Bug Study: Fiction

At the end of the school year, my class enjoyed a 3-week study of bugs. First, they researched a chosen bug and published a book.  Then, they created 3-D versions of the bug.  Next, the kids authored a fictional story about their bugs.

We had been talking about facts and reading both fiction and non-fiction books about bugs.  Writing a fiction story about their bugs was the perfect ending to the unit.  To get them started, we wrote a collaborative story about the dreaded tomato hornworm that always seems to creep into my garden.  We talked about how to combine both realistic and fictional elements in stories.  For instance, an insect would still have 6 legs, but maybe it could talk.

I used story paper that comes with our handwriting program, but really any kind of paper or little book will do.  Ours were quite short (only 4 pages) but focused on a beginning, middle, and end.

Here is an excerpt from Max's book about his chosen bug, the worm.

The Worm Dug  by Max

The worm dug up a root.

The worm dug up another worm.  The sun came out so the two worms went underground.

What a perfect way for us to end our school year.  By this time, everyone is writing independently and has discovered  their own little voice in the classroom.  After writing and illustrating the stories, they were read to the class.