Author Study

This past week students in Miss. Siegfried's class have taken part in our first Author Study. We began studying Mo Willems. He is the author of some our favourite books, such as, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!"
Author studies are an important part of students learning. They teach children a number of valuable skills that can be transferred to other areas of their learning and can be used throughout their school careers.
1. Build Critical thinking skills: Students are able to determine the message behind the books, analyze concepts and compare/contrast ideas between books.
2. Improve writing skills: When we study authors they become our "mentors" we learn from their writing and we ourselves try and become authors just like them. Students will begin to feel a bond with them and it can further their love of reading.
3.  Expose students to different forms of writing: Through author studies students often read different books that they might not normally choose. They are exposed to different forms of writing (ex: speech bubbles, comics, novels) which can broaden their skills as both readers and writers.


While studying Mo Willems we learned that while we are laughing at the funny things the Pigeon does and the trouble that Elephant and Piggie get into that the author has important messages for his readers. Mo Willems is often teaching us why it is important to share, that we are all different and that is okay, and that being a good friend is always a good thing.

Students even wrote their own story based on Mo Willems. We planned what our message was, what we wanted our character to do and funny things they might say. Students stories will be published and available to read in our classroom! We can't wait to share the finished product.