Writers Workshop

**Here is a post from April 14, 2015**

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!

My young friend took editing very seriously!  This was written shortly after our procedural unit, so he was holding onto those transitional words.  He did have the support of some of our schema charts we did while we read Ice Bear, but he put it all together with zero help from me.  I was impressed!

I also sort of love that HE was on each page of his “All About” book.  Think ~ Marlin Perkins narrating a Mutual of Omaha documentary.  Those of you who are too young to know what I am talking about… just politely nod and move along.

This little friend really grasped the idea of showing contrasting images through a “split screen.”  I honestly don’t really recall highlighting this illustrative technique, but we are constantly analyzing illustrators’ work to see what we notice and how we can walk in their footsteps.

She is also speaks 3 languages!  3!!!   Her growth in English has been impressive to watch!

My sweet friend wrote about going to a wedding reception.  Because we were writing our “small moments,” she wanted to focus on the reception… do you blame her?

We are getting close to the end of the year.  I PROMISE to do better with posting our writing… PROMISE!

Here is a free download that I have had for a while.  I moved it to my TpT store, so it will be easier to find!

You can find all of our writing curriculum by clicking HERE.

Here is a post from 9-24-14
Awww… the first month of writer’s workshop is behind me.  We have built some strong routines and habits already.  I am super pleased.

A few days (weeks) past, we wrapped up our first unit by revising our writing.  I modeled this by  selecting a piece that I had previous written.

I discussed how we had learned so much about writing and  I wanted to go back and add clarity to my writing.  So, I revised one of my original pieces.  I told my students that I did not think it was really clear that I washed my dogs in the garage shower, so I added some details.  I also told them that I thought I could add more words.

Then my students self-selected a piece from their own writing and set out to add clarity. For many, this just meant adding additional colors.  At this point of the year, I am more interested in the PROCESS… not the PRODUCT.  Does that make sense? 

(um… and yes, we sometimes write upside down on the paper.)

What was important to me was my students understood that they could add more information to their writing at anytime in order to help the reader understand.
This revision was not painful, they joyfully set out to work… no tears!

I have also been rewarding tables that work quietly and “make my heart happy” with their hard work.  I just hang a badge clip from their table number with a heart I cut out from construction paper… a little ghetto… but it works!

 During the next writing period, that table gets to use my mechanical pencils.

We are now knee-deep in writing books with our second unit.  So far… so good!  It is always a wee-bit scary to loosen the control and let students start book making.
Trust me, it is worth the discomfort.

We have started sharing on the interactive whiteboard.  My document camera when belly-up this year.  It was 5 years old, so it lived a good life.  We now use my iPad to share.

This is the stand we use.

We just mirror the iPad to our computer using AirPlay.  Simple really!

We also have been sticking to our conferring schedule.
This is a free download on my Facebook Fan Page.
(NOTE: you can not see the folder if you are looking on a tablet or phone).

 A quick explanation…  I have 6 groups in rotation.  At the close of writing, one group hands in their folders so I can review their past writing and think about some goal setting (see group 5). 

The next day I will move all the cards over towards the right.  Group 5 will now be in the “Meet me on the rug” section.  I will then meet with these 3 students and set a super quick goal.
They will go off and write.

The next day group 5 will be moved to “Conference Day.”  This is when I officially confer with them.  I look to see if they applied to goal I set for them on the previous day.  I might keep that goal, or select a new one.  The students who are on the “Conference Day” schedule are also the students who share with the entire class under the document camera.  They really look forward to it!  Super motivating.

I also have started to use an app to keep track of my conferring (I feel so techie… for REAL).

You create the subjects you want to use.

 You can export them or share the information with others… (cue angels to sing.)

 This is what my “writing” tab looks like.  I have them sorted by date, but you can sort them alphabetically too.

 When I click on a student’s name, I can just start typing.  It saves my comments, so if I want to say the same thing with another writer, I don’t have to type it all.  WHAT?! So easy!

AND… I can take a quick photo of what I am conferring on.  I! LOVE! THIS! FEATURE!

Friends, as you know, it is not about the data you collect, it is about what you DO with the data.  I feel like I am able to collect detailed data in a concise way.  Data that I can turn around and use!

1.  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 tell you about when they wrecked their bike at home, they have a story to tell.  After all… writing is just telling on paper!

If you look at stories like Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola, Good Dog Carl, by Alexandria Day, and No, David by David Shannon, you will notice rich stories that are told with little or no words.  The illustrations carry the story.

