Author's Purpose Freebie

Part of the fun of the holidays is when friends stop by for a visit. It's even better when they stop by with a little gift! Well, that's exactly what's happening this week on my blog. I've invited a few of my friends to come over and visit with us and they all brought a gift to share! I have some great friends, right? 

Today I'm welcoming Lisa from Fourth & Ten. I was so excited when Lisa said she would like to share these adorable author's purpose activities with us. I'm sure you're going to love them as much as I do! Help me welcome Lisa!

Hello, Sunny Days readers! I am so excited that Denise has invited me to guest post on her blog.  My name is Lisa and I blog over at Fourth and Ten.  Where I blog about my adventures teaching my fourth graders and occasionally my love of Ohio State Football. :)

Last year,  when I taught second grade, Denise's blog was a lifesaver for me and I am so thankful for the friendship that we share.  So I am over the moon excited to take over her blog for a bit and share a fun activity that I did with my fourth graders to practice author's purpose a few weeks ago.  

My school has a big push on student engagement this year, which I am thrilled about because it gives us a little bit more freedom than normal to stray from our adopted curriculums.    A few weeks ago, instead of using a lesson from our Treasures reading series to review author's purpose, I decided to review author's purpose with two sweet and furry things that are close my heart.  

Aren't they precious? My students LOVE when I talk about my two dogs, Moss and Maddie.    So I had Moss and Maddie, plus my parent's dog, Daisy, dictate letters to me addressed to my class to use to use in a lesson.  

I shared these letters with my students on my Smartboard and we went through each one and discussed what the author's purpose could be and then looked for keys words and evidence as to why the purpose could be to persuade, inform, or entertain.  Then they recording their thinking on the accompanying graphic organizer.

Oh my gosh, my bigger kids LOVED this! They were so engaged and into the lesson that I was kinda hoping one of my adminstrators  would walk into the room for a pop in observation! :)  Since the lesson was so memorable, they used the doggie's letters throughout the week when determining the purpose of other texts that we read!  I overheard things like "Well, Maddie's letter was to inform and she taught us all about making her favorite treat, so this book must be to inform too because we learned something," and "Moss' letter shared a story that made us laugh, this book is also funny, so the author must have wrote it to entertain."  

If you would like to do this activity with your class, I have shared it with you as a freebie at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Just click on the picture above to check it out! :)  If you use it with your class, I'd love to know what you think!

Thanks Denise, for sharing your reader's with me today! I'd love to have some of you click over to Fourth and Ten sometime!