Teacher Truth- I used to despise teaching Writer's Workshop. I understood the structure of the workshop model and the focus of each grading period, however, I didn't really know WHAT to teach each day during my mini-lessons. Fast forward a couple of years, and I had an amazing opportunity to visit an amazing teacher's classroom and observe her in action and I fell in love with her writing instruction! And then the next year, my amazing team and I decided to each tackle one subject and share our plans. I chose writing (even though it still wasn't my favorite) so I could spend more time learning about teaching writing and *hopefully* fall in love. It worked! Now that I LOVE writing, I wanted to share what I currently do to launch Writer's Workshop! I've taken pieces from what I love from different resources to make what works for me and my students. This post is a little peek into my mini-lessons, anchor charts, and mentor texts that I love! I posted them in the order that I usually teach each lesson, however you can change them around to make it work for you and your group of writers! For each lesson I shared an example of an anchor chart! In my classroom, I always prepped the anchor charts with the title and an image first, but added the content WITH my students during the mini-lesson! The books that I have posted are linked to my Amazon affiliate store. If you purchase them through the link, I will receive a small commission! This might just be one of the most important lessons to launch Writer's Workshop because it explains exactly what it is and what students can expect from their teacher and their own expectations. This is always the very first lesson that I teach when beginning Writer's Workshop and I love using the pie chart as a great visual! I begin this mini lesson using the book Arthur Writes a Story to get my little writers thinking about writing! After we complete the large anchor chart together, my students completed their own mini-anchor chart to glue in their writer's notebooks! I love using these mini-anchor charts because my students can reference them at anytime, even if the large anchor chart is not visible in our classroom anymore! After this lesson, I continue to follow this model for our writing instruction each and everyday! The independent writing time is always the most important and longest part of our writing time! For the next mini-lesson, we discuss WHAT writers actually write! Some groups do a great job at brainstorming different types of writing, while others need a little push! This would be a great mini-lesson to bring out different types of writing to show your little writers! Think cookbooks, Christmas cards, printed e-mails, grocery lists, newspapers, magazines, etc. You can put all these items in a basket to have your writers explore independently, or pull them out while you are making your list as a class! After creating a list as a class, students can either create their own list OR they can simply glue in a similar list into their writer's notebooks or folders! This is another important mini-lesson! It really allows your little writers to think about WHY writers write and why they should write! I love using the book Author A True Story by Helen Lester because it is a story from an author's point of view and allows writers to hear why an actual author chose to write! In my experience, sometimes writers have a difficult time determining WHY they write and might need some guidance to brainstorm ideas for the anchor chart! This particular mini-lesson sets up your expectations for HOW students behave during Writer's Workshop. Using the book Ralph Tells a Story, you can show students what not to do during writing time. This really allows them to brainstorm ideas of what they should be doing during writing! I always teach this lesson right after the {What Good Writers Do} lesson because it always focuses on writing behaviors. For this particular lesson, I reference back to Ralph Tells a Story to help my writers determine what writing should look like, sound like, and feel like in our classroom! For this mini-lesson, I always ask my writers what our classroom would look like, sound like, and feel like if one of our administrators walked into our classroom during writing time. Depending on your class and group of writers, you could complete this in one lesson or split it up into three different lessons! This particular mini-lesson discusses the tools that writers need in order to write. I'm going to be honest, if I'm struggling with time this is probably the first lesson that I would cut out because you could also discuss it in the What Good Writers Do mini-lesson. But, this is a good lesson to go over all the tools that your students can use in your classroom and your expectations for using them. Writing journals or folders? Pencils, erasers, pens for editing? Extra graphic organizers, writing pages? Writing prompts? Word wall or personal dictionaries? There are TONS of writing tools for the writers in your classroom! It's really important to talk about your expectations and even discuss with your writers how they should set up their writing journal or folder! It's common for little writers to not able to keep their belongings organized, so this is a great lesson to really focus on that! Using the book The Day the Crayons Quit is a fun book to use for this lesson because you talk about what would happen if you didn't have access to certain writing tools! "Mrs. Dills, I'm done!" If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that statement, I would probably own my own island! I don't know what it is, but at the beginnin writers always think they are completely finished as soon as they finish with one writing piece! This anchor chart stays up in my classroom for a very long time and I reference it A LOT! This book is a great story to read for this mini-lesson because they are SUPER short stories and allows you to discuss how writers could add lots of details to complete their story!. Then, you could discuss