I recently spent several class periods with our human growth and development classes. They have been studying the effects of illegal drugs, so I took my picture book, The House That Crack Built in for a read-aloud.
This book is so simple, yet so powerful. Its a very structured tale, modeled after The House that Jack Built. This read-aloud is very appropriate as a kickstart for drug discussions.
After the read-aloud, the students participated in written conversations. These are one of the easiest ways to incorporate writing into the content area curriculum. Once the read-aloud was complete, students were asked to write down whatever their thoughts were on a sheet of paper. I gave questions and prompts to help guide their writing--I prompted them to think about the book, its illustrations, the drugs that they had studied, their personal experiences. After a few minutes of silent venting, the students traded papers with a neighbor. The neighbor read their comments and then responded at the bottom of the paper.
This letter-writing, of sorts, can go on for a few minutes. Students simply respond to each other's thoughts in writing. They enjoy writing letters in class anyway. Why not let them write on a topic that you approve?
1 comment:
I remember that book you read it to our class last year, oh yeah if you want to reply to my comments my email address is tcarmichel@yahoo.com
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