Writing Workshop

Time is already flying by in our first and second grade classroom!  The students are doing an awesome job settling into our daily schedule and routines.  The day passes so quickly, I hardly remember to stop and get some pictures of all of our hard working kids!

Writing Workshop is one of our favorite times of the day!  Each day after lunch and recess we gather on the rug to discuss what good writers do.  So far we have learned that good writers pick topics they are experts in... themselves!  I encourage the kids to pick out topics that they have experienced in their lives as we begin our writing journey.  (Later in the year we dive into letter writing, fiction writing, poetry, and research projects.)  We have a whole list of ideas that the kids have brainstormed... friends, family, school, summer memories, play dates, vacations, and even small moments in our everyday lives make great stories!

The last few weeks we have focused on adding details to our writing once we have our topic in place.  Details make a story so interesting and help our reader really understand what happened.  We practice asking each other questions to help us as writers realize what we may have missed.

Our workshop begins with a mini-lesson where I teach the students about an aspect of writing... picking a topic, adding details, stretching out our words as we spell, and much more!  The students then find a spot to work independently on their stories.  During this time the students are working on their words, their illustrations, or thinking.  The third part of our workshop is buddy conferences.  During this time the students have the option to find a friend and share their writing.  The last thing we do is invite one author to come to the front to share his or her writing with the whole class.  The class asks questions and gives comments to this author.  I will use this time to reinforce the skill taught during the mini-lesson.