Autobiography Writing

Over the last two weeks we have focused on writing autobiographies in my classroom.  My students started by creating a timeline of important events in their life.  We have read several autobiographies of important people, to study the style and writing.  We also have done an author study of Patricia Polacco, since she often writes stories about her life as a child and the important events in her life.  My students love to hear about Tricia (Patricia), her Babushka (grandmother), Aunt Natasha and other important people in her life.  She really has a way with words that create magic on a page, and my students love to take notice.  I continue to share with my students how important word choice and voice is in a piece of writing.  We talk about imagery, and how important it is as writers to paint a picture in your readers mind.  After our read alouds, students are given time to try out the strategies we focused on in the stories, while working on their writing.  I love this time of year, when they have learned many different elements to include, and attempt them in each story.  Sure they might "overuse" the strategy, but they are making great attempts!  Along with their autobiography students had a chance to write an "I Remember" poem, which is a poem with repetition that describes important events from their childhood.  As a final piece of the project, students have created their Autobiography Voki character of themselves, which share important facts from their life.  I will use these completed projects as part of their End of the Year Memory Books, which I am starting with my students in the next few days.  While many other teachers spend the final days of school with movies, games, and busy work, I think it is important to keep on going, teaching and having children try new things.  My students can't wait to get to writing time and work diligently on this special project!  Just today my students asked if we could write letters to Patricia Polacco, to share with her how much they love her stories and let her know what a great job she does creating pictures in her readers minds! So yes, tomorrow we will fit a letter writing lesson into the day to say thank you to Ms. Polacco for being a great inspiration.   How could I say no to teachable moments with active student engagement?