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This Reading Mama

Persuade the Pigeon: A Persuasive Writing Exercise

By thisreadingmama 5 Comments

Persuade the Pigeon-Persuasive WritingOne of my favorite books (I’ve got a lot of favorites) is Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  It’s so simple, yet funny. And it’s PACKED with literacy learning.  It plays on the author’s purpose…specifically the purpose of persuasion.

ALuv has always loved this book, too.  Just this past week, I included it as one of our read alouds to go with the letter P.  As I was reading it aloud to the kids, an idea popped into my head.  What if we could persuade that cute, little pigeon NOT to drive the bus?!?

First, we defined persuasion as: You’re trying to get another person to think the same way that you do.

ALuv and I got busy thinking of reasons the pigeon should NOT drive the bus.  NJoy jumped it, too.  We made an entire list, laughing our way through some of our ideas.

Once we had a good list, I challenged ALuv to write a book to the pigeon, including some of our reasons.  At first, he was a little hesitant. But once he got going, he put his all into it.  His total work time on this project was about 4 hours (not all at one time).  And boy, am I proud to show it off!

persuasive writing sloppy copyHe started on his “sloppy copy”, getting down those thoughts. Then, I edited his sloppy copy, correcting mostly punctuation and spelling.

I drew a line on his paper, like I showed on my FB page and he wrote out his pages (6 in all).

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus writingThen, came the fun part…illustrating it!  Now, you need to understand something first.  This. boy. hates. to. draw.  Asking him to draw is like pulling teeth.  He pouts. He moans. He whines. He complains. He drives this mama CRAZY!

Final copy of persuasive writing

But this was different.  The best part about Mo Willems’ illustrations is that they’re simple and easy to draw.  This made illustrating his book MUCH easier and much more fun!  He even included talking bubbles in his pictures.  The title of his persuasive writing became Pigeon, Don’t Drive the Bus!

persuasive writing and illustrations

His final copy turned out so great!  He’s been very proud of it, reading it to almost anyone who has stepped into our house.  And he loves that his writing is funny, making his audience laugh.

And, of course, I made sure to tell him that with all his hard work, that cute, little pigeon will never ask to drive the bus again! 🙂

I shared this post at Sun Scholars For the Kids Friday!

 

~Becky

 

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Filed Under: Book Lists, Teaching Writing

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Comments

  1. Ticia Adventures in Mommydom says

    September 18, 2012 at 9:17 am

    Love this idea! I’m thinking I need to sit down and design my writing curriculum for this year.

    Reply
  2. Carolyn Wilhelm says

    September 18, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    So clever! This is excellent and the many connections will help this be an anchor lesson not easily forgotten. Thank you so much for sharing! Carolyn

    Reply
  3. Jackie Higgins says

    September 19, 2012 at 8:10 am

    Great lesson. What an awesome opportunity you have by having him home with you to let these lessons lead whereever the child wants to go!

    Reply
  4. loraleebain says

    February 6, 2015 at 1:32 am

    My class loves Mo Willems! Thank you for sharing this fabulous idea!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Writing Prompt Ideas to Inspire Young Writers says:
    April 29, 2013 at 7:01 am

    […] of authors.  Three simple of examples include 1- piggyback stories, 2- writings that interact with characters, or 3- continuing the storyline further or writing a sequel {such as in Duck on a Bike as […]

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Becky, a homeschooling mama with 4 blessings who keep me on my toes {and knees}. Before homeschooling, I was a classroom teacher (M.Ed.) and reading tutor. Read more about me here.

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