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Building Elementary Writing Muscles
Personal Narratives Writer's Notebook Writing Stamina

Building Elementary Writing Muscles

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A visual writing prompt.

To help elemenatry students develop their writing muscles, early in the school year I introduce our daily sessions of 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing time. This is a very simple, yet effective strategy that can help students become comfortable with writing. I am all about helping students get over the hump of being reluctant writers! Our uninterrupted writing time leads into our main writing time.

I know that there are students who are already keen writers who will take the initiative to write independently and jump into a writing assignment as soon as it is given. This short burst of writing time is for all students, but especially for those who either struggle with writing, lack writing confidence, or just simply do not enjoy writing.

A visual writing prompt.

For the 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing time, students write on a self-selected topic. Before we start, I will remind them to consult the list of writing ideas that they generated on a previous day. As this is not writing that is intended for grading, students can have fun with it! Now, I have had a student say to me, “I don’t know what to write about!”, even after looking at their list. In response, I would say, they should write that they don’t know what to write about as many times as they can until an idea pops into their head. I know this sounds silly, but I have found that it does work! Students start out thinking it’s funny to write this silly sentence, but it is surprising how an idea will surface.

As students will be writing every day on a self-selected topic, they will either write something new each day or they will continue with a previous piece of writing. Either is fine as the intention is for students to be actively engaged in their writing, to stay focus for 10 uninterrupted writing minutes, and to build their writing muscles.

A visual writing prompt.

In addition to consulting their writing ideas list, a visual prompt could be displayed on a large screen. Students could write about the visual itself, use it for inspiration (Student: That’s interesting, but I’m going to write about . . .), or connect it to a personal experience (Student: Oh, that reminds me of . . .). Students could use the visual prompt or ignore it. The visual prompts in this post are available below.

A visual writing prompt.

Each day that we do 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing, I challenge the students to try and write more than they did the day before. This means, if they wrote 6 lines the previous day, can they double the amount today? (Enlarging the font size does not count!). Usually, students are very keen to rise to this challenge and will stretch themselves. Along with building writing stamina, I want students to aim to extend their writing over time.

Students can do their ten uninterrupted writing minutes in a physical writer’s notebook or an online writer’s notebook. I have found that there are two advantages to having students do this strategy online. First, students get to practice their keyboarding skills in preparation for online high stakes assessments. Second, the teacher can see students work immediately and give timely feedback. The biggest drawback to doing this in Google Docs is that it will auto correct and not give a true picture of how well students can construct sentences and their spelling ability. The auto correct can be turned off, but most students will be able to figure out how to turn it back on. So instead of focusing on sentence structures and spelling, I will focus on what it is students are saying in their writing. Sentence structures and spelling will be addressed later on.

For the 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing time to be successful, there must be a set time for it each day, students must have all their materials ready for writing before the ten minutes, everyone should know the expectations, and everyone should be writing, including the teacher.

After the 10 minutes, I will end the time by asking students if anyone would like to share their writing. I intend this to be a very quick share, so I only choose two or three students. Once a student has shared, I tried to make a short positive comment about something in their writing. When the class is new to the 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing time, I will share my writing first so students can become comfortable with sharing their work. As they develop their writing muscles, they become eager to share!

Happy Writing!

Sonia

P.S. Free downloads of the visual prompts that are in this post.

Staring CatDownload
Footprints-in-snow-1Download
Ice-Cream-Cone-Download
Christmas-TreeDownload
6 Read Alouds for Personal Narratives
Personal Narratives Read Alouds

6 Read Alouds for Personal Narratives

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At the beginning of the school year, I like my students to write personal narratives because I think this genre helps them to build their writing confidence as soon as we start talking about writing.  I tell my students that a personal narrative is a story that has happened to them. They are writing about things they already know!

Read alouds are one way to create discussions around personal narratives. They can be used to spark writing ideas that students can brainstorm in their writer’s notebooks, and students can make personal connections to the experiences of the characters and situations.  For example, after reading Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, students can discuss their own memories. They can write about the ones that mean the most to them.

