Don’t Let the Pigeon Teach Writing Skills!

Lowell’s 2nd graders showed off their writing work in a recent curriculum share. Visitors perused their collection of original stories based on Mo Willem’s pigeon books. 

 

For those unfamiliar with the series, a curious, adventurous, and willful pigeon wants to try many things in life like driving a bus or raising a puppy, and refuses to listen when others tell him, “No.” The pigeon pleads, bargains, and bribes to get his way, without success, but always finds something new to capture his attention. In the style of the author, students developed a conflict (the pigeon wanted to ride a ripstick, play Minecraft, and bake a cake, among other examples), came up with excuses on the pigeon’s behalf (“I’ll give you $10…” and “I’ve been practicing a whole day”), and carefully chose words and punctuation to move the story along while following a pattern. Lastly, they paired their words with drawings that fully demonstrated the small bird’s huge range of emotions. 

 

“The pigeon books are great as a narrative exercise,” said the 2nd-grade teaching team. “It’s a short sequence of events, but the students learn to convey actions, feelings, event order, and a sense of closure as supported by the illustrations. The books took a lot of planning, plus rewrites and edits, to get the story and the humor across. These authors are funny—we’re really proud of the work they put in!”

 

A few weeks after the curriculum share, all 2nd graders came together for a surprise announcement: their pigeon books had been published by “Schoolastic” Books. Each author received a letter from the publisher applauding their hard work and each cover was stamped with a “published” sticker. To celebrate, classmates read their stories aloud in small groups. You could hear screams of “pleeeease!” from the pigeon character, choruses of “no” from listeners, and plenty of giggles all over the back playground. Congratulations to our authors!