When I think about student writing, one of the most difficult concepts to teach is sentence fluency. Much of excelling at fluent writing revolves around students’ background with literacy. Certainly,...

Using Jamboard templates for writing has been a game changer for my writing mini-lessons. It's easy to get students particpating and hold them accountable with these Jamboards for ELA.

Analyzing writing curriculums, planning writing workshop and teaching writing lessons can be overwhelming. You might think, how am I going to fit everything in and produce successful writers? Where d

Successfully teach personal narrative writing with these 15 personal narrative mini-lessons perfect for first, second, and third grade classrooms.

These writing mini-lessons for the ENTIRE YEAR take the guesswork out of what to teach each day in writing each day.

What does a successful writing workshop look like? Here are strategies that will ensure successful writing workshops all year.

I have so much to share with you about writing interventions, but first things first: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW BLOG DESIGN?!?!? Please share your thoughts! Every year, I meet lots of middle schoolers who struggle with writing. And every year, I play around with lots of different interventions to meet their needs. Last year, I made establishing sound writing interventions one of my big goals. I spent lots of time (and money!!) on resources that I could use, and by about March, I had something that I thought I was pretty happy with. This year, I'm starting off with those interventions that worked so well last year and I couldn't be happier with the results! In fact, I'm so pleased with how they are working, I feel confident enough to share my practice with my blog readers. I can say that these are definitely KID TESTED, TEACHER APPROVED!! Creating a Time and Space for Intervention within your Classroom I teach by myself. There are no aides, special ed teachers, BSI teachers... just little, ol' me! So, when I want to create and manage small groups, I'm on my own. This is hard. It would be so much easier if there was another adult in the room to help, but there is not, so I just have to deal! It's work, but it absolutely can be done! A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Power of Bell-Ringers. Establishing a quiet and smooth transition into writing class is a great way to get started, but it also provides me with a window of time where I can pull a small group! By mid-October, my bell-ringer time gets extended to 15 minutes. The kids get started immediately and are clear on the expectations during this time. Now the environment for working with small groups is set: the room is quiet and engaged, allowing me to focus my time on the handful of kids in my group. I pull my kids to a table that I have set up in front of our classroom library. I have a "teacher station" at one end where I do my instruction. I usually stream some jazz or piano music during this time so my group doesn't distract the rest of the class. Establishing Interventions In my district, by middle school, there are no longer district-mandated interventions in place. There are no clear resources for teachers to use or personnel to help. So, when we have a struggling reader or writer in 7th or 8th grade, it's the job of the classroom teacher to meet their needs. In my tenure of working with middle schoolers, I've found that there are two types of students who need more support than my writing curriculum provides (and please remember... I am not a researcher/specialist/writer of books/etc. I'm just a teacher, like you, who loves my job, tries to do the best by my kids, and is compulsively reflective about what I see happening... to me, teachers are the best EXPERTS, but I know that we are hesitant these days to trust a "lowly" teacher and rather find ourselves relying on big publishers and educational researchers to show us best practices... I don't have lots of "data" to support what I'm sharing with you... just my actual observations I've made while working with real, live kids in an average classroom setting!!). Type One: Students Who Struggle with Structure The first type of students who need intervention are those who struggle with structure. These are the kids that can't organize their thoughts in a way a reader could follow. They simply write whatever their brain thinks at the time. They can generally stick with a broad topic, but because they are just writing whatever pops into their head at the time, there are lots of places where their writing veers off track and becomes confusing. Here is an example written by a former student struggling with structure: My dog Henry is my most special treasure. He is always there for me whenever I need him in sad times and happy. In many ways, he's my best friend. He has brown fur and a white chest. He is such a good dog to have around when you are sad because he always knows just how to cheer you up. His eyes are brown, like a Hersey bar. His favorite toy is a yellow tennis ball. Once he almost got hit by a car chasing the ball down the street. I have loved him ever since he was a puppy and we first got him. I was only 4-years old when that little ball of fluff was brought home by my parents to be best friends. His soft fur is always so smooth and warm when you pet him while watching TV on a cold night. He is my best friend and that is why he is my special treasure [sic]. This student is clear about his topic - his dog, Henry - but he cannot organize his thoughts. He is thinking about his dog and writes down everything he knows about his buddy exactly as it comes to his mind. Clearly, he has mechanical and conventional skills, and you can see evidence of where he is practicing what we learned in our mini-lessons and from studying our mentor pieces. But, because there is no organization, it is too difficult to follow and all of the skills he has are lost to the untrained, teacher-eye. Kids who write like