Our afternoon writing efforts have inspired collaborative group work during our morning open studio play. While creating a cake of snow outside, a small group of preschoolers and kindergarteners began naming their roles as they negotiated the various steps of the process. When the cake was complete, Lyla exclaimed, "We could make a how-to book!" She envisioned the group working together to author the piece. And so, one morning we invited a small group to engage in this project. Some children who joined the group had not been a part of the creation process, but were eager to join the process of reflection.
Snow Cake How-To
A snippet of the conversation.
We are going to need gray. I see gray here…Alright, let’s start. I’ll do step one. LYLA
Can you do the dots for me to do my two? VIVIAN
Okay Brooke, you’re step four. LYLA
Step one: get a pail. No, no, get a bucket. LYLA
Should this be step three? BEATRICE
Get snow. VIVIAN
Just do get snow. Get water. LYLA
Did you do get water? BROOKE
Yours is put all the things in the pan. LYLA
Is that mine? BROOKE
Yeah, she’s getting snow. LYLA
How do I show water? BEATRICE
Use blue? LYLA
It’s /e/ not /a/. It’s get, not gat. VIVIAN
Oh yeah. I’ll cross it off. Silly me, I wrote the letters too close! LYLA
No, we didn’t use blue water, it was brown! LYLA
Oh yeah, but then people might think it’s mud. BEATRICE
What did you put in again? BROOKE
Water, then… LYLA
How many steps have we done? We’ve done six steps. VIVIAN
Bea, what are you doing? LYLA
What am I doing? BROOKE
Cuz Brooke forgets what she is doing so we need to know what Brooke is doing. LYLA
Pan and bucket, I think they stack it up…They should stack it. VIVIAN
I have to use silver for snow cuz there’s no white. BEATRICE
Is there a step ten? VIVIAN
No, it only goes up to nine. LYLA
What learning do you see?
We see children thinking as writers! Collaboration makes visible the talk that goes on within a writer's mind during the process. This conversation highlights all the questions writers pose. What is the order of my story? What are the different parts? How can I make my ideas clear with words and with pictures? What do I do when I make a mistake? How do I use the materials I have to best communicate my thinking? How do I know when I'm done?
We invite you into our library to read the stories and how-to books found within the book box labeled, OUR STORIES!
