Second grade FOCUS will be studying the gifted 2nd grade unit called Beyond Words. Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack will be the mentor text used to crack open the author's craft. The students will read like a writer to explore audible craft and visual craft Lester used in his book. Audible Craft- Students will notice repeated words, proper names, repetition of a phrase, brand names, sound effects (onomatopoeia) and figuartive language (metaphors, similes, and personification).  Visual Craft- Students will notice italics, stretching out the print, stacking words, sentence fragments, parentheses, dashes to add an afterthought and extra line spaces.
    Students will notice the craft, name the craft, form a theory, explore other authors and try the craft in their own writing.  Students will use their own stories to write and try the craft studied in class. Take time to share stories and look at photos. It is the small moments of our life that become the seeds of our writing. Write FRESH! Write every day!