Friday, March 22, 2013

Author Study #2




I just finished working on this author study for Patricia Polacco. It is very similar to the author study I did for Cynthia Rylant. At the end of this unit, I plan to compare the two authors.
 
Click below to download the lesson notes:


 
 
I use the Patricia Polacco books shown below in the unit, but will have a basket full of her other titles for the students to explore during stations.


To keep track of all of our thoughts and new learning, we will create a foldable again.  The kids love it...and so do I!
 
Here is an example of mine:
 

 Front cover
 
Inside the left flap:
 
Inside the right flap:
 
The middle flap- inside:
 

Under the inside flap:

The back:

We add to our foldable or our journal daily during the unit.
 
In the unit, we read the story, The Keeping Quilt.  During this time, the students will create their own quilt square. Inside the quilt square they draw/write about something that is important to them. We will put the squares together to create a large class quilt. 
 
I plan to create a large quilt by using gallon size ziplock bags and taping them together with colored duct tape. The students can then slide their quilt square into the bag from the back.  Here's an example I found:
 
 
 
The unit download also includes the pages that go with the culminating acitivity.  The activities are the same as the Cynthia Rylant unit because I allow the class to choose which activity they want to complete.
 
Click below to download the pages that go with the unit.
 
 
 
 
To end the unit, we will discuss how the Patricia Polacco stories are similar/different to the Cynthia Rylant stories and why. 
 
Here is a quiz for the end of the unit:
 
 




I hope you find something useful here.  I would still like to create an author study unit for Eve Bunting as well (because I REALLY love her books too), but we'll see if I have time for that!
 

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed your project and it has given me ideas for next year. These are 2 of my favorite authors.

    Daryle Esswein

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  2. Jennifer,
    Thank you so much for sharing these two author studies. I already shared the Cynthia Rylant study with my class earlier this year and the kids loved it. I will be doing the Patricia Polacco study during December.
    Athena Meacham

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