So my students begin to tell stories with pictures.  Over time, their transcription skills will develop and we will see letters and sounds.

2.  Do you tell the students what to write?

NEVER!

During writer’s workshop, students self-select a topic to write about.  This is not journal prompt writing time.  This is not reading response writing time.  Writer’s workshop is a time for students to write on the subject of THEIR choice.  I may suggest (as the year progresses) that they write in a certain genre, but I rarely insist that they do.  For example:  If we are knee-deep in an informational text writing unit, I may request a student write in that genre.  Generally, whenever I start a new genre study, the majority of my students just naturally start to write in that genre.

3.  How do you get them to sit and write?

I expect it.  I tell my students that the work we do in writers workshop is so important that nothing should distract us from it.

We start small and grow from there.  

4.  How often do you do writers workshop?

Everyday.  We rarely miss it.  So, yes… I give about 170 mini-lessons a year!

This week we focused on where writers get ideas and created an anchor chart.  I then modeled how I would use this chart (sorry not pictured) to create a new piece.

True story!  I broke my arm when I was in grade school… or as one of my kiddos pointed out “in the olden days.”  I am not really sure how old he thinks I am!

This was modeling how you can write from a memory.  This was my memory of flying kites with the Perfect Son at the beach when he was little… sigh… (don’t get me started… I miss that boy.)

Here are a few student samples to show you the progress we have made in just a short time.

 Her writing on the right is much more focused and clear.  She is even starting to write some sounds.  I am not in a hurry to have letters on the page.  I am more interested in having them work on telling their story and making the meaning clear to the reader.

His writing has also improved in clarity.  He has written some letters at the top (on the 8/29 piece).  But they appear to be just random letters.  That is AWESOME!  He knows letters mean something!  That is progress too!

This leads up to a segment I like to call…  “I Spy Spidy!”  

It appears that Spiderman is a creeper in each of his drawings!  

NOTE:  I did not include them all!

Showing growth in writing takes time.  I have heard it compared to watching a tree grow.  You can’t force it to grow.  However, I am confident if I provide the opportunity and nurture the process, growth will happen.

You can click here to learn more about writing with emergent writers.  I co-wrote writing curriculum with Deanna Jump and you can see it over at her store.

Here is a post  from 2011!

 Oh Boy!  Let me just get this out there… I am a control freak in my classroom!  Confession is good for the soul!

I first started to wonder if there was more than one way to bake this cake known as writing when I purchased this book.

Then I was fortunate enough to go see her last week and the wheels started turning.  

Confession #2: We have not made “books” in writer’s workshop. The old Mrs. Wills had her students self-select a topic and draw their picture (with pencil) and add words/inventive spelling during the first 15 minutes of independent writing time.  Then once our timer went off, they could add color. 

Overall, I was pleased with this approach, but I did feel I needed to widen my kiddos writerly life.

On page 79, Katie Wood Ray talks about the framework of her units of study:

Here are a few:

We love this book by Jerry Pallotta.  It builds in excitement and has a surprise ending.  We used this while we were working on finding writing ideas.

As writers we noticed that some of the illustrations were created from a different perspective. The central image was pictured from the front, the back, the side, above, and below.   AND by doing this it made the reader experience what the character was experiencing.  

We also noticed that the illustrator zoomed in on certain pages.  Boy, the close up of the Bluefish was scary because it was so huge!  AND we could see its razor-sharp teeth.

Katie Wood Ray talks about this on page102 and calls this “Crafting with Positioning Perspective”.  

These books provide wonderful examples of how action can be depicted in illustrations.  See the swish lines around the basketball?

I also tried to plant the idea that “writers think about writing even when they are not actually writing” during my morning message.  (The stretching words idea comes from Deanna Jump’s Chit Chat)  The kids ate it up!

Here is one (I have a ton I could share) of a student who took this on. Prior to “writing books” Miss L would typically write, “I am playing with my dog” and she would have considered herself done.

However, by making books she has a better developed topic.

She (like many of my students) decided to write her words on the left side of her paper and place the illustrations on the right, so you can’t see her words.  They were written in typical kindergarten writing with inventive spelling… AWESOME!

She worked on this book for 4 days.  She informed me today that she felt she was done, and wanted to start a new book.

Students keep their writing in a simple pocket folder.  You can see I have placed a green dot (still working) on one side.  The other side has a red dot (done).