Writing: You've Gotta Have a Plan

Our school has adopted using the four-square model of writing, from Kindergarten through fifth grade.  The thinking behind this is that each grade can build off the foundation of the prior year.

We have been talking about Monarch butterflies, which I figured would be a great springboard for creating a four square.

Before we began, I wanted to impress upon my firsties the importance of having a writing plan.  I brought in a set of blue prints that my husband had for a concrete job that he was pouring. 

Displaying the plans, I explained how Mr. Nunley needed these to know where and how much concrete he needed to pour.  That if he did not have the plans, what he did would not make much sense.

I then explained that when we write, we also need to have a plan so our words make sense.  Working together, we created a plan for writing about the topic "The Monarch caterpillar is an amazing animal."

The students stayed on topic and had great ideas for developing a cohesive paragraph using our four-square organizer.

If this is an idea that you are interested in but do not have a set of blueprints handy, most house plan websites have floor plans that you can print out and use for an example.

Happy Monday!