It's in the Bag~A Writing Activity & New Purse!

In my last post, the January Currently, I wrote that I was "wanting a new purse". Well, I got it! (Thank you to my class!) Here it is:

A beautiful Michael Kors huge tote! Not sure I need a bag this big, but I just love it. The color is very new and summery. I started cleaning out my "old" purse. (It's not really old. LOL! In fact, my old purse is a Coach bag I've had for about 2 years. When I took it out to use it recently it was discolored on the inside. I'm taking it to a Coach store today to see if they will replace it. I'm pretty sure it isn't supposed to do that!)

On with the NEW! Below is what I keep in my purse. Typical stuff. Not too much I think.

My must haves are my little scissors (gift from sister) and my Swiss Army knife. I can not live without either. They have come in handy more than I can say. I just bought a Dooney & Bourke Disney wristlet during our last trip in December. (I love me some Disney!!)  Good when I don't need to carry my big bag somewhere.

Where is all this purse talk leading you may be asking? I started thinking about bags and why we have to carry them. I did a tiny bit of research and found a short concise article here about the history of handbags. Interesting. All of that gave me an idea for a fun writing/inferencing activity. I am going to create mystery handbags. I will use 4 or 5 bags from home and fill them with random, yet carefully chosen, items.  (I have plenty of purses I can use. I think I even have some old bags that belonged to my grandmother.) Students will work in groups to come up with a profile for the person that would carry their bag. Are they young? Older? Man? Woman? What kind of job do they do? Do they have children? They will have to use inferencing skills to figure out who the person might be. I created a【recording sheet】 for ideas or the students can simply write the information in their writer's notebooks.  You can choose one recorder for the group or each student writes their own. When they are done writing the profile, I would have them draw the person, write a story, and present it to the class. I think it will be a fun!                                                 


To go along with the purse theme, here are some books that might be fun to share.   My Granny's Purseis a wonderful book my sister gave my daughter when she was younger. We had great fun reading through it and looking at all the items Granny carries. It's a rhyming book with pieces that come out or open up. This could be a cute introduction to the project.

Of course, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

 is one of my favorites and would be another fun introduction to "It's in the Bag!"

I hope you have fun with this project!