell in love with his stories and illustrations; They even duplicated Eric Carle’s illustration style by creating a fantastic collage of AE II which was auctioned off at our school auction this year.

While studying Eric Carle’s writing and illustrating techniques, the children used the expedition to work on writing skills. One writing exercise the class did for their expedition was to write a letter to Eric Carle himself. Through dictation, the children were able to voice their ideas and thoughts to Eric Carle. Each child had a turn dictating their letters to Julie and Mary, the librarian, who then typed their words into a computer. The printed versions of the letters were used to turn the letters into the children’s own handwriting; each child re-wrote their own letter.

There were several goals of this exercise:

• To learn how to write a letter; how to start with "Dear _____", then the body of the letter and then end it with their own name.

• To experience the concept of writing for an "authentic audience": for the public to see rather than something you'd write for your own private use..
   
• To learn how to copy one letter at a time; with a one to one correlation, keeping your spot while transcribing, and to learn the correct formation of each letter.
   
• To learn about writing sentences.
  
   -That sentences start with a capitol letter.
  
   -You put a space between each word.
  
  -You end your sentence with a period.

The typed letters were put into their portfolios. The handwritten letters with their illustrations will be sent to Eric Carle himself. (Hopefully he'll write back!). Here are some actual letters for your reading pleasure:

“Dear Eric Carle, I would like to see you so bad. I like you as a picture writer more than a storywriter”. (FYI Eric Carle calls himself a "picture writer")

"Dear Eric Carle, I wish you could come to my house and paint beautiful pictures all over my walls."

“Dear Eric Carle, I want to visit your office so I can help you write books.”

In addition to the Eric Carle letters, the children in room 4 became authors themselves by writing and illustrating their own autobiographies. Each book was 13-14 pages long! What wonderful little authors we have.

John Minor puts on his best face for Halloween

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