what else writers could do when they think they are done! Because of course, they've really just begun! In my first and second grade classroom, it was very common for my writers to freeze when they couldn't spell a word correctly- especially at the beginning of the year! Some would ask how to spell the word and some would just sit there and not write anything else! This mini-lesson really focuses on stretching out their words the best that they can instead of focusing on spelling the word perfectly. For this mini-lesson, I don't read a mentor text but instead I really focus on modeling how to stretch out words by listening for each sound and then writing them down. I go over each step with the students and then model writing my own story using this strategy. There are times that my writers still have a difficult time stretching out words for their writing, so during this lesson I also give them a personal dictionary. I didn't have a word wall in my classroom, but instead each of my students received a personal dictionary to keep in their desks. I like printing this 2 pages to a sheet and allowing them to keep it in a pocket in the back of their writing journals or folder! And FINALLY, it's time to really dig into story writing! I absolutely LOVE hearing from my little story tellers and I really look forward to teaching them HOW to write a story! This can definitely be broken into multiple days if you want to focus on modeling each step! However, it can easily be taught in one lesson! A Squiggly Story is such a fun little book about a little boy that is learning how to express himself, just like your writers as they learn how to write a story! This is another important anchor chart that I refer back to a lot during my writing instruction. A lot of times writers want to skip right to the writing part, but it's important for them to realize that there is a process! This is a great introductory lesson to the writing process for your little learners! I model this a lot in my classroom! This lesson really focuses on allowing students to come up with their own ideas for writing. I teach this after the {How to Write a Story} lesson because then I can really focus in on the first point, which is thinking of an idea! I like to reference the book Ralph Tells a Story again because the character in that book really struggled with thinking of an idea to write. The character in The Best Story has a similar problem, but she figures out that she should write from her heart! After reading the book, we talk about what is in our heart. Then, we talk about maps and their purpose. It would be really great to show students a picture of an actual map during this lesson! Then, I begin creating my own heart map and have students create their heart maps to keep in their writing journals to use throughout the year! Oh my goodness! I always, always, always have writers that get stuck or frozen and just don't know what to do! Stuck is the cutest book about a little boy whose kite gets stuck in a tree and he is determined to get it out! For this mini-lesson, I really like having my students brainstorm ideas for what they can do when they get stuck during writing time! So the anchor chart will look different each year because it really depends on the ideas that the group comes up with! Then, during independent writing time my students get to practice using those ideas if they get stuck! This might be one of my FAVORITE writing mini-lessons, which is crazy because not a lot of writing actually takes place! This mini-lesson shows the importance of illustrations and having them match your words! All of these book options are great because they have very little or no words at all, and students have to look at each illustration to tell the story. For this particular mini-lesson, I did not create an actual anchor chart with the students. Instead, I drew a simple picture and had students tell me what was happening in MY story! Then, my writers had to do the same thing! I had their return to their desks and they drew a detailed illustration. Afterwards, in pairs, students had to look at each other's illustrations and try to explain what was happening just from their drawings. This really helped them see the importance of their illustrations! To introduce the Writing Process, I like reading the book Rocket Writes a Story and discussing each part with my writers. Of course, this is truly just an introduction and students will not go through the entire writing process in one lesson! However, it is good that they have an understanding of each component and are aware of the process as they begin their writing units! I allow my writers to glue this mini-anchor chart into their writing notebooks so they always have a visual reminder of the writing process even if it is not currently displayed in our classroom! After students have an understanding of the writing process, we spend more time on how writers can fix or "fancy" their writing using the book Fancy Nancy! Although we go over editing and revising in a mini-lesson, this is definitely not the last time that my writers are introduced to this concept. I model editing and revising throughout the entire year and they have A LOT of practice working independently, with writing partners, and during writing conferences! For these lesson ideas in one easy FREE document, click here or the images below! For the mini-anchor charts click here or the picture below! For the personal dictionary click here or the picture below! For the FREE writing notebook cover and dividers, get the password to my Resource Library here! Or click on the image below to get the password emailed to you! Send it my way! Powered By ConvertKit For all of the subject covers click here or the image below! For the books click here or the image below for my Amazon Affiliate storefront! How do YOU launch Writer's Workshop in your classroom!? I hope this post gave you some ideas for your classroom! If you want to save these ideas for later, make sure to pin the image below!
