Beginning Steps of Writer's Workshop

Because of last year's success and growth of my firsties in writing, Writer's Workshop has become the favorite part of my day.

We have WW first thing to kick start our day. 

It's a calming way to get our brains started thinking.

Here is the WW schedule we typically follow:

1) Mini-Lesson

2) Lights off, music on, silent writing time

3) Turn in time

4) Share time

Here's some examples of introductory mini-lessons we have had.

Completing a heart map:

We use this to house all of our ideas.

Each time students are stuck on what to write about, I have them pull this out for reference.

Click on the picture above for your FREE heart map!

Choosing a Topic and Starting:

Using my heart map, I model how to choose a topic.

We follow Lucy Caulkins writing curriculum so the steps I teach for writing follow her advice.

1) Draw your pictures

2) Write your words

3) Go back and add details to pictures and words

4) Color

The posters are a reminder of what steps to take when completing a writing piece.

Starting next week, I am introducing how to have a "writer's eye" and will refer to these posters also. 

Our first week of WW was very successful.

I had every student engaged in their writing and each turned in at least one piece or more.

Here's a look at where some of my students are at in their writing.

The top picture is one of my low babies and the bottom one of my high babies.

Looks like some of us (and this teacher) have a lot of work to do!