Writer's Workshop
For Kindergarten students, whose skills will greatly vary, the goal is to move non-writers into the writing process by eliciting a story from a drawing, recording the student's words in dictation form on the drawing and encouraging the student to move from drawing to writing by guiding the student in the use of phonetics to sound out words. Ideally, students become enamored by the power of their words, and will strive for the independence of fluency.
The main components of the Writer's Workshop include a Mini-lesson, Writing & Conferencing, and Sharing.
Mini-Lesson
A Mini- Lesson is usually a 5-10 minutes whole class activity and may be as simple as doing guided writing from a story. An example is to lay out a favorite story's events in beginning, middle, and end form, create an idea web about the student's reactions to the story, or bring attention to basic use of punctuation. A group reading activity such as a big book, or song or poem written on chart paper can introduce patterns in language and rhyming words, it could be used to search for phonetic sounds, or even to recognize beginning s words. This is a direct teaching opportunity for teachers to present the information a class is ready to learn.
Write and Confer
Writing & Conferring is ideally a 20 - 30 minute session. In the beginning of the Kindergarten year however, shorter sessions work better. Students will begin by copying a picture and working as a class to 'stretch out' the word to label the picture . The student is then asked to copy the words. This process provides small motor development, handwriting practice, and brings meaning to the written word.
The child receives a new page after they have illustrated, copied, and reread the previous page to the teacher. This is called the conference; a teacher reviews the writing with the student. In Kindergarten editing is not a recommended part of the conference. Instead, the emphasis is on fluency of ideas and the connection of thought from page to page. Individual students who are ready for punctuation can be guided in its use by the teacher. Spelling of "popcorn words" is expected to be correct. Other than that inventive spelling may is respected as the developmental effort of the student. I write the "grown-up spelling" underneath if a child has created their own unreadable marks/words on the page. I tell the child, "This is so I can remember these important words you've written."
Sharing
Sharing usually take 10-15 minutes and is done either by having the students read to the class or the teacher quickly highlights student work, points out key ideas from the children's work such as great spacing or super idea, and reads their pieces aloud.
The main components of the Writer's Workshop include a Mini-lesson, Writing & Conferencing, and Sharing.
Mini-Lesson
A Mini- Lesson is usually a 5-10 minutes whole class activity and may be as simple as doing guided writing from a story. An example is to lay out a favorite story's events in beginning, middle, and end form, create an idea web about the student's reactions to the story, or bring attention to basic use of punctuation. A group reading activity such as a big book, or song or poem written on chart paper can introduce patterns in language and rhyming words, it could be used to search for phonetic sounds, or even to recognize beginning s words. This is a direct teaching opportunity for teachers to present the information a class is ready to learn.
Write and Confer
Writing & Conferring is ideally a 20 - 30 minute session. In the beginning of the Kindergarten year however, shorter sessions work better. Students will begin by copying a picture and working as a class to 'stretch out' the word to label the picture . The student is then asked to copy the words. This process provides small motor development, handwriting practice, and brings meaning to the written word.
The child receives a new page after they have illustrated, copied, and reread the previous page to the teacher. This is called the conference; a teacher reviews the writing with the student. In Kindergarten editing is not a recommended part of the conference. Instead, the emphasis is on fluency of ideas and the connection of thought from page to page. Individual students who are ready for punctuation can be guided in its use by the teacher. Spelling of "popcorn words" is expected to be correct. Other than that inventive spelling may is respected as the developmental effort of the student. I write the "grown-up spelling" underneath if a child has created their own unreadable marks/words on the page. I tell the child, "This is so I can remember these important words you've written."
Sharing
Sharing usually take 10-15 minutes and is done either by having the students read to the class or the teacher quickly highlights student work, points out key ideas from the children's work such as great spacing or super idea, and reads their pieces aloud.
What Does the Writer's Workshop Look Like in September and October in Kindergarten?
To get the Kindergarteners to see themselves as writers, I launch the Workshop by following the steps in the book
Teaching Writing in Kindergarten.
The book's "First Six Weeks of School" chart breaks down writing instruction week by week with attention to specific literacy skills. Analyzing the chart, one can see the gradual time shift from teacher-directed lessons to increased student autonomy. Beginning with a method to teach sound-symbol relationships, the author addresses everything from pencil grasp, letter formation, and word spacing, to linking words and phrases and the stages of spelling development.
Kindergarten Sight Words
a am and at can do go he I in is it like me my no on see so the to up we you
Help Around the Room
We have a box of word props. These are actual toys with the words attached. The children LOVE using these items to help them spell. The box includes:
- The King of ing
- The Bike of Like
- The Tent of Went
- The Hat of At
- The Wiz of Is
- The Fuzz of Was
- The Glove of Of