Here are 6 read aloud suggestions that can help you get started with your read aloud collection.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox

A small boy lives next door to an old people’s home.  Miss Nancy is his favorite person to visit at the home. He learns that she has lost her memory. He asks the people in the home, “What’s a memory?’ and gets lots of examples of things that make memories. He sets about to gather memories for Miss. Nancy. When he gives her his box of memories, Miss Nancy finds her memories.

 

My Very Own Room by Amanda Irma Perez

The author shares her experience of growing up in tiny, two bedroom house with a large family. In the story, she is almost nine years old and shares a room with her five little brothers. They often have visitors that make the house even more crowded. She longs for a room of her own where she can read, write and dream, but their house is too small. She spies a tiny closet and with her family she turns it into tiny bedroom just for her.

This story is told in English and Spanish.

Questions: Can students think of a time they really wanted something? Did they get it? How did it happen?     

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

Grace loves stories and acting them out. She wants to play Peter Pan in the school play. One classmate thinks she cannot be Peter Pan because she is a girl. Another tells her that she cannot be Peter Pan because she is black.  Her family helps her overcome these opinions and she realizes that she can be anything that she wants. She auditions for the play and gets the part she desires.

Questions: Can students think of a time they were told they could not do something? How did they feel? Did they give up or did they persevere? How did things turn out?

Where’s Rodney? by Carmen Bogan

Rodney is easily distracted when he is in the classroom because he loves to be outside. The class is to go on a field trip but Rodney is not excited because he thinks he knows all about parks. In his experience, they are no big deal! When they go on the field trip Rodney is in for a big surprise. He is able to experience the outside like never before.

Questions: Can students think of a time when they were surprised by something they thought they knew all about? What happened?

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

The main character has only one enemy, Jeremy Ross, and he wants to get rid of him. His dad tells him the fastest way for that to happen is for Jeremy to eat enemy pie. His dad offers to make the pie but for it to be successful, the two boys must spend the day together. The plan is put into action, but there is an unexpected outcome.

Questions: Can students think of a time of an unexpected friendship they made? What happened?

My Name is Sangoel by Karen Lynn Williams

Eight-year-old Sangoel is from Sudan. He is a refugee. He leaves the refugee camp with his mother and little sister for America. His name is very important to him because it is the name of his ancestors. In America, he learns the American way of life. Each time his name is said, it is mispronounced by everyone he meets, he quietly corrects them, but it continues. He begins to feel that he is losing his name and his identity. Then he gets an idea to help people understand how to say his name. His idea works.

Questions: Can any of your students identify with people either saying or spelling their name incorrectly? Do they correct them or do they just accept their pronunciation?  How do they feel about their name? Do they know the history of their name? Is their name connected to another person?

After hearing and discussing a specific reading aloud, students can spend a short time writing down their response to the reading in their writer’s notebook. They can develop these short responses at a later date.

Online Read Alouds

If you are unable to find a physical copy of the suggested read alouds, many of them can be found online. When choosing an online reading, select one that supports the way you want the story read and nothing is distracting from the reading. For example, I prefer online read alouds that show just the pictures and the text in the frame and you only hear the voice of the reader. I think Storyline Online does this very well! https://storylineonline.net/ Don’t forget to pause the story in the places you want students to have a thought about the text.

The primary focus at this point in the year is to have students learn how they can generate writing ideas for personal narratives. As the year goes on, these same read alouds can be referred to in discussions around story elements: characters, setting, plot, problem, solution, theme, and change. The constants reference to story elements will help students understand that these should be found in all stories including the ones they write.

Happy Reading!

Sonia

Get to Know Your Students
Graphic Organizer Poetry

Get to Know Your Students

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Now that the benchmark writing assessment is out of the way, we can jump into writing. As it is still the beginning of the school year, it would be nice to have a fun way to get to know your students.   I would like to share an activity that I have used that requires students to write a free verse poem.  This activity is based on George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From and can be done by all the different skill levels in your classroom. Students will write poems that capture places, people, events, things, experiences, etc. that have helped to shape who they are.

I introduce this writing activity by first sharing my Where I’m From poem.

Where I’m From

I’m from rice and peas and chicken on Sundays,

I’m from fish and chips and sometimes gravy.

I’m from reggae music and everything’s gonna be alright,

I’m from pop music and the BBC.