this need an intervention that focuses on structure and organization. Typically, I LOATHE teaching step-by-step process writing, but in cases like this, I'm left with little choice. The lessons that I put together for kids in need of this intervention consist of learning how to write a well-organized paragraph. Together, we will work on writing topic sentences, creating strong and clear supporting sentences, and finish up with writing a closing that sticks with our reader. My favorite plans for this type of writing come from Michael Friermood. His Fact-Based Opinion Writing products are geared toward teaching elementary students (grades 3-5) how to write a good opinion paragraph, and they are PERFECT for my struggling 7th graders. They also lack a lot of the "cutesy" images that you find with products for this age group, so my big kids don't feel like I'm making them do "baby stuff." (I do not use the stationary he provides for the final writing piece... it's adorable, but it would be pushing in with my kids! So, we just do our paragraph writing in our intervention notebooks!) My plan is to pull the intervention group for one week (at 15 minutes a pop, this comes to 1 1/4 hours of learning). Long before I ever pull a group, I work hard to make sure that my lesson is broken down into five succinct 15-minute increments. Since time is so precious, you need to make sure not one minute is wasted! I can say that it takes me much longer to plan for a small-group lesson than a 50-minute whole-class lesson because efficiency is so crucial. The first few times you plan a small-group lesson, don't be surprised if your timing is mess. It definitely takes practice to be an effective small-group instructor! After their week is up, then I send them back to completing the bell-ringer at the start of class. I will watch them closely and conference with them lots to make sure that I am seeing a transfer of skills. If I don't, then it is likely that I will put them back in an intervention group in a few weeks to practice again. This intervention model will continue all year. Right now, I have 8 intervention students in one writing class, and 6 in another. By the end of the year, those number should reduce to 3-4 and 2-3. Never in all my years of working with small groups, have I had 100% of my intervention students "graduate" from small group. Don't be frustrated if this is the case! If you can improve 50-60% of those kids, then consider that a huge success!! Type Two: Students Who Struggle with Motivation The next group of kids that I work with are those who struggle with motivation. These are the students who complain a lot about not having anything to write about, spend more time doodling or coloring in their notebook than writing, and who will write the absolute bare minimum for any writing assignment. Many times, these kids produce too little for me to gauge whether or not they also need help with structure. But typically, once I can get them writing, they will likely find themselves in a small group for structure work :) Come October, after we've spent lots of lots of time list writing, the kids who are still struggling to get their pencils moving find themselves using a very special Interactive Writer's Notebook called "Musings from a Middle Schooler." This product contains loads of interactive writing pages that will motivate even the most reluctant writers. The pages can be printed out and glued into a marble notebook. (Most often, I'll have the kids create their own... I don't always have them use all the pages, rather I let them pick and choose the ones they like!). Cover Table of Contents page Table of Contents cont. and an "All About Me" page "My Life Story in Two Pages" My Favorite Thing Comics I created this project just last school year and it's been an absolute smash! The kids (especially my boys!) LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! In absolutely no time, they are writing like crazy. And once I can get their pencils moving it doesn't take me long to get them producing some actual pieces. I don't necessarily pull these kids and work with them in a small group. The first few days, we will assemble our books all together at the back table, but then they go right back to the big group. Rather than do the bell-ringer with the rest of the class at the start of the period, they will work in their "Musings" notebooks. Fifteen minutes of that is usually enough to get them into writing mode for the rest of class. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * So, that's how I make writing intervention work in my classroom. Phew!! That was long, folks!! I apologize for my wordiness and I am grateful if you stuck it out until the end! Also, I'm sure that I've left out some crucial details of my practice, so please do not hesitate to ask me any questions you still have! Do you have any good intervention tips or strategies that work for you? I'd love to hear about them. Drop me a comment and share! Happy Teaching!!

Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast :

Do you teach your first and second-grade students to learn how to write a paragraph? In this post, I share ideas, lessons, and activities for students to learn how to write their own paragraphs in a structured way. Before I dive in, I wanted to let you know you can watch or listen to all […]

One of the most difficult aspects of essay writing is mastering how to explain text evidence used in an essay. This resource will help introduce students to a simple way to begin confidently explaining the evidence they incorporate into their writing. Resource includes: PowerPoint mini-lesson with examples Guided fill-in-blank notes Notes answer key CHECK OUT OTHER TEXT-DEPENDENT ANALYSIS RESOURCES

In this blog post you will find five mini lesson, in the order I would teach them, for your next informational writing unit. These mini lessons have been created based on standards and using common struggles students face with this type of writing.

