Writing Workshop Tuesday Toolkits

I recently went to a workshop at the TCRWP reunion called Toolkits Can Make your Teaching More Ambitious, Memorable and Efficient. Celena Larkey the presenter began her talk holding a big binder, loaded with goodies. Throughout the presentation, Celena shared how she goes about using different tools to teach writers in her primary class. A toolkit is a collection of various types of tools to help meet the learning needs of all of your students. The toolkit below is something I plan to use when I conference with students during writing workshop.

Although Celena shared her toolkit and my initial reaction was to copy everything she shared, I know a toolkit will be more powerful for me if I am the one who creates it over time and takes and add to it when needed. 

What I love about a toolkit is that when working with students, everything you need is in just one place. Celena’s toolkit was a binder that can easily be carried; I have also seen teachers make toolkits out of huge sketchbooks. 

STEP ONE:

Celena had her toolkit broken down into categories with a pocket folder for each category:

•    Gather Ideas, Plan and write
•    Revise, Fancy Up and Publish
•    Qualities Tools
•    Strategy Reminders
•    Inquiry 

Inside the pockets she shared:

•    Mini-Anchor charts
•    Post-its to leave with students to remind them of what they are working on
•    Mini-word wall
•    White off board
•    Boo Boo tape
•    Samples of writing by students 
•    An example of writing by an adult but written like a five-year-old
•    Mentor text 
•    Checklist modified by cutting up parts 
•    Rubric from TC
•    A blank checklist

When creating a toolkit, it is best to take small steps by asking, “What do my writers need?”

Currently, I am working on a section for where writers gather ideas:

Below are some of the things that I plan to put in my toolkit to help primary writers. 
If a child is stuck on what to write, they can take out their THINGS I KNOW AND CARE ABOUT SHEET.  Click here for TOPICS I CAN WRITE ABOUT  sheet.

 Take a picture of your anchor charts or bulletin boards.  The picture below is a bulletin board that we made about topic ideas. If someone is stuck, we can look at some of the class suggestions.

A student can get a topic idea from a favorite book.

 Put mentor text that you use with your students.

If student's made HEART MAPS they can look to them for writing ideas.

In closing, if you do plan to create your own toolkit (which I think you should) what would be important to have in your toolkit?

Coming soon...part two of Toolkits!

Joyful yours in creating toolkits to teach beginning writers,
Melissa

Teaching Books

Six Ways to Incorporate Teaching Books in the Primary Classroom

If you teach a unit of study on Teaching Books (How To Books), we can get our kids ready for this writing in the day-to-day life of the classroom. This post will share some tips I learned at a TCRWP workshop. On a personal note, I love the Tony Stead and Linda Hoyt's units of study for this genre of writing in kindergarten. Their procedural units are kid friendly, easy to read and implement in the classroom.  You don't have to be doing a unit of study to create teaching posters for your classroom.

The Mentor Text that comes with Toni and Linda's Book 

Tips On Writing Teaching Books

1. Videotape the students doing a class job and write the steps together. Below you can see a quick video I did of feeding the fish with my class. When writing our How to Feed the Fish sign, we watched the video again and again while writing.

2. Write How to Instructions for choice time games such as checkers, Uno, and other favorite board games. You could take photographs of each step and add the text. Although the example below is interactive writing, you could make this a shared writing lesson where the teacher does all of the writing.

3. Write a How to Get Ready poster and display it in the coat area. For example; in Tony Stead's units of study he had the whole class write a How to Get Ready to go home story. I love this idea because the students have something that's familiar to them, to actually go out in the hall and do the steps. Years ago, I would let the kids write HOW TO stories and they would pick topics that didn't ordinarily do, for example, making a cake. The child would struggle with the steps because making cake was not something they actually did. Here are some other examples of using procedural posters.

4. Have a How to Wash your hands sign hanging in the bathroom. Again this is a familiar activity that children do every day, and they know the steps.

5. After learning a new math have the students write directions for the game they just learned. At reading workshop time you could write about a strategy the class is working on.

6. Kids love recess. Why not go outside and videotape the kids playing tag, a cartwheel or the Monkey Bars. Keep the video short.