I’m from concrete and gray,

I’m from green and lush.

I’m from English and Patois.

I’m from grandparents and parents with grit.

I’m from determination and perseverance,

I’m from hope and ambition.

I’m from handclapping and hallelujahs,

I’m from God, chosen and blessed.

I’m from coffee and coffee shops,

I’m from tea and biscuits.

I’m from here and I’m from there.

Next, I explain my thinking that went into deciding what to include in my writing, e.g., I wrote “I’m from fish and chips and sometimes gravy” because I grew up in London, England eating and loving fish and chips. When I went to study in Manchester in the north of England, I learned about eating chips with gravy. At first, I was not too keen to try it, but by the time my studies ended I was a happy convert!

I encourage you to write your own Where I’m From poem so that your students will get to know you! You will also become familiar with how students will craft their poems.

To help students get started with thinking about where they are from and to help structure their thinking, I give them a Where I’m From graphic organizer that I created. If you think your students do not need this, they can start brainstorming places, people, events, things, experiences, etc. and move into crafting their sentences for their poems. The graphic organizer can be glued into their writer’s notebooks.

For the graphic organizer, I decided on nine categories based on my writing. You can decide your own number of categories and headings based on your writing. In each category, students write two items related to the category heading. Once all the boxes are filled in, they can create their own sentences, or you can provide sentence frames.

Sample Sentence Frames

I’m from ________________________________ and ____________________________.

AND/OR

I am from ________________________________ and ____________________________.

After students have completed a neat version of their poems, have a poetry reading session where they can share their work.  In addition to the poetry reading, each student can be asked to contribute their favorite line from their poem to a class poem.  All of the poems can be displayed on a poetry wall.

Happy Writing!

Sonia

P.S Download a free copy of the Where I’m From graphic organizer.

Where-Im-From-Graphic-Organizer-2023-FinalDownload
Assessing Writers and The Writing Process
Assessment

Assessing Writers and The Writing Process

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The start of the school year is full of assessments. We want to know where our students are as learners. In writing, I give a benchmark writing assessment to all my students. I do not grade this work as the purpose is to assess where students are in their writing at the beginning of the year. I like to do this close to the end of the first week of school or in the second week. I use this time frame because I want to give my students a little time to get over their nerves of being in a new environment and to become comfortable with me, their new teacher.

For the benchmark writing, students write a narrative piece. It can be a real or imagined piece of writing. In a self-contained classroom setting, I have given this assessment over three days. That sounds like a long time for a writing assessment! The reason I like to do this is to see how students tackle the writing process. As we will be using the writing process throughout the year, at the very start I want to see how much they understand it.

Each day, students will have 1 hour for their writing. This is not teaching time, but it will provide me with ideas for writing minilessons. This is my time to observe and take notes about how my students are tackling their writing, their understanding of the writing process, and how they write independently at the start of the school year. I do not interrupt them while they are working, and I do not take questions that will provide answers that will tell them how to do their writing. I want to see what they can do! My long-term goal is for each student to become an independent writer. While the students are working, I walk around the room and write brief notes about each student. I have specific questions in my mind as I make my observations.  Here are some sample questions.

Day 1 – Prewriting and Drafting

Prewriting – Do some students brainstorm? Do some students create some sort of writing plan? Do any students go straight into drafting?

Drafting – Is there anyone who is taking a long time to get started? Who is not using their prewriting notes? Who is writing quickly? Who is writing slowly? Is there anyone who seems to be focusing more on neat handwriting instead of their story? Is there anyone who has finished well within the time?  Is there anyone who seems to be erasing every other word and making very little progress in their writing?

Day 2 – Revising and Editing

Revising – Who seems to understand what it means to revise? Do many students seem to be adding, crossing things out, and making changes?  Are some students continuing to write their story?  Are some students writing a final copy of their work instead of revising?

Editing – How are they editing? Is anyone checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation? Is anyone ignoring this step?

Day 3 – Publishing

For this writing assessment, all I require for publishing is for students to write a polished version of their story.

After the assessment, I carefully read each student’s work with my notes in hand. From their work and my notes, I can learn how much they understand about the writing process, I can create a list of minilessons based on the needs that I have found in their writing and my observations, and I can create flexible writing groups.

