Recommended Grades: K-2, 3-5One warm day in early May, Farmer had a plan. To spring-clean all his animals, til each was spic-n’-span — so begins Hogwash. The hogs, of course, had other plans and resisted all of Farmer’s attempts to clean them. A surprise ending will make readers laugh out loud. Six Traits of Writing: Word Choice, Grades 3-5: Read aloud Hogwash! and discuss the language the author chose. Determine the words that are more vibrant than your “everyday” words. Create an anchor chart that lists vibrant words for students to use in their own writing. Six Traits of Writing: Organization, Grades 3-5: Read aloud Hogwash! and discuss the surprise ending. How did the author surprise her readers? Use this book as a model with other books with surprise endings. After students have been immersed in a study of surprise endings, ask students to write a piece with a surprise ending©2012 by Dawn Little for Picture This! Teaching with Picture Books. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.