Writer's Workshop Tips, Tricks and a Freebie

As many of you know, I was on maternity leave this year from late September until January. Although I had THE BEST sub EVER...let's face it-teaching a 5-year-old how to write is a VERY hard job!! So, when I came back in January I knew that I would have to step it up a notch to get these kiddos where I wanted them to be.

After talking with one of my teammates who had the opportunity to observe her son's Kinder classroom over X-Mas break, I decided to start with a more meaningful, phonics PACKED morning message in the morning. During out MM I model everything a good writer does (and how I want them to do it :)  We think about what our sentence is going to say. Then, we count the words in the sentence. After we know how many words are in the sentence, we draw that many lines. Next, we write our first word. We either "count the sounds" (segment) the word OR if it's a word posted in our room-the MM helper shows us where to find it and spells it for us......this might sound like a lot...it might sound like OMG, my kids would loose interest WAY too quickly.... THE KEY is to keep it HIGH energy and keep the kids involved. (I seriously feel like a cheerleader most of the time:) I'm up moving, clapping, throwing my voice and cheering them on:) THEY count the words together, they count the sounds together, When the helper has to point to a popcorn word like "the" I say "Where can he find it?" They respond "under the T!"

Another KEY that you MUST have in your classroom are "chunk" cards!!!!! These help the kids with writing so, so, so much!!!!! I got this set from Deanna Jump's blog a couple of years ago.  With the picture ques and constantly referring to these cards during our MM-the kids know them!!! AND it helps them write words that I never DREAMED that they would be able to write!!! LOVE them!

When we are finished with MM, our helper reads the message, pointing to every word while the rest of the class reads along. After that, I call on students to circle familiar sight words and "chunks" in the message.

MM is posted in our room all day. At the end of the day, when we are all packed up and ready to go-our message helper reads the message with the class one more time. I then fold it up and it is theirs to take home with them:)

MM has helped soooooo much with sentence structure, segmentation, phonemic awareness, being able to find the words and chunks in our room that they need, Which EQUALS=INDEPENDENT WRITING!!!!!!!! Yay!

Sooooooo.....On to writers workshop:) I think writers workshop is sooooo important!!! It allows kids to work AT THEIR OWN PACE!!! You're not giving them a topic and telling them that it has to be finished by the end of the time block! They CHOOSE their topic-something that they like and are actually interested in-which actually gets them excited about writing!! They work on it that day and if they get it finished-GREAT!! I read it and it goes in the "finished" side of their folder. If they don't get it done-GREAT!!!! It goes in the "still working" side of their folder. There is no pressure!!!! So, the kids that are super artistic and want to spend a good 10 minutes on an awesome amazing illustration can do that and it's OKAY!!!!! ;)

Here's an anchor chart that I made to help them think of and/or decide on a topic.

I also made these little step by step reminders that I have posted and refer to  constantly.

First, you think of what you're going to write about and formulate a sentence. Then, you count the words in your sentence. Next, you draw your lines for each word. Then, write your sentence. And last, we illustrate. You can grab those directions HERE!!! ;)

YES, I know....some of you just gasped!!! "That's WRONG!!!!!"  (We draw last) I don't think it is....although it is for some:) You have to teach the way that it makes sense and works for you!!!!!!!  I've read lots of books, bought lots of resources, talked to LOTS of teachers. I've taken ideas from here and there and thrown in some of my own. DON'T EVER think that you have to do ANYTHING exactly like someone else because it worked for them-so I have to do it exactly that way! NO YOU DON"T!!!! You're the teacher!!!! Do it your way!!!! Find what works for you and go with it! I USED to think I had to follow a model exactly because that's "what worked". Now that I've been teaching for 9 years, I'm comfortable and confident enough in myself to know that's not true!!

For example, I've talked to my friend Deedee Wills about writing several times. I've got all of her units. She is an expert!! She knows  everything about Kinder writing! I've gotten soooooo many tips and ideas from her (like counting the words and drawing lines. AND so many fabulous lesson ideas about teaching different styles of writing and ways to teach illustrating) But, she has her kiddos draw first and then write. I'm not gonna lie:)-tried it because she does it:) BUT, realized I could NOT do it! To me it makes more sense to draw a picture to match your sentence. I want the kids to write down their thoughts first which is the most important part, then illustrate what they've written. I think it's also easier when you are first starting to teach writing and you DO have a time block and your higher kids WHIZZZ threw their sentence and you're running around helping the strugglers:) Those higher kids can spend 10 minutes on making the most beautiful illustration EVER while you help the others out.    Am I telling you all of this because I think Deedee is wrong?!?! HA!!!!!! No way!!!! She's WAAAAY smarter than me:) I just want you to realize there's no "right" way to do it. You have to find your own "right" way:)

O.K....you're like blah, blah, blah. Enough with the motivational speech!!! And some of you have probably stopped reading by now:) But here's the good stuff.....Here's why teaching Kinder is the BEST job in the whole wide world.......HERE's some Kinder Writing!!!! (Most of these pics were taken at the beginning of Feb.....I've been meaning to write this post for a while now:)

Here's a cute one called "pet pals". LOVE her illustration of the inside of her house!!!! We talk about that all the time!!! I want to be able to tell where your picture is. (a picture of a little aquarium with tons of blankness on the page doesn't cut it! ;)  I'm thinking the aquarium is probably in her living room. See the TV and the ceiling fan!?! LOVE it!

Whoa!!!!!!!!! I read this last page-she must have noticed the look on my face because she quickly said that she lives out in the country and those animals are just outside in the woods. They are NOT her pets:)  Sheeeeeew!

The next one is called "My Dad" I LOVE this one because the student chose to write about him hunting with his Dad!!! Now, really-would he EVER get to write about this if you gave him a topic to write about???? Probably not! But it is definitely something that he LOVES!! 

This one called "My Family" is really cute! Great illustrations and I love that she did some labeling!!!

I litterally had tears running down my face when I was putting this one together for you :) This little person started school barely able to write their name!!!! No letter or sounds!! But, just look at them now!!!!!!  Totally independent!!!! Deciding on a topic, thinking of the sentences, being able to use sentence structure AND sound out and spell these words AND that the story actually makes sense all by this little person's self-is just AMAZING to me!!! The motor skills could still use a little work-BUT WHO CARES!!!!!!!!! I'm just so, so proud of this one!!!!!

Did ANY of this help? OR do you have any fabulous tips to share with me??? Leave a comment and let me know!!! Happy Writing!!!!