Writing about things that fly

Sometimes we read and sometimes we write with Mrs Field. That's what Reading Detectives do to get better at reading and writing. Most of the time we do both!

We started thinking about what things fly and why? What do they have in common? What is similar to machines and birds when it comes to flying?

We read about machines that fly and hover. We read books about Learing to Fly and one called Feathers and Flight. We read about how an albatross stays out at sea for a long long time and has shaky legs when it comes back to land. The book was called Wibble, Wobble Albatross. Now we know why the author chose that title.

We watched a video clip about a bird learning to fly and just getting away from a shark when it landed on the water! That was close! We watched a video clip about how a plane flies and the science behind it. This helped answer some of our questions but it also gave us more questions to investigate.

Paper planes

We looked at a book called Gliders and Sliders. We wondered what do things need to fly? All of us said they needed wings and Hugo knew there was something about the shape at the front of the nose that helped. We had lots of questions.

We created our own stunt planes using fancy paper. We tried to fly them from the top of the Senior playground. The first time was a really windy day and it didn't work very well. Jason's plane flew the longest distance. It went over the fence into the turf area.

Treasure island and our treasure maps

When we found a story about pirates looking for treasure, we decided to make our own maps and write instructions for how to get to the treasure. We did  some writing of words that rhyme like dug and mug and bug. We played contractions dominoes to help read the words in the story that were shortened. We put lots of detail on our maps and gave the island a special name.

Making maps

Our maps had really good detail on them. We looked carefully at the map in the story called Pirate Treasure and used our imaginations. We each gave our island a name. Kody called his Treasure Island, Malia called hers Pirate Island, Jacob called his Skeleton Island, Jason called his Shark Island, Hugo called his Trickster Island and Mrs Field called hers Holiday Island.

Making Traffic Light Sandwiches

We have been reading about how to make things. These stories are called procedures. We read about making special sandwiches that look like traffic lights because of the colours of the fillings. We made the sandwiches and ate them! They were delicious. Then we wrote a story about what we did. The writing has to be in the right order to make it correctly. The reading detectives are wondering what we might make next....