Literary Resource: Crickwing (Revisited Read-Aloud)
Via this writing exercise, students will embrace author's craft, experiencing how author's can use non-fictional info to create an engaging, fiction narrative.
Duration.
This writing effort will run for approximately 1 ½ to 2 weeks, three days per week's duration, 55 minutes per writing session. Extend the time period for project completion where necessary.
Being able to write narratives that include engaging language (both literal and figurative), structure, and organizational patterns is a major component of the third grade Language Arts curriculum. This writing activity supports this requirement, empowering young learners in the areas of verbal and written expression.
Preliminary Activity
. Randomly call on students to provide a verbal summary of the fictional portion of the Janell Cannon's story creation. Record their responses on chart paper. Then ask, "Why might the author have written this narrative." Conjectures provided, share that the book has an additional, non-fictional component that you will share. Read the previously unread portion of the story aloud. Thereafter, call on students to provide key facts they learned about roaches, leafcutter and army ants. Compare and contrast the facts with the initial narrative storyline. Students soon recognize that the author used factual information to craft an engaging fictitious tale.
