In January I told you about my visit to Bristol and the Classroom Makeover Winner, Jessica Watts. It was such a fun day and she was as excited as her students to use their “new” classroom set-up.

Jessica emailed me last week with this fantastic idea for an end-of-the-year writing lesson. Jessica was reading the book, Finders Keepers for Franklin to her class and she discovered they had no idea what film was (welcome to the digital age).

She had to give them a “history” lesson so they could understand the book. Soon after, she was in an antique store and found some old slides. She purchased enough slides for everyone to use in a writing lesson.

First, Look at the Slides

She had to teach them how to look at slides. She had them hold it down on their dark desk, to show the film looked dark.

Then she showed them to hold them up to the light. When they did they were excited.

They were animated and excited to share what they were seeing with their friends. They passed around several slides to look at them and loved to comment on the similarities and differences.

Once they all shared the slides, they chose a slide to write about.

Second, Write About It

The students wrote about what they saw in the slides. They could create the whole story because they only had one slide to reference.

Interestingly enough, some of the students had different stories for the same slides.

They wrote about details by drawing conclusions, making inferences, predicting, and making connections.

Finally, Illustrate It.

The last part of the assignment was to illustrate for their writing. Jessica shared they were excited about the entire lesson.

They even wanted to write again the next day. Wouldn’t this be a fun center? Maybe even have a flashlight, so they can see details.

I am so excited Jessica shared this fun and exciting writing lesson with me and I got to share it with you. Bristol, Virginia Public Schools sure are lucky to have great teachers like Jessica.

It was so fortuitous that saw the slides and decided to buy them for her students. She took the opportunity to provide the students with valuable background knowledge and a new and unique writing lesson.