First grade students have begun working on How To Essays.  Last week, in preparation, students partner read How to Make Paper. They practiced the reading comprehension skill of sequencing by drawing and labeling steps in the paper making sequence.  Integrating our learning, we then followed the steps to make our own recycled paper.

As we begin our essays students are once again following the steps of the writing process.  They have brainstormed ideas, determining things they are experts at doing.  Using graphic organizers for a prewriting exercise, students are sequencing each of the steps in their self-selected process.  Students are encouraged to transition words, or ordinal numbers to signal each step.  We will begin drafting our essays later this week.