Not enough time?

It is not always possible to dedicate 3 days to an assessment, so I do a shorter version. This also applies if I realize that I have students who do not have any writing stamina and they really do not understand the writing process.  I modify the full-length assessment to only focusing on prewriting and drafting. When I do this, I keep the same questions in mind. Usually, I can gather some information about their grammar, spelling, and punctuation learning needs from their short writing.

My Follow Up!

At the end of the school year, I give a final benchmark writing assessment. As the students will have had writing instruction throughout the school year, I will grade this work. Next, I return the first benchmark writing assessment and the final one to my students so they can see their growth. They are often wowed by their growth because they have the evidence in their hands. It is wonderful to see their excitement! Go ahead and try this and anticipate the smiles you will see at the end of the school year.

Happy Assessing!

Sonia

Do You Have a Writer’s Notebook?
Writer's Notebook

Do You Have a Writer’s Notebook?

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Writing teacher, as you create your writing world in your classroom, you want to be sure that you are not just observing your students writing but you are participating as a novice/developing/expert writer. (You decide the word that best fits you as a writer.) No matter what your perceived level, everyone is working on growing as a writer!

My Favorite Writer’s Notebook

Like your students, you need to set yourself up for writing success by having your own writer’s notebook. Keeping a writer’s notebook will help you to see yourself as a writer and to build your confidence as a writing teacher. It can be a physical notebook or an online notebook. In this post, I am going to be referring to using a physical notebook because in some lessons I will use some of the work in my notebook to demonstrate or model different teaching points.

Having a writer’s notebook lets your students see that you are willing to write alongside them and show them how you work as a writer. In addition to this, as you do the same work, share writing strategies and specific writing skills, you will have more understanding of some of the writing difficulties that they experience, and how to address their individual needs.

You may feel uncomfortable with the idea of writing in front of your students, but do not let that put you off. I have felt the same way (and sometimes still do), but the more I write with my students the easier it gets. Remember, you are growing as a writer the same way they are. Seeing you write will encourage them to try new things in their writing!

As your students tackle different writing assignments, you should also try them. You do not have to complete all of them, you just need to write enough to demonstrate a specific teaching point. Also, keep in mind there will be some students who will have successfully mastered the skill or strategy. Their work can be shared with the rest of the class. I do recommend aiming to take some of your work to completion as it will help your students to see and understand the writing process. Which work to complete will probably depend on your writing unit. Maybe aim for at least one published piece for each genre you teach.

As you write in your writer’s notebook and share your writing successes and struggles with your students, you will be amazed at how it will inspire them. Try it and see what happens!

Happy Writer’s Notebook Hunting!

Sonia

Things to Consider When Creating a Writing Environment in an Elementary Classroom
Classroom Writing Environment

Things to Consider When Creating a Writing Environment in an Elementary Classroom

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As I prepare my classroom at the start of a new school year, I think about the kind of writing environment I want to have and how best to create it. I want our writing time to have a different feel to the rest of the teaching that is happening each day. I want to invite students into a writing world!

Here are 7 key things I keep in mind for the writing world I want my students to experience.

1. Conference time. My first thought is about how will I conference with students throughout the school year. This sounds like a strange place to start but this is indirectly related to classroom management. As the writing teacher, I want to conference with all my students as much as possible. I prefer to go to my students when I am doing one on one conferencing, but when I am meeting with a small group, I will set up an area/space for us to meet together. I have noticed that students stay more focused on their independent writing if I am moving around the classroom than when I stay in one spot! So with this in mind, the arrangement of classroom desks, tables, chairs, etc. needs to be in such a way that it is easy for me to quickly move around the classroom and to draw alongside students.

2. Student choice. Students are allowed to choose a regular writing spot. During writing time, my students may stay at their desks, but I like to give them the option to find a writing spot anywhere in the classroom. As I know that some students will be sitting on the floor, I provide floor cushions and a few comfy chairs that are not the standard school chairs. The carpet area is also available as a writing spot.  Once students have chosen their writing spot, that is where they are expected to work during writing time. They will have a chance to change their spots later on in the year, or when the current spot is not helping them to produce their best work.