There's a lot of ground to cover when you teach creative narrative writing. Here are 5 creative narrative mini-lessons you should be sure to use!

This teaching secret will score big results in your classroom. Teachers will see progress and success using this one little teaching technique.

Writing mini lessons are a great way to diversify your writing units. You can reach more students and encourage their development as writers.

Make your writing mini-lessons for the year successful! Follow a writer’s workshop lesson from beginning to end. Monthly writing lessons for Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.

Are your mini lessons not going as planned? Want to know my secrets? Come read all about how you can effectively plan a mini lesson for your students!

Grab a complete list of mentor text to use for your writing mini-lessons. There is a "must-have" list plus planning pages included.

This bundle includes 18 mini lessons (teacher led mini lessons that are about 10-15 minutes long) that teach the six traits of writing (ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions) and is intended for grades K-1 within narrative, informational and persuasive/opinion/argument writing. Some of these lessons were developed as a resource to support teachers in teaching the six traits using the mentor texts and lesson ideas expanded upon from the book The Writing Thief, by Ruth Culham, a trait-based strategy to assess and teach writing. All ideas and verbiage from The Writing Thief are clearly sited back to the book itself. The lessons are designed to be completed during one writer’s workshop period, which is typically 45-60 minutes. Approximately 10-15 minutes of the workshop time should be devoted to a quick, teacher led mini lesson, the teaching point, “I do”, while the remaining time of the workshop time should be devoted to students for active engagement and student interaction, “You do,” and writing independently. In some cases, the active engagement piece may take a few writer’s workshop sessions for students to complete. It is during that time that writing time that the most important instruction takes place: conferring with students or meeting with small groups with the same need for instruction. Includes: A list of mentor texts (read alouds) needed for each lesson. These can be borrowed from your school library. Some mini lessons require certain passages which are included. See preview for a list of mentor texts. Narrative Lessons Grades K-1: Ideas-Choosing a Topic Grades K-1: Organization- Using Sequence and Transition Words Grades K-1: Voice: Connecting To Your Audience Grades K-1: Sentence Fluency: Breaking the “Rules” to Create Fluency Grades K-1: Word Choice: Selecting Striking Words and Phrases Grades K-1: Conventions: Checking Spelling Informational Lessons Grades K-1: Ideas: Sparking Ideas Grades K-1: Ending With a Sense of Closure Grades K-1: Voice: Creating Voice Grades K-1: Sentence Fluency: Breaking the “Rules” to Create Fluency Grades K-1: Word Choice: Using Creative Words and Phrases Grades K-1: Conventions: Checking Spelling Persuasive/Argument/Opinion Lessons Grades K-1: Ideas: Focusing The Topic Grades K-1: Organization: Using Sequence & Transition Words Grades K-1: Voice: Conveying The Purpose Grades K-1: Sentence Fluency: Breaking the “Rules” to Create Fluency Grades K-1: Word Choice: Using Creative Words and Phrases Grades K-1: Conventions: Inserting Capitalization Purchasing this product grants permission for use by one teacher in his or her own classroom. If you intend to share with others, please purchase an additional license for the desired product. Product created by For The Love of Teachers Shop Copyright © 2018 Follow Me to be notified of new products when they are uploaded. Visit For The Love of Teachers for teacher collaboration in the forums, professional development and tips and tricks at the blog. Related Products ⭐ Teaching Ideas in Narrative Writing (FREE) ⭐ Teaching Ideas in Informational Writing (FREE) ⭐ Teaching Ideas in Persuasive/Argument/Opinion (FREE) ⭐ Six Traits of Writing Lesson Plans: Narrative, Informational & Persuasive Gr 4-5 ⭐ Six Traits of Writing Lesson Plans: Narrative, Informational & Persuasive Gr 2-3 ⭐ Teaching The 6 Traits BUNDLE Informational, Narrative, Persuasive Writing ⭐ Teaching The Six Traits in Narrative Writing ⭐ Teaching The Six Traits in Persuasive/Argument/Opinion Writing ⭐ Six Traits of Writing Posters & Student Checklists ⭐ Six Traits of Writing Sticky Note Checklists ⭐ Six Traits of Writing Sticky Notes, Posters and Student Checklists (Bundle) ⭐ Writing Goals: Six Traits of Writing ⭐ The Writing Process ⭐ The Writing Process Posters & Trifolds ⭐ The Writing Process Trifolds ⭐ The Writing Process- Football Theme ⭐ The Writing Process- Status of The Class Banner ⭐ Writer's Workshop Banner: Writing Like Writers/Authors ⭐ Writer's Workshop Boot Camp Mini Course ⭐ Writer's Workshop Modeling Script ⭐ Writer's Workshop Toolkit ⭐ Writing Strategy: FATP (Form, Audience, Topic & Purpose) ⭐ Writer's Workshop: How To Organize and Manage It in the Elementary Classroom ⭐ Write, Illustrate & Publish a Book ⭐ Writer's Heart Template

