I try and do a different author study each month, but so far this year, that hasn't happened. We studied Kevin Henkes in August, and started Mo Williems in September but we had so much fun with his books, that we extended it into October. November and December were both crazy with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and snow days, that we didn't get to one. And after missing a week in January due to snow, February seemed like the perfect time to introduce a new author. I decided to go with Ian Falconer, author of the Olivia books. My kids LOVE Olivia. I have an Olivia DVD that we watch at snack and it's a favorite in my class, so the kids were super excited to learn more about our favorite pig. We kicked off the author study with an art project. In the book, Olivia loves to go to museums and look at all the paintings, but she doesn't understand some of them, like the "scribble scrabble paintings". We talked about two different artists: Leonardo Di Vinci and Jackson Pollock, who is famous for what my kids now call "scribble scrabble" painting. I told half the class to draw the Mona Lisa and the other half to draw a Jackson Pollock style painting. They LOVED this! I have created a glog (an online poster) for my class wiki. Check it out!
I try to do this often with my students too. It is a wonderful way for them to start a lifetime journey with what may become their favorite author. I had an elementary teacher who hosted a girl's literature club after school and that is when I started my "affair" with Judy Blume. It was a lesson for life.
ReplyDeleteThis is so great! I never find time to do an Author study! I actually love the idea of doing some of it at snack time! What a great way to sneak it in! :)
ReplyDelete-Rachelle
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