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Tweet We are 7 weeks into the school year and gearing up for parent teacher conferences later this week. In our school, we try to schedule all conferences on a Thursday evening or Friday morning. This way if multiple folks need to be involved in the conference, we are all in the building at the same time. The evening hours also work much better for parents. As the math specialist I get invited to attend the difficult conferences. If a student is behind or in some cases very ahead of their peers, I will often be asked to join the conference. Classroom teachers also invite me when they know parents have specific concerns or when it is a student I have a lot of contact with. Sometimes I am asked to sit in on a conference because the parents are very difficult or have expressed opinions about their students math learning that do not show understanding of how or why we are teaching math as we do. Depending on the reason for the conference and what the concerns are, I have many approaches but here are a few things I always do in conference situations. - I like to start on a positive note by sharing a recent piece of student work that illustrates something they can do well or something that shows how far they have come. Because I do so much formative assessment, I have a lot of student work samples available to choose from and can always find something positive. - I then like to have parents share how they think their child is doing and any concerns they have. - I am all about data driven decision making so then I will share any assessments. For primary students this often includes individual interviews, especially if a student is behind. I go over the current assessment results and show their progress over time if applicable. - I show other student work and point out specifically how the work illustrates them progressing or not progressing toward meeting the standard. I also like to explain what the next steps are in terms of what we are working on next. - I prepare myself to answer the hard questions. Why are you teaching it this way instead of that way? These big questions parents have when they are new to my school or my way of thinking about math used to really challenge me. As I have become more experienced and read more research on math education I have been better prepared to answer these questions. I like to show parents that it isn't MY way of teaching that I am going for but rather what the research says works. - I focus on the big mathematical ideas for that grade. For each grade level I can think of 3-5 things that are the most important things kids have and understand in order for them to be successful in the next grade. If a student is behind, I focus the conference on the most important skills and make sure my discussion focuses on how to move a student forward with these big ideas. This year, in addition to my role as a math specialist (part interventionist and part coach), I have 2 groups of students that I am doing the primary math instruction for. This means that I will hopefully get to meet with the parents of kids in these groups because their classroom teachers don't see them for math. To help out with ones I might miss and to keep the classroom teachers up to speed on what their students are doing in math, I have been gathering data and putting together some things that can be shared with parents. One of the things I created for my fourth grade group was this quick reflection on their learning. I loved seeing their responses and it gave me great information about how they are feeling about math! Want to use this with your students? Click on the picture to get it from Google Drive.
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Math Journals, or problem solving notebooks are a great way to get students writing about their mathematical thinking. They are also especially effective for giving you a glimpse into their problem solving process. I use math journals almost daily in my class and often start with this strategy to help my students more coherently explain their thinking. Teaching 4th grade in Nevada means teaching the dreaded constructed response math questions for our state test. One thing that I have been trying in my class that has been very successful is the making a MESS model for problem solving. As you can see from the anchor chart the MESS acronym stands for: M - Model E - Equation S- Solution S- Sentence The students learn to use the acronym to help them set up a written response to a math problem so that they not only know where to start, but also all of the parts to include. It is really easy to remember and they LOVE the idea of being encouraged to "Make a Mess". I started my students off with the anchor chart above, then gave them my math journals which are set up using this method, and include 4 math prompts for each standard. I print out the ones that my students need to work on most and place them in a folder for math journal time. This student started to divide the given numbers (963/10) but then raised her hand and asked if she could round first. I told her, "Try it!" The students become better and better at writing responses as we share methods and responses throughout the year. Towards the end of the year in preparation for testing, I start giving them prompts without the model to guide them. After working with the MESS model all year, they know what to do, and are better prepared. I really emphasize perseverance and trying things out before raising their hands to ask for help. I compare it to a video game. I say, "If you don't pass a level on a video game, you don't call me up and ask for help, you try something different, you persevere until you figure it out. That is exactly what mathematicians do!" I have been blown away by some of the feedback that I have received! Grade Level Math Journals Available: 1st Grade Math Journal 2nd Grade Math Journal 3rd Grade Math Journal 4th Grade Math Journal 5th Grade Math Journal 6th Grade Math Journal Here are a few links with sample constructed response questions http://tn.gov/education/assessment/ConstructedResponseAssessment.shtml http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/217/Math%20Documents/Archives%20K-5/Grade%204%20Modules%201-10%20Response%20Guides.pdf http://www.opi.mt.gov/PDF/Assessment/CRT/RI/07/07Gr3MathCR.pdf I also have a Pinterest Board where I pin Math Journal Ideas. I am linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday. Head over there for some other amazing ideas, or to share something you have tried recently! This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog. All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. I would love to hear from you! ❤️ Have a question? Idea for a resource you might find helpful? Be so kind and leave a comment below.
