Jamie Lee Curtis is an author I use often for teaching and practicing making connections. Her books always seem to touch a chord with younger children and provide many “connectable” moments. In her latest book “My Brave Year of Firsts“, she shares many first experiences that students will all be able to make connections to: first time riding a bike without training wheels, first day of school, first lose tooth, first medal, first bee sting, first time sleeping in a tent.
With the grade 1 and 2 classes this week, I used this book as a starting point for our weekly writing. After reading the book, we brainstormed different firsts that the book made us think about. I was amazed with how many they came up with – from “first bad haircut”, to “first soccer goal”, to “first sleep-over” to “first time I won a coloring contest”, to “first time I jumped off the diving board”. Using one of my favorite planning sheets – the “4 corner picture planner“, the students chose 4 “firsts” that they thought they might want to write about. After folding a blank paper into 4 squares, they drew and labeled 4 “quick pics” Tomorrow we will be turning our plan into a piece of writing. I can’t wait to see how they do! Stay tuned!
“First time my Dad got a battery in his leg”
“First time I scored a break away”
“First time I got a cast on my leg”
“First time I break my bone”