We can then have our students brainstorm a list and put them in categories:

How To Make Something: A drawing Your siblings happy Favorite food A Valentine

How to Play: Tag at recess Hide and seek Chess Computer game T-Ball

How To Do: Monkey bars Change a diaper Have a good book discussion Science experiment Ride your bike Cross the street safely

I like to make a bulletin board with their ideas. Click here for the template. 

Joyfully yours in teaching friends how to do the monkey bars,

Melissa

What does it mean to read like a writer?

I have always loved reading picture books. It has always been an important part of my classroom community. When I first started teaching many many years ago, I was fortunate to participate in professional development training with Maryellen Giacobbe. I had been doing writing workshop but seeing Maryellen and listening and learning from her was amazing. I remember Maryellen talked about the importance of reading aloud to your class, she recommended that we read 4/5 picture books day. Of course from that day on I read lots of picture books to my class. I knew picture books were important, but I didn’t realize at the time why?

Years later it all came together for me when I read Katie Wood Rays Wondrous Words. Katie writes about how writers learn to write by looking and studying writing that they enjoy.

Katie refers to this as Reading like a Writer. When we read like a writer, it means that we focus less on what the author is trying to say and more on how the writer is saying it.

What kind of craft moves is the author using to get their message across? 

Are they repeating words in their stories? 

Are they using sound words in their writing?

What might we notice as we read like a writer?

How the author is organizing the text

The illustrations

Use of white space

Text features 

Big and Bold: Text written in bold, capital letters to express ideas

The use of repetition with words

Interesting format

Voice

Verbs 

Onomatopoeia

 Katie gives five steps to Reading like a Writer

1.    Notice something about the craft of the text.

2.    Talk about it and make a theory about why a writer might use this craft.

3.    Give the craft a name.

4.    Think of other texts you know. Have you seen this craft before?

5.    Try to envision using this craft in your writing.

I think reading like a writer is so important that I hope to blog about it more in the new year. One of my goals on Joyful Learning is to write more about books I love, and how we can use books to think like a reader and think like a writer.

Although I am hoping to share ideas with a particular book, don’t feel like you need to have that book. Instead, think about the lesson and suggestions and try to find a book in your classroom that would work for you and your class.  

It is not about teaching the book, it is about teaching the reader and writer. 

Any thoughts?

Joyfully yours in reading books like a writer,

Writing Workshop Post-It Goals

What are we working on as writers? 

Here is a great template my first and second-grade teachers are using in their writing workshop folders. They learned about this idea after attending a Units of Study workshop. During the writing conference, the teacher will often look at the child's writing and give the child one teaching tip. At the end of the conference, the teacher  gives a post-it reminder of what they worked on together. 

For example on the conference sheet below, on one of the conference days, the child struggled with coming up with a topic to write about. 

The teacher created the Post-It goal by helping the child list some story ideas.  The conference sheet is then  placed in a transparent plastic sheet in the child's writing folder. It can easily slide in and out. You can download the conference sheet here. 

If you are new to conferring, you could create a ring of 

Post-its goals with some possible teaching points on the backside. 

I like to think of this as a teacher cheat sheet. 

    Here are some example of goals on Post-Its.

Writers match the pictures and the words.

Each page of your story has a part that connects. 

At the start of writing time, writers reread their work touching each word as they read it. For beginning writers, they should be rereading their sentence every time they add a word. 

Read your story to your writing partner. Does your story make sense? Are any parts confusing? Go back and add to your story. 

Make sure your characters are wearing clothes! 

If the story takes place over the course of a day, does your character have the same outfit on? 

Say your sentence you plan to write aloud. Tap a finger for each word.  

S-T-R-E-C-H out all of the sounds you hear in the word. 

Joyfully yours in creating goals and enjoying stories, 
Melissa

Sources for this blog post:

Units of Study Lucy Calkins
              Talking, Drawing and Writing by Martha Horn and Maryellen Giocobbe

Writing Workshop Part One

Last year, a group of teachers came to visit my classroom to see a reading and writing workshop in action. We had a great conversation about how to go about implement a writing workshop time in your classroom. This post is going to share with you some of the tips and tools I find helpful when getting a workshop up and running! When you begin a writing workshop, you will realize quickly that your students will not only become stronger writers but stronger readers too!