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Launching writing workshop or even just setting up your writing block can feel overwhelming, but with the help of these anchor charts, you’ll feel confident and prepared to set your students up for writing success this year. These writing workshop anchor charts and posters are perfect for back to school and will help your students remember all the important writing habits and behaviors they should practice this year. This set of anchor charts will be your teacher bestie when it comes to launching writing workshop and setting up your writing block. These posters describe and explain key writing habits and behaviors you want your students to embrace. From building the writing process, to collecting ideas, to independent writing to peer review, these anchor charts will help you teach all these key back-to-school writing lessons. With the help of these posters, students will understand exactly what they need to do to become successful writers in your class this year. And let’s be honest… back to school can be a stressful and busy season for teachers. Having this set of ready-to-print anchor charts will take the guesswork out of your first few weeks of writing lessons. You’ll be able to print out the anchor chart you need for your lesson each day and will be set for the first three weeks of school! HERE’S WHAT YOU GET: In this resource, you’ll get 20 anchor charts to help you launch writing workshop. The posters are formatted in the following ways: Half-page anchor charts - perfect for students journals Full page anchor charts - works great for whole group lessons Digital version - created using Google Slides FIll-in version - available for both the half-page and full-page versions and are great if you want your students to take notes during the lesson LOVED BY BOTH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS: Your students will love having access to these anchor charts during the year. They won’t feel the pressure to remember all the different parts of the writing workshop because they know they can look back in their journals anytime they need a reminder. You’ll love these anchor charts because they have easy-to-read font and are written with clear and concise language. Your students will understand the objective of each lesson with these anchor charts. So many upper elementary teachers love these anchor charts because they aren’t cluttered with excess clipart or fonts that are too “cutesy”. And, you have options. You can choose to print them in half pages for students to glue in their journals… or you can share them with your students in Google Classroom… or you can give students the fill-in version so they can take notes during your lessons. You can pick the version that will work for you and your students. Prep is quick and easy... Just print the anchor chart option you want to use before your writing lesson and you’re ready to go. ANCHOR CHART TITLES INCLUDE: All About Writer's Workshop Collecting Ideas Conferring Habits of a Strong Writer Independent Writing Looks Like/Sounds Like Peer Review Revise vs. Edit Sharing Our Writing Show Not Tell Story Telling Strong Listeners Student and Teacher Roles During Writing Workshop Think I'm Done, Now What? Using Mentor Texts What do Writers Writer? Why Writers Write Writer's Notebook Writing For Your Audience Writing Process HOW TO USE THESE CHARTS IN YOUR CLASSROOM: Use them at the start of the school year to help launch Writing Workshop. Use them throughout the year to review key writing habits and behaviors. Use as a model for your whole group lessons. Give students a copy to glue in their journals. Send home a copy to parents to keep them informed. Include a copy with your lesson plans to show your administrators what you’re teaching. Put posters on a ring or in a binder as a reference for small groups or workstations. TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “My students loved using these as a resource during our writers workshop. They helped students stay focused on the lesson.” - Sarah H. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This was a very helpful resource in distance learning, but I also think it is going to be equally as helpful in-person. These are helpful to have on hand digitally and can easily be printed out. Thank you for a wonderful, helpful way to make learning more accessible in these trying times. :)” - Jaclyn Parolin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Writers' Workshop is a great method of laying out your writing, and these posters really supported a clear structure to the system. Thank you!” - Jeanine F. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “These writing workshop anchor charts provided so much visual support to my 2nd graders! I was so thankful to have purchased such a resource that I have and will refer to throughout the year!” - Haley W. _______________________________________ ⭐️ BUNDLE & SAVE FOR A DISCOUNT⭐️ Purchase the Reading & Writing Workshop Bundle to get this set of posters plus 30 Reading Workshop Anchor Charts to help you launch both reading and writing workshops. I THINK YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: → Writing Tools and Resource Bundle → Show Not Tell Mini Charts → 20 Writing Graphic Organizers ________________________________ Copyright © The Stellar Teacher Co. LLC www.stellarteacher.com Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Please purchase additional licenses if you intend to share this product.
