I am often asked how I organize my student writing folders. Then the other day I was cleaning out a "special drawer" that I had (AKA: junk drawer, catch-all, blackhole) when I found an old writing folder I used with my 2nd-grade students. I'd forgotten all about them. So I decided to whip up a cleaned-up version and offer them to you all! Here are your Writing Folder Organization FREE labels for your early ...
Writers Workshop
Using Mentor Texts in Kindergarten
Kindergarten Mentor Texts to teach reading and writing with Cynthia Rylant's Scarecrow book (affiliate link)... you bet! This last week I had the pleasure of visiting a kindergarten classroom. She had already started the book, Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant for her Guiding Readers/Close Read, so when she asked me to do a lesson on word choice... I could not contain my excitement. This book is PERFECT for word choice (among other ...
9 Books that Get Kids Writing in Writers Workshop
I want to share with you some of my favorite books to help students get started with writing. I just got a new book today {EEK} so I added to my evergrowing collection! Books that tell a story with just pictures One of the things that might make kindergarteners a little reluctant to write is that somewhere along the line, they were given the impression that only words make the writer. To help build their author~ness, share some ...
5 Things You NEED to Know About Writers Workshop
So... to be honest... there are WAY more than 5 things you need to know about writers workshop. But I hope this will get you started! I have been reflecting on the questions I get asked most frequently when I do presentations on writers workshop. Here are the some of the biggies! Student Choice I will start right off by saying writing prompts for writers workshop are not considered best practices. Don't take my word for ...
10 Wordless Books to Teach Story Telling
I love using wordless books to teach story telling. These 10 wordless books that are my favorite. Before students can be asked to write a story, they must first be able to tell a story. The Why! Has this happened to you? You are so excited to start writers workshop early in the year. You dismiss your students to start to write their stories, only to hear a chorus of "I'm DONE!" 2.2 minutes later. Or later in the year, you read a ...
Writers Workshop… I love kid writing!
Shamelessly, I have carried these student samples around for MONTHS! I audibly gasped when I saw this date... (um...3 months in my bag? How does that happen?) Forgive me my sweet kinder friend! All About Polar Bears First polar bears can run and with claws swim far. Polar bears can catch seals. Next polar bears can have two cubs. Polar ...
Writers Workshop: How is it going? (FREE download)
I haven't written about writing in awhile... where does the time go? Writer's workshop is alive and well in my classroom. We have been busy writing "How-to's" and "All About Books" over the last few months. Here's a glimpse of what has been going on. We are really working on making our writing readable! The finger space is sort of a big deal! Writing time is sacred. Very little gets in the way. ...
How-To Writing in Kindergarten
I have written this post 10 times (in my head). I have carried these writing samples around for weeks in my bag. I have been without a scanner (so that is my excuse for not posting these earlier). Better late than never... right? My class was knee-deep in "How-to" writing in November. This is a tough switch to go from writing narratives to writing procedural texts. Here are a couple of samples I wanted to share. I love ...
Writers Workshop: Second Week of Kindergarten
Today we just completed our 9th day of writer's workshop. I get a lot of questions about writer's workshop, so I thought I would answer some questions and show you where we are! How can you teach students to write when they don't know their letters and sounds? I believe that students can compose even without words. I want my students to know they have a story to tell. When they come busting into your classroom to ...
Writing-Making the last few months count! {Freebie}
Kindergarten Writing Goals Chart. Grab this free Writers workshop goal chart and see student examples from my kindergarten classroom. Is this you? You start off the first part of the year, letting your students "explore" skills, but as the summer months approach, you are starting to feel the threads of panic. I am looking for evidence of mastery! For the majority of my class, we are swimming along quite nicely in writing. They ...
Writer’s Workshop: Making Progress!
I have been thinking a lot about looking back in order to see where you are. Meaning... sometimes you don't realize the leaps and bounds a student makes until you glance back. I have heard it said [not sure who] that looking at writing progression is sort of like watching a tree grow. Every day you look and it appears that your tree is not growing. However, looking back to photos from 3 years ago...WOW! Look how big that ...
Writer’s Workshop and Conferring (FREE Download)
After just a few months of writers workshop you can see how far my kindergarteners have come. This post will explain conferring in writers workshop and give you tips to make it go smoothly! Conferring in Writers Workshop: Making Books We have just completed our second unit in our Writing Through the Years unit on narrative writing. I grabbed a few samples on my way out of my classroom door this evening and I am excited to share them ...
Writer’s Workshop-Updates!
