What Worked Last Year? Writing Work Stations

Last year (and the previous 3-4 years) I have been thrilled with my writing station.

Introducing the writing station

 I start the year by simply adding the words to the wall.

 At the beginning of the year, I have a few mini-lessons on how to use the writing station.

We go over the “I Can…” cards and options.

Then… for the most part… I get out of the way.

 At the beginning of the year, we spend a lot of time just labeling and coloring.  That is A-OK with me.  We are in kindergarten… that is where we are at.

At the end of the month, I simply swap out the cards and response pages.  SIMPLE!

SIDE NOTE:  The Crayola Erasable Pencils are the BEST!  I buy one pack at the beginning of the year and they last me the whole year.  They sharpen BEAUTIFULLY which is great for my pencil OCD~ness!  You can see them HERE.

Stretching as the year goes on!

As the year continues… I nudge them.  I might whisper to a student… “Oh… I see you are going to the writing station.  I can’t wait to see what you do there!”  I brag on those who do more.  “Yesterday, I saw Miss T writing a sentence at the writing station.  It makes me so proud to see her stretching herself as a writer.  If you are going to be going to the writing station, I wonder if you can stretch yourself too?”   Boom!  Done!  They are all stretching themselves.

Sometime in March, this started happening in at the writing station.  One student started writing about Upward Basketball and it pretty soon… EVERYONE wanted to write a basketball-themed book.

You probably noticed all of the colored pencils. They’re great for coloring AND they can easily be erased.

There you have it… I am all about making my stations engaging and challenging… but for my sanity, they have to be predictable.  Done and done!  I don’t have to explain this station each month.  I just add engagement by swapping out the resources.

You can find the whole year’s worth of writing stations by clicking HERE.