While reading Love That Dog, students created poems that mirrored the poems encountered in the book. Students got a special chance to creatively express themselves with their "I Am" poems. This started with an exercise where students thought about their pasts, presents, and futures.
For our non-fiction unit in the spring, students read an excerpt from Gary Paulsen's "Wood Song." Using this model, students wrote a short memoir style story about an impactful event in their own lives.