Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Workshop Wednesday: Where Does Writing Hide?


Today, I'm linking with Ideas by Jivey to discuss my Writing Workshop for her Workshop Wednesday linky party. Launching is in full swing this week for both Reading and Writing Workshops in my classroom. My charts are starting to go up around the room!  Here are a few that I hung up yesterday....

 Budget Saving Tip: I make my charts with each class on the SMARTboard and then laminate the chart after class to save paper. If it's a chart you're going to use year after year, you can save it! Chart paper gets expensive! 

Tomorrow, we're getting the students out of the classroom and starting one of my favorite writing lessons... we're going on a hunt for hidden writing! Yep, that's right, our students are getting to play detective tomorrow! Students are going to find writing hidden around our hallway, classroom, and inside their hearts. The lesson is adapted from Ralph Fletcher's A Writer's Notebook. It teaches students to be aware that the ideas for writing pieces can be all around them. It's great because it gets the hands on students out and about but no one is talking because everyone is doing observing work... we limit the observing to our hallway just because our school is SO huge. But students can listen outside classrooms, look at objects, peek out the windows, look within themselves, etc. 

Before our expedition, I always go over this handout of where writing can hide...
I can't take credit for the actual handout or the idea behind it. It was made by a colleague several years ago. I print it out on half sheets and have students glue into their Writer's Notebooks. We use this handout as our guide for getting our writing ideas. It helps students narrow their focuses as they become seekers of writing. If you want the handout you can snag if from my drop-box here.

My favorites are always the "snatches of talk." It's amazing what kids pick up on after only a few minutes of hanging out in the hallway... some of my more creative types also have some very interesting stories about lockers and the community drinking fountain! Hopefully, I'll remember take some snapshots of our detective work in action! This should help us start honing our observing skills before starting our first piece which is a personal essay.

What have you been up to in Workshop?
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13 comments

  1. Hi Amanda! I am so glad you stopped by my blog and I found yours!! I love the writing detective idea! Do you have the students bring their journals with them and jot down ideas? Then, do they write a longer written response to what they "found"?

    I also love your posters that you laminated and all the colors used. I also have a SMART board and was wondering if you print the posters from Notebook and laminate those (how big are they?) or if you make separate posters? Sorry for so many questions but I just love your ideas here!!
    Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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  2. I love this! Thanks so much for linking up! :)
    Jivey

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  3. I'm totally going to use this! Thanks for sharing.
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

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  4. I love your anchor charts! Thank you for sharing them!

    Mary

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  5. Love the handouts! I will be using them when I introduce daily pages later this week.

    Simply Sixth Grade

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