3. Lighting.  I have inexpensive table lamps and/or floor lamps in my classroom to help create a writing mood. Sometimes I will turn off the overhead lights providing there is lots of natural light coming into the classroom.

4. Soft music.  I like to play very soft background music to help create a writing atmosphere.  It also signals that it is our writing time.  As I do not want students to be distracted by the music, I prefer to play the same music each writing session. You might prefer more of a variety. Try it and see what works best for you and your students!

5. A writing center.  A writing center is provided so students can have easy access to materials that they can use during writing time without my supervision. This will free me up to conference with students uninterrupted. In the writing center there are papers, pens, pencils, markers, pencil sharpeners, scissors, etc. I avoid having too many items as I want students to be more focused on their writing than spending time deciding which materials they want to use.  As the school year moves forward, I may decide to change some of the materials in the center.

6. A variety of dictionaries. Usually, elementary classes will have just one kind of dictionary available to students. Instead of this, I try to have grade level dictionaries, above grade level dictionaries, easy dictionaries, illustrated dictionaries, easy picture dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, etc., and of course, access to online dictionaries. I do not have to have a class set of each of these dictionaries. The availability of a variety of dictionaries means the spelling needs of all students can be met. Many times, students will get fixated on spelling and miss out on developing their writing, so I do not encourage them to use a dictionary until they are at the editing stage of their writing. When they are ready, the dictionaries are a go!

7. Writing gallery wall/bulletin board. I created a writing gallery wall/bulletin board with inspiring quotes about writing.  The quotes are intended to be used as discussion points with my students. Here are two examples of two essential questions that help students focus on the subject of writing, “What does this quote mean to you?” and “What does it make you think that you can do in your writing?” I want students to move beyond thinking that writing is just an exercise that we do in class and begin to see that writing is so much more. The quotes will remain on display as a source of inspiration the whole school year.

When I have these things in place, I find that I have created an environment where my students are motivated to write. As you create your own writing environment you will quickly discover what kind of environment will speak to your students.

Happy Creating!

Sonia

5 Steps to Create an Online Writer’s Notebook
Writer's Notebook

5 Steps to Create an Online Writer’s Notebook

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In the previous blog, I shared how students can personalize a physical writer’s notebook. This blog is about how students can create and personalize an Online Writer’s Notebook using Google Docs.

Step 1. The teacher should send each student a Google document with their name as the Google doc’s name. For example, Student name – Online Writer’s Notebook. This way you will already have their online writer’s notebook and it will be easy to find the students’ work once they start working.

Step 2. Show students an example of the first page of an online writer’s notebook. This will be the “cover” for their notebook.

Online Writer’s Notebook Cover

Step 3. Have each student open their Google document. For this step, students will become familiar with the Google tool bar. You may want to demonstrate the tools that will be most helpful to them for this activity.

I recommend showing them . . .

How to access different fonts

How to change type size

How to bold letters

How to change letters to italics

How to underline words

How to change colors

How to undo/redo words or images

How to align text and images

How to insert images 

How to move images

Step 4. Very Important – As students will probably get images from the internet, be sure to check with your school’s media specialist for approved websites where students can get images that are not copyrighted. You want to avoid copyright infringement. This is also a good time to explain copyright Infringement to your students.

Step 5. Students will design their own Online Writer’s notebook covers. Encourage students to play around with different images, fonts, and colors. This can be a fun time!

This activity can be done in 1 – 2 sessions depending on how well students can navigate the tool bar, their chosen images, and their design ideas.

Physical Writer’s Notebook vs Online Writer’s Notebook

ConcernsPhysical Writer’s NotebookOnline Writer’s Notebook
Students keeping up with their notebooks.Students can carry their notebooks with them, but they have more of an opportunity to forget them or lose them.+ Most of the time students will have their Online Writer’s notebooks as they are using their laptops all the time.
Ease of checking students work.Students must turn in their books to the teacher.+ The teacher has instant access to all students’ work.
Timely feedback.For specific feedback, at a specific time, all books must be collected.+ The teacher can give quick feedback using the comment feature in Google Docs.
Changes in student writing.+ The student can use multiple pages to draft, develop, and edit ideas. They will be able to look back and see how their writing developed over a period of time.Students will make changes (develop, edit, etc.) to one document. Once they have deleted different parts of their writing, they have no way seeing how they improved their writing.
Grammar and Spelling+ Students will have to demonstrate in their writing their understanding of grammar and spelling. This gives a true picture of where the students need help in these two areas.Google Docs will autocorrect spelling and grammar. This can be turned off, but most students will probably know how to turn in back on.

