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Neighbors | Zack Shively.THe second grade teachers used "The Best Part of Me" project to explain the writing process to the students. They began with a story web, moved to a rough draft and finished with a final draft of the project. It also helped the students work on paragraph writing.
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Neighbors | Zack Shively.The second grade students at Poland Union Elementary did a project called "The Best Part of Me" throughout the month of October. The assignment asked the students to write about their favorite body part. The students had to come up with four reasons why they chose the body part they did.
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Neighbors | Zack Shively."The Best Part of Me" project that the second grade did worked on topics they have been learning in the classroom, such as internal and external characteristics. The project focused on the external characteristics of the students.
by ZACK SHIVELY
Second-grade students at Poland Union Elementary participated in a project called “The Best Part of Me“ during October.
The teachers incorporated the project in their classroom to implement skills they have already worked on, such as external characteristics in characters and paragraph writing.
The students focused on a body part on their body, an external characteristic, of themselves that they like most and wrote four reasons about why they like the body part and what it brings to their lives.
One student wrote that he liked his arms best because he could pick things up and hug with them. Another student said she liked her legs best because they help her run fast in sports.
The project comes from Wendy Ewald’s 2002 book, “The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About Their Bodies in Pictures and Words.“ The book features examples of what other students wrote and pictures of the students.
Alyssa Patrick, a second-grade teacher, said the teachers use the project to get the students to work on their writing skills, think about character traits and look for good in themselves. The activity should be a feel-good project.
The students learned a full writing process with this project. They first began by creating story web.
Then, they wrote their first draft of their paragraph. Finally, they made their final draft of the paragraph.
The second-grade teachers hung the finished paragraphs with pictures of the students in the halls of the school. The teachers used the project for the first time last year.