Yep. I now live in Michigan and this was my backyard two days ago. Can you say Snow Days?! Not just day, but days (with an S!). Pure craziness and freezing-ness out here. It's way better today though. We hit 19 and it felt like summer. :)
Little Lily just looked like this for 2 days straight - poor babe.
When we did force her outside she had serious reservations. :)
I think the Star/Bar organizer might be a Step Up to Writing idea. One of my teammates who shared this idea with me had been Step Up trained. I don't know a lot about that program, but I do know I love this simple way to introduce basic paragraph organization to kids - even the littler guys.
It's easy-peasy:
T = Topic sentence
Star = Detail
Bar = Supporting detail ("Tell me more" about the detail)
C = Conclusion
I like to color code the T green (go!), C red (stop!), with the stars yellow and bars orange, but it doesn't really matter on the star and bar color - I'm just set in my color coded ways. I ask students to provide 3 details with supporting details, but for the super little ones, one detail and supporting detail should suffice.
On day 1 we cut and pasted our T, C, stars, and bars. We also wrote the 3 details we wanted to include in our paragraph on the stars - for this paragraph our favorite winter traditions. Then on day 2 students wrote complete sentences for each detail and supporting detail. On day 3 we had a class mini-lesson on topic sentences. Day 4 was conclusion mini-lesson day. Day 5 was read your completed paragraph day. Hooray for paragraphs!