Things to help you get started with Writing Workshop

In order to get students to work independently, we need to establish classroom routines and procedures.   If the workshop time is predictable, this will help the students understand their role.

• Each day the teacher begins with a short focus lesson.
• The student quickly find their writing spot and begin to work.
• The teacher confers with students and works with others in small groups.
• At the end of the writing time, there is an opportunity to share.

Time Structure:

1.    Focus Lesson/Mini-Lesson (10 minutes)

2.    Time to write (30 minutes)

3.    Sharing time (5-10 minutes)

Writing Workshop Tips

It is crucial that the classroom teacher establishes rules and routines.  At the start of writing workshop, have folders and tools set up at tables before you have students meet on the rug for the focus lesson. During the work time, students should not be getting up to sharpen pencils or trading writing tools. All of these little management issues make a HUGE difference.

Students should have 30-40 minutes to write every day. We can’t expect kids to get better at doing something if they are not given lots of time to do it. At the beginning of kindergarten, this time would be shorter and increase over time. You should try to write at least four days a week.

Provide students with a lot of time to rehearse their story by telling it to a writing partner. There is a saying that,  If they can’t say it, they can’t write it. Talk is important in a primary classroom, students need to be able to tell their story out loud before they draw and compose their work.  In the upper grades, this is often referred to as rehearsal.

It is important that you begin writing workshop with a ten-minute focus/mini-lesson on the rug before students go off to write. When I first started teaching writing workshop, I did not provide a lesson every day,  I would just have students take out their folders and get started.   When I started to implement a focus lesson each day, the writing got better, much better.

Every day you want to teach your students something that will help them as writers. The focus lesson should have a visual demonstration for students. Remember when a mini lesson goes on too long, students start to tune out.  Your lesson should not feel like an assignment, but it should get them excited to try a new idea or technique. Students are given lots of choices during the workshop.

Create anchor charts with your class.  Make sure your students know the purpose of the chart.  You might release kids from the rug by pointing to the charts on the wall  and saying something such as, “ If you are working on illustrations today you may go, if you are working on sounding out words you may get started, adding action to your character, etc...”

At the start of the workshop, the teacher should spend the first five minutes walking around the room giving positive feedback to kids. This feedback can be verbal or nonverbal. The teachers tone should be one of joy and excitement with the work the students are doing. In the middle of the workshop, you may stop to point out the work someone is doing that connects to the teaching. When you MAKE  SOMEONE FAMOUS,  you will suddenly see lots of other students trying to become famous too!

At the end of the workshop, you want to leave time for sharing. There is a lot that can be said about the share time, and I plan to write about it soon. It is my suggestion to have only three children share at a time. Some days you may just have students share with their writing partner.

In my building, we met at grade levels and established how many weeks the units of study will take. I Recently had the opportunity to hear Lucy Calkins talk about the units. She made it clear to the audience that the units of study are meant to be a lesson a day for five-six weeks. Of course, there has to be flexibility in our schedules, and you may not get to a lesson every day, but you should have a deadline and try to stick to it.  Students should be told about the deadline (mark on classroom calendar).  

It is important to have some celebration at the end of the unit. This end of the unit celebration could simply be sharing your story in small groups or with another classroom. In a primary classroom, you may type up a child’s story and put it on the bookshelf.

When I first started teaching, there were limited resources for teaching writing. Now, there is a great deal of resources available. You do not need to buy a very expensive writing program.  A valuable resource for someone new to writing workshop is the book About the Author, by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleveland and the book Talking, Drawing, Writing by Mary Ellen Giacobbe and Martha Horn

To me, writing workshop is the heart of the classroom. If I could have any subject to teach all day, it would be writing. For one thing, writing is inexpensive all you need is paper, a stapler and writing tools.  Writing is an essential life skill. When students learn that they have the ability to communicate with paper and pen, it can be powerful, and life is changing.

How To Writing With Thinking Maps

This week I began procedural writing with my students. I decided to kick off this unit by using thinking maps.

Prior to this lesson, the students were told that they were going to be learning about How To Writing.

