One of my goals for this year is to really implement the writing workshop model and try to get away from so much prompt writing. I think it's so important to teach students writing skills and let them apply the skills by writing about a subject of their choice. Of course, we will be doing prompt writing sometimes too, but I want to make sure my students are independent and creative writers.
Last week we set up our Writing Workshop Folders. I just used basic folders with prongs and these labels.
I also added writing resources to the folders using the charts in my Reading Notebook Essentials pack.
One of the most common things you will hear from students during writing workshop time is, " I don't know what to write!" I wanted my students to have their own personal idea page for inspiration. An All About Me Poster was the perfect idea! I sent this note home with students on the first day of school with a piece of Astrobrights cardstock attached.
I included a sheet protector in the writing workshop folder for students to slip their poster into after they shared it with the class. My students LOVED sharing their posters and they have been perfect writing inspiration!
This week in writing workshop, we focused on how to stretch out words to hear sounds and labeling. We started with using small post it notes to label pictures in a book.
The I-Spy books in our library were extremely popular for this activity.
Then we drew our own pictures with labels! Students could use their labels to write sentences. This lesson is a great one for students at all levels! It also encourages them to add labels to their pictures throughout the year.
Speaking of writing workshop, here is a sneak peek of what we will be doing this week! CONSTRUCTING Sentences! All of our mini lessons will focus on how to write a complete sentence. This unit is designed to be interactive and engaging for young writers! Be on the look out for a blog post all about it later this week or check out the product HERE.
