The Writing Process

The Writing Process

What happens in Writing Workshop? 

Students gather together for a mini-lesson focusing on one aspect of writing, such as writing real-life stories, listening for sounds, writing sight words, drawing detailed pictures, incorporating spaces, or differentiating vowel sounds. Then, the students set off to write.

Students work in partnerships; these pairings continue for several weeks. They begin their session by asking one another, "What are you going to write about today?" Some choose to work on tables, while others choose clipboards to work on the floor. Another option is working together on benches. This ensures that each student has ample space to engage in writing. 




After they have discussed plans, the writing begins. Strong writers begin with detailed pictures so that they have much to write about! 


Once the illustration is complete, the students stretch out words (using invisible rubber bands) to hear each sound. Noah stretched out "brother."

  The students write each sound that they hear. If Tessa is stretching the word "family" and isn't sure what makes the /f/"sound, she can ask his partner or a teacher, "What makes the /f/" sound? (She is not allowed to ask "How do you spell went?" because that doesn't allow her to use her phonemic awareness skills to discern individual sounds, which is crucial to writing and reading development.)

In addition to writing sounds, students are working to form letters between given lines. This makes use of their handwriting instruction from earlier in the term.  When writing is complete, students will raise theirs hands to read work to a teacher. The teacher might remind a student to add details or punctuation, and then the student can place the work on her "finished" side of her folder. 

As your child shows interest, you can help your child write at home as well:

• Encourage your child to draw detailed pictures to tell fictional or real-life stories.
• If your child is interested, he/she can label items in the picture. Be mindful that "k," "cn," "ktn," and "kitten" can all spell the word kitten in for a Kindergarten.  
• Great questions to ask are, "What sounds do you hear in that word?"or "Can you show me how you stretch out that word?"
• This is not the season for correcting spelling patterns. The aim is for the child to become confident in his/her understanding and power over the written language, which will provide him/her with the confidence to enter the world of reading. (Too much "pressure" can serve to create a negative self-concept in regards to reading and writing.)

Happy writing!

Jenny 

Group Presentations

As we explored South Africa, students studied their areas of interests in small groups, guided by a teacher. They worked together, Earth class and Water class, to portray their learning through a variety of media. As the study culminated, students gathered together to share their work.

Students shared about the life and work of Desmond Tutu. They collaborated to create the nation's flag and explained the symbolic meaning of each color. The classes learned that South Africa is also called "The Rainbow Nation."

This group researched the Zulu, Xhosa, and San tribes. They conveyed their learning through collage, and they worked to portray housing, land, and clothing typical to each tribe.

Another group discussed major cities in South Africa, and they worked together to plan and construct Cape Town in the Earth Class and Johannesburg in the Water Class. Can you see the penguins on the beach?

This group researched native animals including habitat, diet, and physical characteristics. They created sculptures to portray their learning.

The geography group shared about the differing ecoregions in South Africa. They created a large map in paint, using different colors to represent the High Veld, Low Veld, Savanna, Kalahari Desert, Karoo, and Drakensburg Mountains.

Our final group discussed the concept of apartheid, or separation. They researched the life of Nelson Mandela, the implications of apartheid, and the similarities to our county and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These small group studies served to enrich each student's learning, as they not only were able to delve into one specific topic, but they learned from the work of their peers.