I used to find it the most difficult to teach kids how to expand on their writing. I could help them organize and structure the order that things should go in, but it was difficult for me to pull additional details out of them…without just telling them what would sound better. So, as I do so often

easy to use Kindergarten Writing Workshop Units that include writing prompts, ideas and activities for beginning writing throughout Kindergarten

If you need a writing anchor chart to help your students with visual references, this post has 9 must-make anchor charts to boost your writers.

Do you need help with ideas for teaching students how to develop characters in their narrative essays? This post will share an effective way to teach character traits and focus on developing characters in a narrative essay. These ideas are ideal for any writing curriculum and are part of

Engaging ELA lesson idea for elementary to practice the reading comprehension strategy of questioning. Tips and strategies for ELA.

Find fantastic resources for teaching inferences (with free mini lesson). The resources are ideal for 4th graders but also features ideas for grades 1-3.

Writing lesson plans for the entire year! Complete writing units to help you teach writing in kindergarten and 1st grade.

Struggling to teach writing to your 3rd graders? Let's take a look at how to teach Third Grade Writing - Personal Narratives.

Teach your students how to explore content with depth and complexity.   Here it is, a complete and ready-to-use resource for teaching all 11 elements (Big Ideas, Rules, Trends, Patterns, Language of the Discipline, Ethics, Relationships Over Time, Details, Unanswered Questions, Across Disciplines, and Multiple Perspectives) of critical thinking! Your students will explore of these elements by applying them to familiar stories, such as “Cinderella,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and “The Three Little Pigs.” These enduring fairytales present countless avenues for critical analysis and can be used with many grade levels (4-10+). Everything you need is included; no need to purchase additional materials or books!   Two versions–with and without icons–are now included!!   What's included:  Instructions: Detailed information and suggestions for implementing these materials. 6 Fairytales: Formatted and ready to print. Titles are listed above. 6 Explorations Guides: Each guide includes specific and concrete examples of how to apply the 11 different icons to the included fairytales. 11 Graphic Organizers: One for each critical thinking "Thinking Tool". (provided in color and grayscale versions). 4 Addition Fairytales: "The Frog Prince," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Rapunzel," and "Rumplestiltskin". These can be used for extension activities of your choosing. ➡FREE Depth and Complexity Posters   This resource was created based on the Depth and Complexity framework, which was developed by Dr. Sandra Kaplan under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement: 1996 BYOB! Build Your Own Bundle Pick and choose the Depth and Complexity resources you want and receive a bundle discount. The more you buy, the more you save. The discount will appear in your cart for all qualifying quantities. 3+ Depth and Complexity Resources = 10% off 6+ Depth and Complexity Resources = 20% off 9+ Depth and Complexity Resources = 30% off   Get all the latest Teacher Thrive news! ➜SIGN UP for my newsletter! ➜FOLLOW me on TeacherThrive.com! ➜FOLLOW me on Facebook! ➜FOLLOW me on Pinterest! ➜FOLLOW me on Instagram! Please read: This is a nonrefundable digital download. Please read the description carefully and examine the preview file before purchasing. © Copyright 2018 M. Tallman. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. This is intended to be used by one teacher unless additional licenses have been purchased. The reproduction of any other part of this product is strictly prohibited. Copying any part of this product and placing it on the Internet in any form (even a personal/classroom website) is strictly forbidden. Doing so makes it possible for an Internet search to make the document available on the Internet, free of charge, and is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Want to save time while grading? Use rubrics! But, the score isn't alwasy a fair percentage. This "formula" will convert rubric scores into percentages.

Do you have struggling writers who just don't seem to be growing? Do you have reluctant writers who don't seem to get much writing completed? In every class that I have ever taught, there has always been a handful of kiddos that just don't like writing. These students can be toughest to reach. You have

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!

If you need a writing anchor chart to help your students with visual references, this post has 9 must-make anchor charts to boost your writers.

If you love the book Enemy Pie, here are some great reading and writing lessons that go great with this story. Enemy Pie is one of my students' favorites.

