Gail Gibbons and Seymour Simon (AND A GIVEAWAY!!!)

As you know, we're into our "Author's Study" unit at the moment.  We always have done a week about Gail Gibbons-- let's face it, the woman is an amazing writer, and her books are SO very 2nd grade "friendly".  The kiddos LOVE to read her books, and they can learn lots of facts without feeling so overwhelmed with a non-fiction book. 
Each year, along with studying her in "Reading", we also use her an inspiration in our writing.  It is very simple for students to mimic her page layout, with a few lines of factual text and the bottom, an accurate illustration at the top, with a caption, and of course, heading!  The page we use is the single page "Authors as Mentors: Write Like Gail Gibbons" sheet that you can see and download from TpT.  It is a stress free (and fun) assignment that students can easily complete in one week!  :)

This year, though, we also threw in Seymour Simon to the week's studies.  He, too, is a great non-fiction author, and while his books differ in the amount of text (and information!) and the photographs, it's still nice to let students see the varying non-fiction texts. 

In fact, my students completed great venn diagrams comparing and contrasting the two authors (very easily on their own, too, I might add!). 

 

ANNNND, the best part of the week, you may ask?  WEEEELLLLL, it HAS to be the fact that reading, writing, AND social studies/science were all so easily integrated!  That's right...our "Natural Disasters/Natural Hazards" unit fit so well in with reading Gail Gibbons and Seymour Simon books, since they both have several non-fiction texts about topics such as hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.


So, on top of having the phenominal books to get information out of, my students could then apply that information to many of the graphic organizers in my Natural Disaster Pack!  How amazing is that?  Let me just say, it totally made for many seamless transitions throughout the week, and my students loved every minute of it!

Okay, you've made it through the end...now the fun part: the giveaway!!!  The FIRST TWO PEOPLE to leave a comment about their favorite Gail Gibbons book to read to their class (or to use while teaching) will win a FREE copy of the "Authors as Mentors: Write Like Gail Gibbons" handout.  Simply remember to include your email at the bottom of your coment, and I'll try to get it to you ASAP!  :)

Happy Teaching and Learning!!!