How to stories teach someone how to do something. Right away students came up with some ideas.

One boy said, "I can write a How to Play Basketball."
Another, "I can teach how to play football."

Step #1
We began by filling in a Circle Map Getting Ready for School. Each child worked on their Thinking map.

Starting with the Circle Map allowed the students to think about what they do in the morning without having to worry about sequencing or writing the words.

The students came back to the rug and shared the different things they do in the morning to get ready for school.

Click here for Thinking Maps 

Step#2
We made a class Flow map on How to Get Ready for School.
During this part of the lesson, we shared what was on our Circle Maps and what order the day goes for most of us. We agreed on most of the steps. Students were told that they would have the opportunity to write their own How To Get Ready for School book and they would include more details in their stories.

Step#3
We labeled our Flow map with action words. We read a book called Verbs by Kate Biggs.

Step #4
We shared different ideas for How To stories. Students filled in a How To sheet.
Click here to see their ideas. My favorite is How to go bird watching.

The following day the students each wrote a How To Get To School book. Tony Stead always has you start the unit by everyone writing the same topic together. I think using Thinking Maps prior to the writing was beneficial for helping students organize their thoughts.

click here for How To book

Writing Workshop

I love teaching writing workshop. I think it is the most important part of my teaching day. My students become better readers and writers because we write everyday.

I have been teaching writing workshop for the past twenty years. If you told me that my kindergartener’s would be writing personal narrative’s with voice, animal research books with lots of facts, persuasive letters with strong reasons, and poetry from the heart, I would think it would not be possible… but it is.

Little kids become strong writers when they are given the opportunity to write, have choices in their topics, get teacher guidance on their work and see lots of writing demonstrations from an expert writer.

In my kindergarten class, I do a lot of interactive writing to help students learn the conventions of writing. During Interactive, writing, we are creating a short message that focuses on many of the skills we want students to do independently. For example, if I see that many students are not putting spaces between words, I would pull those students together, and we would write a few sentences focusing on spacing. I also do a lot of writing and thinking aloud to the whole group.

Interactive Writing

I also use lots of children’s books to teach writing. After reading Katie Wood Rays book Wonderous Words, it changed the way I look at children’s picture books. Now, when I pick up a picture book I always ask myself, “How can this book help me teach my students how to be a better writer?” What is the writer doing in this story that makes it a good book? Can my students try this out?

I have two boys in kindergarten this year. It’s amazing how quickly the year goes by.  Prior to entering kindergarten if I had only one wish for my boy’s school year, it would be that they have writing workshop. They have had a wonderful year in kindergarten. They have learned what it means to be a listener, a friend, a student, a reader, and many more important things, but they didn’t learn to be a writer.  

My kids did lots of worksheets that “prepared” them to learn about reading and writing. I do not believe worksheets teach kids anything about reading or writing. I think worksheets keep kids busy.

I think writer’s workshop should be happening in every kindergarten classroom if we expect students to learn how to be confident readers and writers.

One of my sons made this picture the night before the last day of school. To me, this is something I will always cherish! He was feeling sad and expressed himself with words and pictures.

BY KINDERGARTEN YOU ARE AWESOME

 Imagine what he would have written if he had the opportunity to write every day?

If you are thinking about doing writing workshop next year 

below is a list of books I recommend. 

Happy writing!

About The Authors

Nellie Edge

What's Next for This Beginning Writer

Talking, Drawing, Writing

Interactive Writing

Lori Jamison Rog

Jennifer Jacobson

Vicki Spandel

Crafting Writers

Tony Stead and Linda Hoyt

Units of Study 

I Spy Books

I recently came across all of Edward Gibbs I SPY books, and I fell in LOVE! I know there are lots of I SPY books, at bookstores, but these are the best!!  All of his books have the perfect amount of print. 

I love how he has different series that have similar but slightly different formats. 

Letter Clue 

Describing Words {great for non-fiction}

I know playing I Spy is a favorite game for my kids so making I SPY books will be a hit with kindergarteners. 

Below are some I Spy Templates that are similar to the format of Edward Gibbs books.

click here for the template
I am playing around with Explain Everything this summer. Below is short, I SPY book my son made.