Work on Writing

This week we have gone back and revamped a few of our Daily 5 choices. One of those choices that needed some work was our "Work on Writing" choice. After introducing the new procedures and practicing our stamina today for just Work on Writing I can say I wanted to do cartwheels around the room. I was blown away at how into their writing the class was. During our 90 minute reading block the students are only allowed to participate in lessons/activities that are all about reading and ways to help them become a better reader. During the Work on Writing choice the students respond to a piece of literature in their book box. I introduced a new page called a "Story Map". The students are only filling out the top three boxes right now until we have worked on problem and solution a bit more. They write and draw in each of the boxes according to what story they choose from their book box. After drawing a detailed picture, they are to label their picture to help describe the setting and characters. Since today was our first day doing this activity, I had the students share their story map at the end of Daily 5 and it was incredible to hear 5 and 6 year olds give a type of "book talk" using their book and story map. I hope to have time to allow sharing like this much more once all five of the choices are put back into the rotation.


One thing I noticed that really helped my students stay on task was that I put a pencil pouch with a box of crayons and a pencil in each of their book boxes. This has helped with students needing to get up and retrieve a new crayon, as well as helped with adding more detail because they have a lot of colors to choose from in adding those details they see from the book.