
Everything she said made absolutely sense to me, but I had never broken it down to the degree she had. I had always put the emphasis on the writing, not the picture, when in fact, to some degree, it needs to be the other way around!
On Friday, I took her idea and put it into action.
Firstly I was amazed at the creative ability of the children in my class. I know I have been teaching them for 14 weeks now, but never had I said, draw in grey lead first - amazing! Usually I get blue people, scribble and no facial expressions. Here are a few I love...
Then we coloured it in.
(I loved the colourful snow!)
To explain - my teaching partner from last year broke his foot and he can't do much at the moment - we decided to make him a book of him doing all his favourite things to cheer him up - waterskiing, snowboarding, playing basketball and teaching.
Some children had a go at writing words themselves, other's copied directly from the board!
I was so happy how they turned out - I will definitely be using this strategy a lot more often!
Thank you Paula!

Gorgeous drawings!! I started doing the grey lead drawing first as part of Writer's Workshop style writing program last term, and boy did it have a huge impact on the quality of work my preps were producing. Amazing how such a small thing makes such a big impact!
ReplyDeleteJemima
Luck's Little Learners
Huge impact Jemima - I wish I knew that 3 months ago!
DeleteThey look fantastic, Alison!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit like you, in that the focus has (in the past) always been on the writing. But when I think back on it, when I first started teaching, we did do picture planners first, so I'm solo excited to give this a shot tomorrow for our journal writing. It makes so much sense! Thanks for sharing your pics - they look wonderful!
Stef
Miss Galvin Learns
Thanks Stef! Pictures first again today - fabulous!
DeleteAlison thanks for linking up to my post. I am so glad it has made an impact on what happens in our classrooms. The kids love using lead pencil to draw with first. The photos are great!
ReplyDeletePaula from Paula’s Place and iSURF Maths
My pleasure Paula, but you deserve all the credit - you are amazing!
DeleteLooks great! Can't wait to check out Paula's blog!
ReplyDeleteTara
The Math Maniac