Reading & Writing are interconnected

We tried out the App "Book Creator" this week. The students had a lot of fun creating their own books. One of the twins wrote a story about her twin and another student wrote this story about me! Seriously, what a great bunch of students! 

Another student wrote an illustrated this book called: Bad Days. 

We only had the free version, so we could only make one book. I will have to submit a request to buy the full version. This is such a great fun way to make a story. They had the option to type or use the paint pen. 

On the flipside, I also had the option for them to create a book in the makerspace using paper & stapler. I've always loved student-created books. Its such a great way to teach reading & writing as an interconnected process instead of two separate processes. 

I mean, as a teacher, you create spelling lists based upon the errors you see when they are creating the books... And then you create Language arts lessons based upon the errors you see with punctuation, grammar, or structure.  and when you create the books, the books are at their level and about topics that they are interested in. 

This is why it is so important to use these samples as formative assessments. You are seeing where they are and where they need to go. It is more valuable than having them just do spelling/grammar drills or worksheets that aren't connected to what they are actually doing. 

Reading & writing is about constant editing. That's what professional writers do: They keep rewriting, taking the best of their ideas and eventually publish... Its such a fluid process, a life-long process... It needs to be meaningful!