This nighttime drawing journal is the perfect summer keepsake for our youngest writers.
Category: primary grades
How Do First Graders Choose Narrow Topics?
We will be starting a unit on informational writing to wrap up the school year. I wanted to demonstrate a different way of finding a topic, a narrow topic. I find that young writers can often think big, making it hard to get to specific details. As I was thinking about this idea, of narrowing… Continue reading How Do First Graders Choose Narrow Topics?
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First Graders Get Crafty
First graders use a mentor text to get crafty during a unit on informational writing.
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On Being a Writer
Can first graders write Slice of Life Stories?
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Building Stamina in Primary Writers
My Kindergarten Classroom in October of 2011 Looking around the room…… “I’m done,” echoes as a line forms. I begin looking at the work, making my way down the line. The drawings lack detail, some letter or squiggles are quickly put down and overall the oral story is weak. They were just trying to get… Continue reading Building Stamina in Primary Writers
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Digital Tools Invite Writers to Compose – #NCTE13
Two of the sessions I attended at NCTE in Boston helped me think about ways two digital tools could be meaningfully integrated into early childhood and elementary school classrooms to engage young writers. The "Exploring Collaboration of Multimodal Literacies in Early Childhood: Digital Filmmaking, Designing, and Co-Authoring" panel discussed the way digital video cameras could enhance learning, while two of the presenters in "Writing Workshop Is for All Students: Using Visuals, Oral Language, and Digital Tools to Maximize Success and Independence for English Language Learners" suggested the incorporation of digital cameras.
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Letting Go As Student Interests Take the Wheel
Kindergarten teacher Valerie Geshwind helps her students find their passions and their voice by honoring their interests, engaging them in a play-like writing workshop, & by supporting them as individuals.
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What Would They Say?
What would your students say if they were asked what writing workshop means to them? Find out what a group of first graders value about writing workshop in Betsy Hubbard's guest blog post.
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I don’t know what to write. Really? Really.
Sarah Picard Taylor provides you with five ideas to get K - 2 writers writing when they find themselves stuck.
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Sharing Voices by Blogging: A Guest Blog Post by Amy Rudd
About four years ago, I heard of a wonderful tool, Kidblog, that could be used as an ad-free environment when blogging with students and the key word that caused me to perk up when I heard about the tool was that it was “free”! The platform also offered settings for the teacher to be as open… Continue reading Sharing Voices by Blogging: A Guest Blog Post by Amy Rudd
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Primary Teachers: I need your advice, please!
How much time do you think K-2 students need to complete an on-demand narrative writing assessment?
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An Inspiring Mentor Text, an Interview, and a Giveaway
I love, LOVE, L-O-V-E Ralph Tells A Story (Amazon Children’s Publishing, 2012), which is a story about a boy, Ralph, who has trepidation about writing. (It’s already become a book I suggest to teachers when I speak about mentor texts!) Ralph is that kid in your writing workshop who claims he doesn’t have anything to… Continue reading An Inspiring Mentor Text, an Interview, and a Giveaway
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 