As the teacher, you will have to decide which approach best meets your teaching style and your students’ needs. You may decide that your students will use physical writer’s notebooks and online writer’s notebooks because each will be for specific assignments.

Happy Creating!

Sonia

6 Steps to Personalize a Writer’s Notebook
Writer's Notebook

6 Steps to Personalize a Writer’s Notebook

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A good one-off activity for the first week of school is to have your students personalize their writer’s notebooks as they learn the routines and procedures of your classroom. It is one way to ease students into their new learning environment and to get ready for writing. Encourage your students to personalize their notebooks in a way that is pleasing to them. The aim is for students to see their notebooks as valuable treasures! Some students may choose to buy notebooks that already have fancy covers. During this activity, they can do step 6.

Step 1. You will need enough supplies for all the students in your class. You will need: glue, scissors, magazines, color markers, colored pencils, and notebooks for students who do not have their own. It might be that you are giving notebooks to all of your students. Try to have extra notebooks available for newcomers. Remember, some students may choose to bring in their own store bought decorated notebooks.

Step 2. Students can be encouraged to bring in personal pictures, stickers, etc. that they would like to use to personalize their notebooks. If you do not have enough magazines before the activity, you can check to see if any of your students can bring some from home.

Step 3. I recommend telling your students to personalize only the front of their notebooks. This will mean you will use less clear contact paper on each notebook. (Think budget!)

Step 4. Once students have chosen their pictures, they should make sure they are cut out neatly, arranged on the cover and all the edges are glued down. If students do these three things, it will save you a lot of time when you are covering the books with clear contact paper which is sticky.

Step 5. Once students have finished, give each one a label to put on the cover of their book. If you are working with more than one class, it is a good idea to color code them according to grade levels. This will make student and grade level identification much easier for you. Next, cover the covers with clear contact paper. I recommend doing this because if the covers are left unprotected, they will become tatty looking within a very short space of time. Remember, we want students to treasure their notebooks!

Step 6. If a student has a store-bought decorated notebook cover design that they like, during the lesson they can work on designing a title page on the first page of the inside of their notebook. This does not have to be done by all students; it is intended to make sure that everyone is engaged during the activity.

Happy Decorating!

Sonia

P.S. Feel free to download this PDF of Writer’s Notebook Labels

Writers-Notebook-Labels-2023Download

 

Keep Writing in View!
Writer's Notebook

Keep Writing in View!

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Back to school signs are everywhere.  I love these signs! They give me full permission to splurge on school supplies I like, both practical and impractical. Some I need and some just because they make me feel happy. Anyone else feel the same way?

Keep writing in view!  

Let’s talk about teaching writing to our students in grades 3-5. We know that the school year is going to be very busy, hectic, and maybe a little bit crazy. As we venture into the new school year, let’s decide to keep writing in view for the whole school year.

Where does the view start?

The view starts with thinking about where students will keep their big and little writing ideas. Over the years my students have always used physical writing notebooks, but for the past couple of years I have had my students create online notebooks. Both have strengths and weaknesses.

I believe that a writer’s notebook is a good place to start because as I have observed when students are given the opportunity to write self-selected topics, they’ll often say, “I don’t know what to write about!” In writing workshop students are encouraged to choose their own topics, which is great, but if they don’t know how to come up with ideas they’re lost. Before students can write anything, they need to have some ideas. They need to have writing ideas at their fingertips!

They should have their Writer’s Notebooks at their fingertips.

 I see a Writer’s notebook as . . .

  • a place to hold thinking, ideas and thoughts,
  • to try new things, a place to practice, to revisit ideas,   
  • a tool to support writing, and
  •  meaningful.

During the first week of school, I always center the first writing workshop lesson around students personalizing their individual writer’s notebook. In my next post, I will talk about how my students do this with their physical and online notebooks.

Happy Writing!