I’m debating as to whether or not I should assign independent writing projects to my students before the end of the school year (which ends on 6/27). Part of me sees the importance of this and thinks that if I do not assign an independent writing project to them now, then they probably won’t write over the summer.
The other part of me wants to get them going on “THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PROJECT,” which is a take-off of on an idea by Royce Conner at Community Prep School. Every year he assigns his students to create their own high school. I decided to adapt it to fifth grade and therefore have my students creating their own middle school (see attached).
I could do this project during Reading Workshop time (for the last eight days of school) since I know my kids will read over the summer. However, the question still remains, do I assign them independent writing projects? (In my heart of hearts, I KNOW that the answer is yes.)
DOCUMENT: Middle School Project Overview
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 