Text Based Evidence Writing with Poetry

We have been working on this most amazing training specifically geared to teach good writing skills. This lesson is based on the theme of "Heroes". We read two informational stories: "Five Traits of a Hero" and a biography of Fred Richardson Jr. After reading the biography article, we stated the main idea of the story, and also did the sort. Such activity helped the students create the mental picture of their writing plan, which they later used to write their own essays. While introducing the sort, I also used three different colors of pocket charts to help the students visualize "paragraphs" :0) and... "indentation" :0). Yes, I am smiling while writing because both concepts are rather difficult at the beginning of the year in the 4th grade :0)
After writing the essays, my most amazing volunteer and a poet Mrs. Gilligan wrote a poem with both classes which was dedicated specifically to Doctor Fred Richardson Jr. from Chicago.