Kindergarten Writers Workshop Fall examples are included in this post! Writing Around the Room During writers workshop, we get BUSY! Many students decide to spread out around the room. As long as they are working, I let them! SIDENOTE: This little friend is looking at the word wall... not chatting it up. Kid Friendly Materials Our materials are kid friendly. All of the paper options are ...
Writer’s Workshop: Trusting the parachute
Writer's Workshop Making Books in kindergarten is not always easy. However, the reward is worth the effort! Launching Book Making in Writers Workshop This week we launched Unit 2 of writer's workshop which centers around narrative texts. We also started making books. Yesterday I was thinking that whoever wrote Unit 2 was an idiot! I mean Unit 1 went so smoothly...why on earth would I want to change a perfectly ...
A week in photos! Writers Workshop
Kindergarten Writing in September! We have made progress in writers workshop. Each day students have been working hard in their writing and the tree is beginning to bear fruit! Writers Workshop Publishing At the end of each unit (20 days of instruction), the students select one piece to revise, edit, and publish. Those pieces that they decide to not publish, go home with a note to their parents. The ...
Getting Started with Kindergarten Writing
Take a look at our kindergarten writing activities at the beginning of the year. Through shared writing and interactive writing, students learn the structure of writers workshop. Kindergarten Writing Activities I have promised to share a little about the writing in our classroom. I am pretty excited about how it is going so far. This lesson I focused on the importance of noticing the details in the setting. I modeled how I closed ...
Making a Class Book in Kindergarten
Making Class Books in kindergarten with my students. We had to say good-bye to our class beloved pet. So we wrote a book to her new parents. The Back Story behind the class book The last few days of school are such a blur. Rush here, rush there... I think it may be a blessing because the last few days are really tough on me. Every time I would try to talk to my kids about going to first grade, I would start to cry (I am really ...
Some Writing in Kindergarten
Here are a few kindergarten writing examples March and April from my classroom. We had a change in writing paper in writers workshop. Let me share my thoughts with you. What I want to be when I grow up This piece of writing was started the last week of March and was finished a few days later. I did not assist her in her writing, I just discovered it while I was conferring with her on another piece. I love how it sounds like some ...
Writers Workshop-How about science fiction
Writers Workshop Science Fiction. My kindergarten students are exploring science fiction in writers workshop. Here is a student sample from February! Here's the deal... Writer's Workshop is still hard for me. I think I am over thinking it. I feel like I have relinquished all control and sometimes wonder if it was easier when I did not give the open reins to my kiddos. However, what I have noticed is when I relax the ...
Writer’s Workshop: Some Informational Writing
Writers workshop informational writing in kindergarten. Read a student's nonfiction text that was produced in my class while we were under our informational text unit of study. Informational Writing: My Penguin Book Here is a sample of some informational writing. As you know, I have not required my students to write informational texts in writer's workshop, but I sure love it when they do! I ...
Writing Assessment
Writing Assessments in Kindergarten. This blog post contains student writing samples that I used to assess students writing progress across the writing continuum. It compares October kindergarten writing samples with December kindergarten writing samples. These samples were collected during our kindergarten writers workshop time. Kindergarten Writing Assessments This week we gave our district's writing assessment. Each kindergarten class ...
Laura Numeroff Mentor Texts
Laura Numeroff Mentor Texts! This week we used Laura Numeroff;'s books as a mentor text for writers workshop and reading. See some of the anchor charts that we created in my kindergarten classroom. Laura Numeroff Mentor Texts We started the week by reading these fun books by Laura Numeroff. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie If You Give a Pig a Pancake If You Give a Moose a Muffin If You Give a Dog a Donut If You Give a Cat a ...
Let’s talk about Writer’s Workshop
Writers' Workshop December Kindergarten Writing! Here is a look at the progress we have made in December in Writers Workshop Writers' Workshop December Kindergarten Writing My kiddos are TOTALLY invested in writing, but their teacher is having to take very big, deep, breaths into a paper bag over the management of it. You see, I had it all figured out before we moved to books. My students would write a single page each day. ...
Writers Workshop-The Anatomy of my workshop and some conferring
WARNING: This is a long post... you may want to get a snack or a drink! Writers Workshop in Kindergarten! What does a day of writers workshop look like? Here is the anatomy of my lessons with a bit of conferring. The Mini-Lesson (10 mins) Students meet me at my carpet. Students know this is time for me to model write. I do a LOT to think alouds. Before I added a page, I modeled how I went back and reread ...