How THe Bunny Writing Prompt Turned Out

Hi everyone! Today was my first day back from spring break. It was a great day! The local special rec organization took us on a field trip to play Wallyball. Talk about hilarious! Most of the kids could not hit the ball or serve it over the net for the life of them. But they didn't care... they were all having fun anyways! We played with big rubber balls... the really colorful, air-filled ones that are sold in stores this time of year... so even if they smacked someone right in the face, it wouldn't hurt much. 


Today was also my first day of being in charge of "unit," which is really just a time to do any type of activity that is based on the theme of the week. Today I did the bunny writing prompt with the kids. I shared it in another post, if anyone is interested in picking it up! 


I took pictures of a few of the kids' papers, to show you how they came out, and the level of work the kids are doing. Want to see? This first one was done by Oriole. He used the regular version because, as you can see, he is more or less able to write sentences. 

"One day I woke up, and noticed I'd turned into a bunny! I will hop. I ate carrots. I could jump. I will hop in the woods. I felt happy that it was only a dream."

- Oriole.

This next one is by Rosella. She did the adapted version. I was very excited because Rosella, who can be very distractable and who also often refuses to work, did a really good job on this. I gave her a smiley face and a star when I graded her paper!

"One day I woke up, and saw that i'd turned into a bunny! I felt happy. I said, "I have bunny ears." The first thing I did was eat a carrot. Then I went to jump rope. I saw more bunnies. I ate with them. When I turned back into a kid, I felt happy."

- Rosella. 

The next one was written by Martin. Martin has autism and sometimes has trouble with creative writing, so I think he copied a little off of the adapted version, at first. He also tends to write about the same thing no matter what. For instance, since we went on a field trip today, Martin would have written about a field trip no matter what the writing prompt is. But it's still great work!

"One day I woke up, and noticed I'd turned into a bunny! I felt happy. I am a happy bunny. Happy bunnies are good. I said I want to eat a carrot. I went on a field trip."

- Martin.

Finally, we have the work of Starling. She's such a cool kid! She also has the most severe cognitive impairment in the class, and cannot read or write at all. I read her the text, and she dictated what she wanted filled into the blanks. I wrote her words in marker, and she somewhat tried to trace over them. You can see the trouble she has... but her ideas are great! 

"One day I woke up, and saw that i'd turned into a bunny! I felt happy. I said, "I have a tail!" The first thing I did was go find my dog. Then I went to camp. I saw a wolf. I ate a muffin. When I turned back into a kid, I felt happy."

- Starling

I'm going to try to include a writing prompt in each unit! But one thing I've learned is that it might be a good idea to include some sort of graphic organizer or brainstorming tool. Some of the kids who did the regular version had such a hard time coming up with ideas, it was like pulling teeth to get them to write! Does anyone have any experience or advice about things like that?

In other news, tomorrow Mrs. Eagle is going to be out for the day. There will be a substitute teacher, but for the most part I will be in charge for the whole day. I am so nervous! Even though by now I plan and run all of the lessons, I've never been completely in charge of a whole day before! It will be like a test for me. 

Thanks for reading, everyone! I'll write more soon!