Writer's Workshop Intro

This week we have began our introductory lessons for writing workshop. Writing workshop is a time this year that students will learn to share their ideas out loud and on paper, in both pictures and words. They will learn to explain themselves, use details, and tell their stories bit by bit. 

Here are a couple of pictures of our favorite part of writer's workshop: share! Each day after writing we will celebrate a student, piece of writing, or writing strategy from that day. This is a great way to recognize great work and put the spotlight on students for a job well done! Sometimes we will do this whole group, and sometimes we will share as partners, like we are doing in these pictures!

*To help set the tone for a successful year of writing, we have specific writing time expectations. One of these that you might hear your child mention is that I have not allowed them to ask questions during writing time. This is so that students get used to problem solving independently, stretching out words to spell them the best they can, and asking peers for help when needed. Once we are in the full swing of writers workshop I will be holding daily writing conferences in addition to our daily whole group mini-lessons. In order for these conferences to be successful, I need to be able to spend a small chunk of uninterrupted time with individual or pairs of students. This means other students need to be engaged in independent, meaningful writing work. Once students understand the expectation, I will introduce the idea that they may ask questions if needed, only when they see I am not in a conference with another student. But for now, we build independence! I can't wait to see the amazing growth that our first grade writers can make this year!