14 Kindergarten students have been hard at work this year as they study the techniques of their favorite authors and
apply them to their own writing. We spent 45 to 60 minutes every day in our Writing Workshop. Some
may wonder how we can spend an entire hour on writing with students who are only 5 or 6 years old. But a closer look
into our writing workshop time would show them actively engaged in analyzing texts for patterns and ideas, talking about ways
to improve the look and the sound of their own texts, and eagerly writing down whatever exciting news is important to
them.
We use ideas from the K-1 Empowering Writers curriculum to drive our instruction. This includes a 10 to
15 minute "minilesson" on to focus our minds on the big ideas of writing, including:
- different types of texts (informational, narrative and problem/solution)
- including the beginning, middle and end of a story
- creating exciting beginnings
- using descriptive words and all five senses to show (not tell) what is happening
- where authors get their ideas
This website is a place to publish a few of the texts we have produced, in order to motivate students and help them to
feel like "real" authors. It's also a place to share our writing with parents and to help other teachers who are
working on Writing Workshop. On average, each student creates 3-5 texts per week, so there is no way to include them
all. Instead, I have chosen a representative sampling of work that demonstrates the different types of ideas we have
studied and how it has translated into student work. I am proud of all of my writers, and look forward
to seeing their writing continue to improve!
