Every month, second grade students enjoy reading and listening to a variety of stories by a featured author. As we learn more about each author, we delve into the author’s themes, characters, storyline, and language. Additionally, students have opportunities to critically analyze and share observations, often comparing and contrasting two or more tales by an author. Further, as they are introduced to an increasing number of featured authors, students are able to discern the writing style and voice that is unique to each particular author.
At the start of the school year, we read various books by Kevin Henkes. Many students picked up on his recurring themes of kindness, individuality, and conflict resolution. More recently, we have enjoyed several tales from William Steig. After listening to a few stories, students were able to see similarities in Steig’s writing style, and discussions ensued about Steig’s ability to use vivid language, strong character descriptions, and cliffhangers in order to thoroughly engage readers.
Being exposed to a variety of quality children’s literature on a regular basis has been the springboard for our many in-class writing projects. As we move through the stages involved in the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing), our second grade authors gain the necessary confidence to transform their ideas into written mini-masterpieces to be shared and enjoyed with peers and family members alike.