I love teaching students the skill of writing suspense during the spooky Halloween season. This is a great time for introducing suspenseful mentor texts and writing suspenseful narratives. I love having students read spooky tales in preparation for writing their own spooky tales.

Are you looking for ELA extension activities? Here are 25 ideas for classroom activities for teaching literature.

Teaching Opinion Writing: What is the difference between reasons and supporting details?

Find resources for teaching story elements to kindergarten, first, second, and third grade students including books and hands-on activities.

Writing personal narratives is one of the first writing genres we learn in first grade! My students are usually successful in this writing venture because they get to write all about themselves. How were they feeling? What happened to them? Who was there? These are all things my students can answer and my job is to […]

Click to see how one teacher uses 1 book to launch writing workshop with a detailed breakdown of each day and a free download.

This lesson will focus on writing COMPLETE SENTENCES using subjects and predicates. Writing in complete sentences is the first basic writing lesson every student should learn. Sentence structure is important to help students write in journals, responses to reading, paragraphs, essays, book reports and so much more. It will

*Google Slides and Print Option* *Rubric Added!* About this Product This product came as a result of my students’ love of the biography series “Who Was…?” If you have not looked into this series, I recommend that you do! They are a fun, easy read that offers an engaging way for students to learn about historical figures and important people. Although this product is based on this series, this product could be used for any biography book or project. This is a nice way to integrate Reading, Writing, and Social Studies.🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5. How I Used this Product In my 3rd Grade classroom, I used multiple copies of the same book or books and paired students in partnerships. In my school, we have a 30 minute Reading Intervention Block. I began this project with students who were not pulled out or working with me in small groups during this time. This was a nice way for students to work independently or in partnerships. It also created an extension for what they could already do as readers. Plus, they had so much fun! I let them work on this project in their partnerships. This held several benefits. Many students who were not pulled out or working in small groups tend to be higher level students OR students who have untapped potential. Allowing them to work on a project like this can extend their learning, as well as find new ways to enjoy reading. While other students had special groups or went to see other teachers, it was nice for these students to have their own project too. The Poster Page is a template that you could use for students to turn in with the essay or you could use this as a planning page and then have students create a larger poster on their own. I assigned it as homework and was pleasantly surprised at what my students turned in. I saw a wonderful increase in engagement by students who had shown little motivation or enthusiasm for reading. You can see the photos in the preview or in the product itself. Please know I updated the pages after the photos were taken with more detail and provided the poster template. Good luck to you with this project! If you have any questions, please contact me! You might also LOVE... Reader’s Notebook Anchor Charts My Opinion Matters! {An Opinion Writing Unit} My Life is A Story {A Personal Narrative Writing Unit} Buzzin' in Book Clubs {Book Club Reading Unit Resources} Newspaper Article Writing Unit {Here's the Scoop!} Opinion Writing for a Literary Response Current Events Writing {What's the Scoop?}

Oh, my! What a week. Week 4 with my third grade friends was great. Great reading lessons, writing lessons, and picture day. In writing news, we wrote our first story this week! Yeehaw! We have been focusing on choosing small moments. This week we wrote action/reaction plans. You know how your kids want to write stories that sound like this: We did this and then we did this and then we did this and then we did . . . . And then you want to stab yourself in the eye. Anyway, that's how we plan. I tell the kids that those make terrible stories, but our brains really like to think this way when we're telling a story. So the first day, we make plans where we bulleted out actions and skipped four or five lines between each action. The next day, we added in the part that makes a story good. The thoughts and feelings. We labeled each one in our plan with a T and an F. When teaching, I bounce back and forth referring to this as the action/reaction and external/internal story. Whenevery I say action or external, I hold my hand out. Whenever I say reaction or internal, I put one hand on my brain and the other on my heart. Here's how my plan looked at the end of day 2. And no, I don't always write sad stories, but I think it really helps them to see that all stories don't have to be hunky dory. These kids are deeper than we give them credit for. Here are some copies of plans. I kept working with everyone until they were "there". It's a little cookie cutter, but for now it makes the point that you must have thoughts and feelings in a story for it to be worth writing. Now on to life's little reality: I have to get grades y'all. So their grade was based on how much coaching it took to get to a solid plan. Their first stories turned out pretty great for the beginning of third grade! This week we'll work on showing not telling feelings. Here's a page I'm going to use. You can download it here. I'm thinking I'll put them together to make a class book. After that, I really want to do this lesson I found on Miss Radka's Rhapsody. Hopefully, all this will turn out as great as it sounds in my head.