Tag Archives: writing

Writing

Our writers have been learning what a story is! Writing is just telling their story on paper. We know that good writers write stories about things that have happened to them. First we think of an idea, then we draw a picture, and then we make our words match!

We have also talked about what each of our jobs should be during writing. We know that during the lesson it’s important to sit criss-cross with our hands to ourselves, keep our eyes on the person who is talking, and listen carefully to who is talking.

Welcome to Kindergarten!

We have had a great first week in Kindergarten! We have learned routines and classroom/school/playground rules. We have started writing in our draftbooks, finding books we love, and exploring numbers and math manipulatives. Here are some pictures of your Kindergartners working hard!

Writing Update

Our second grade writers have been learning how to write a review by using persuasive language.   We have children writing reviews about restaurants, movies, books, fun places to go and games.   We like to think of opinion writing like an OREO:

 

We know that the filling in an OREO is in the middle so we want to include 3 or 4  reasons and examples.

They are doing an awesome job trying to get their reader to think the same way they do!

Revising Partners

Last week our writers learned that even the best authors need help sometimes! We know that to be a great writer, we need to share our thoughts and ideas so our partners can help us. We learned that our partners can help us by suggesting new ideas, clearing up tricky parts, and celebrating our hard work!

Writing Workshop

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Last week we practiced using a storyteller’s voice by helping the reader feel like they were a part of the story. We know it’s important to tell our story bit by bit. Friday, we had a virtual campfire that we sat by and told our stories as a storyteller might tell them.   We were able to “roast” some marshmallows to share our success.  Keep up the great work writers!

We know that writers have to rehearse their story MANY times before they are ready to write.

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JUST WRITE 2015

Our big end of the year celebration writing celebration will be the final week of school, June 1 & 2.

just writeWe originally had this schedule for May, however the State of tests for Grade 3-5 take place April-May.

If you are new to the celebration, here’s the scoop:  WE FILL THE BUILDING and THE CLASSROOMS with the best writing from our year.  Every teacher will hold a celebration in their classroom and you will be able to see writing progression from grades PK-5 throughout the hallways.  Grades 3,4,5 will be held on Monday June 1 (times coming soon).  Grades Pk-2 will be held on June 2 (times coming soon).  To get a sample of the flavor of our celebrations, visit last year’s post.

Personally and professionally, writing is the most complex cognitive task that our learners engage in daily. The ability to write serves as the key to so much that lies ahead in our children’s futures. Throughout the year, our students become comfortable with expressing their words through writing. We feel it holds so much value that it’s worthy of a celebration.

Writing Celebration!

Our second graders have worked INCREDIBLY hard to complete their informational books to teach others about a specific topic.  They included many facts, text features ( diagrams, how to’s, labels, captions, glossaries, table of contents and many more), and used a wonderful “teaching” voice.    We were able to celebrate with Mrs. Kuieck’s class and share all of our learnings.   I am so proud of all of our writers! Keep up the great work! 🙂

Celebrations!

We have had a couple fun celebrations in Room 202 in the last couple weeks! We did some Halloween activities before our party. Check out our costumes!! And, we just finished up a writing celebration where we got to read stories from ALL of the second grade classrooms! Keep up the hard work!!

Writing!

This week, we began our fifth unit in writing.  We are adopting Angela Johnson as our mentor for this unit and we will study many of her books to learn what techniques she uses to write her stories.

The students have already noticed this week that she uses ellipses (or …) in her writing.  They pointed out how she used them to slow down a reader, but also to build suspense at the end of a page and make the reader turn the page to find out what comes next.  Many of the students experimented with ellipses in their writing this week as well.

We also talked about how writers are thinking of ideas to write about all the time, not just during writer’s workshop.  They got out their ‘tiny topics’ notebooks that we used to keep track of our persuasive letter ideas.  We used them this week to start a running record of story ideas that they can have with them at writing time and then pull an idea from their list to write about.  It has been so much fun to see the students finding writing ideas all throughout the day. If your child comes up with an idea at home, help them write a little note in their notebook. Remind your child to bring their notebook back to school and in no time that tiny topic will become a spectacular story!

Thank you for your help at home!  🙂