Since Mental Health Awareness Month is drawing to a close, Bored Panda thought it would be a good idea to put together something we all could take away from it and adapt to our everyday lives.
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This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for details. Check out these 20 FUN September Writing Prompts to inspire your kids to write! No extra imagination required from you! About the September Writing Prompts These writing prompts cover: Opinion pieces Informative/explanatory writing Friendly letter Personal narrative Recalling experiences Writing about real and imagined events…
Create science notebooks to integrate with your curriculum or Kimberly Scott's Science and STEM Units. We compiled our favorite strategies for before, during, and after the lab to help learn new vocabulary, writing in science and improve class discussions. BUNDLE AND SAVE. The new science standards encourage students to take the lead in their learning. Lessons start with guided questions, which lead to more questions. Notebooking or journaling is a great way to keep everything organized as students investigate the world around them. In our class, we call them Science Brain Folders. They help us organize our new thoughts, vocabulary, and concepts before, during, and after the lab. Included in the Print and Google Slides Bundle Video Tutorial Describes ideas for using the pages. Explains how to create a Science Brain Folder for Phenomenon Based Units. Folder Cover Pages (2 Differentiated Versions with Essential or Driving Questions) My Thoughts Page for students to keep track of new information. Brainstorming Worksheets: KWL, KLEWS, and Brainstorming ABC Vocabulary Activities: Glossary, Discover Activities, Graphic Organizers Observation and Inference Activity Pages: T-Chart, CER Pages, Describing Demos and Pictures from different perspectives. Exit Tickets: 4-Pre-Written and 4-Editable Blank Ones. All worksheets come in PDF and Google Slides. The link for the slides is in each download. We added "Type Here" text boxes to make it easy for teachers to add information ahead of time or for students to complete digitally as a paperless assignment. Please note that the worksheets themselves are not editable. You can type in other information over the worksheets. Teachers will like strategies that help them organize their lessons and give students opportunities to describe new words and concepts in their own way for better comprehension. These strategies are designed to correlate with Kimberly Scott Science and STEM units but can be integrated with any curriculum. Teachers will find them flexible in their teaching. The page margins are set so they can be hole-punched without losing space for the students to write. Students will like having activities that make learning new vocabulary and phenomena fun and accessible. Providing students with a place to store their thoughts helps them be more engaged, review information during labs, improve class discussions, and assess their own learning at the end of the unit. Please see each product description for exact details on what is included. Science Journal Notebook Brainstorming Activity Templates | Graphic Organizers Science Journal Notebook VocabularyActivity Templates | Graphic Organizers Observation and Inference Science Templates | Graphic Organizers | Print Digital Science Notebook Exit Ticket Slips | Print Or Digital | 4 Templates and Editable You might also like Science Themed Group Labels| Table Signs Bins Posters Science Reading Comprehension Passages and Activities Bundle | Digital or Print Science Experiment Journal Template | Digital Or Print | K-8th Grade Bundle Remember, leaving feedback earns you points toward FREE TPT purchases. We love hearing how the activity went. Also, follow us and be notified when new explorations are uploaded and deals. Please contact us with any questions! We are here to help. Yours in Science, Kimberly Scott
Here are 71 questions to build community with kids in your classroom. Use these fun questions in your community circle or as SEL questions.
This list of journal starters is sure to help your fourth-grader develop an entirely new outlook on writing and the opportunities that journaling can bring.
