Writing Workshop
 

Writing Workshop is similar to Reading Workshop in that it allows for me to meet with small groups or have individual conferences while the students are writing.  We devote a full hour to writing instruction as the students need ample time to thoughtfully complete their writing assignments.

Our writing instruction begins with a mini-lesson.  In the beginning, these lessons are more focused on teaching routines and how to use our writing folders.  Now we have moved into incorporating our grammar lessons, how to use different graphic organizers, how to write first/rough drafts, how to revise, etc.  As the year progresses, the mini-lessons will be driven by student needs.  For instance, if I see a lot of students are writing run-on sentences, we will have mini-lessons to review how to fix those.  Another example will be how to incorporate more colorful language into our writing instead of using “dead” words (e.g. cool, fun, awesome).

The students’ week typically looks like the following.  They will:

  • have a mini-lesson highlighting skills and strategies everyday

  • apply what is learned in the mini-lessons

  • independently write

  • be called to small group (guided writing) or an individual conference regarding writing progress

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Miscellaneous Information

Share Time

The workshops end with a share time on the carpet.  The students are up and down throughout the morning going to share what they learned, investigated, and/or wrote.  The students have learned how to “Buzz” (talk about what they are learning) in a productive setting. 

 

Support on the Walls

There are posters that are filling our reading/writing bulletin board to help them through this process.  The posters range from “Reading is Thinking” ideas, topics for the students’ letters, what specifically needs to be included in their letters, ways to select a good book, how to buzz effectively, letter due date schedule, five (5) steps to a great paragraph, and that’s just to name a few!  As the year continues, we will add more posters to remind the students of our procedures, how-to’s, and to simply be used as a reference.