Second Grade writers are preparing for publishing our Realistic Fiction stories. We have learned that these stories have real settings, and characters with real problems and solutions. These characters are similar, but different from ourselves in many ways. It was exciting to imagine traits of our characters by thinking about who they are on the outside, then start to think about what makes them interesting and special. We considered where they live, their hobbies and personality, and who the people are that surround them. When planning our stories, we have considered real problems that our characters may find themselves in, then considered how they might work to solve the problem themselves. As we write our first draft, we are trying to include different ingredients such as strong beginnings, making the characters speak, making a movie in our minds, and including our characters' emotions. We will follow the writing process and edit our work before we use the Book Creator app on the iPads to create a virtual book of our stories. Stay tuned for the many exciting stories coming from our classrooms in the coming weeks!