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September 12, 2015

Launching Writer’s Workshop: Our 1st Day

Last week, mid-Week 4 – our 1st grade team launched Writer’s Workshop. I am SO excited because all 5 of us are committed to using a Workshop model this year,  saturated with lots and lots of mentor texts, the bulk of our time spent writing, and assessment guided by Lucy Calkins’ Writing Pathways. Today I wanted to share with you our 1st day of writer’s workshop!

Now many classrooms and teachers jump right into Writing Workshop and that works for them. If you are one of those amazing teachers, go you! For my 1st grade friends, I actually hold off a few weeks. We spend the first few weeks of school building writing stamina, doing oral writing (through Whole Brain Teaching), and setting expectations for our Writing Journals. You can read all about these procedures here.

Structuring Our Writer’s Workshop Time

To jump-start our conversation, we talked about how we would spend our time in writer’s workshop. Currently, I only have 30 minutes on the schedule for writing. I need a little longer than that and am dipping into theme time to get an extra 10-15 minutes. On days that it is not possible to take more than 30 minutes,  I alternate days we do mini-lessons and share. Cutting out writing time is a non-negotiable for me. On days that we only share, I will make sure I am very intentional about picking students to share, based on skills and ideas I want to highlight in their writing.

Generating Writing Ideas

Our first writing unit is Narrative Writing and our first mini-lesson was all about “What do I write about?” I was introduced to Ralph Tells a Story through Instagram and will forever use it. Ralph is an adorable little boy who has zero writing ideas and he does all kinds of things to avoid writing – breaking pencils, using the bathroom, helping friends, getting drinks of water, etc. Then, with the help of his friends and a push from his teacher, Ralph learns that stories have been all around him the whole time! It’s precious, hilarious, and hit home for so many of my littles. (Note – I read Ralph during morning snack, so our mini-lesson would indeed stay mini.)

Then, during our writing mini-lesson using a pre-cut heart, we brainstormed stories that are all around us. As students shared their story ideas, I wrote their ideas and quickly included a picture. Not all of my friends are readers yet, so we definitely need picture supports right now! (Note – I do make my anchor charts with students. It makes them ‘real’ and meaningful. I do have pre-cut/frame the anchor charts, so they are ready to go when students arrive.)

After brainstorming ideas, we entered into our ‘Work/Write Time’ where I play some type of classical music (currently we are listening to Yo-Yo Ma), students are writing/illustrating, and I am conferencing with students.

I love how this friend alternates text and pictures because “That’s how real books do it, Ms. W and pretty soon this will be a book about my life.”

You can tell this friend is really trying to add those details (up and down) but we obviously need a mini-lesson in the 5 senses and ways to add details – no worries, that’s coming friends! You can also tell she is remembering to underline words she is unsure how to spell and move on – woohoo. 🙂

Accommodating All Writers

Although I do have some fabulous writers, I am a normal classroom with normal students – I promise! I have one friend that is not writing independently, yet. He struggles with motor and OT issues, reading issues, attention issues, and at the beginning of the year absolutely refused to pick up a pencil. In 5 weeks, we have come LIGHTYEARS! Even though he struggles, I still expect this friend to participate. He dictates his stories (obviously we need to review what a narrative is) to me and I write them on his table with a dry-erase marker. Then, as this friend writes each word, he erases them from the table using his finger. It is a HUGE motivator for him to write because he loves erasing the words. Then, he adds pictures to explain his ideas.

Sharing Our Writing

After writing, we came together on the carpet to share our writing. We love cheering on our friends, choosing specific parts of their writing to praise, and of course, wearing the microphone! (Note – I’ve looked but have no idea where my school purchased the microphone. Every classroom came with one – sorry!) You can read about our sharing routine here.
Writers Workshop is for every student. Sometimes it may take more scaffolds and it may not start right away…We are in Week 5 and just starting to get our feet wet. BUT, students need and love time to write stories of their choosing. I am not dictating what they write or how much they write. I have been SO impressed with my friends this year and cannot wait to see where we end in May. The process friends make in 1st grade is amazing!
Ideas and resources for Launching Writer's Workshop. Perfect mentor texts and mini-lesson ideas.

Learn more about writing in my 1st and 2nd grade classroom in these posts and resources:

  • Opinion Writing (blog post, resources, mentor texts, bundle)
  • Narrative Writing (blog post, resources, mentor texts, bundle)
  • Inform/Explain Writing (blog post, resources, bundle)
  • How-To Writing (blog post, resources, bundle)

FREE Work on Writing Papers

Sweet! Thanks so much for joining me. Now check your email to confirm your address & snag your freebies. Happy Teaching! -Catherine

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Related Posts

  • Paragraph Writing in 1st and 2nd Grade
  • Work on Writing IdeasWork on Writing Ideas
  • Narrative Writing Mentor Texts
  • Narrative Writing: Zooming into Small MomentsNarrative Writing: Zooming into Small Moments

Filed Under: 1st Grade, Writing Tagged With: Writer's Workshop, Writing

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janet McLain says

    September 12, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    Hi! Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas. Your writing workshop looks very similar to mine! (smiley face) I would like to know what resource you use to plan your lessons? I can't seem to find one consistent book, resource, etc. to use. This makes weekly planning difficult and uses time I don't have! Any suggestions are appreciated!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      September 13, 2015 at 12:23 am

      Hi Janet! Honestly, our school has a 'writing plan' called the 1.3, 2.6, and 3.8 paragraph writing. It is geared toward on-demand/paragraph writing and less toward creative writing with mentor texts. I definitely use this plan and integrate it into our writing block, but other than that our team uses Common Core and Luck Calkins to help us plan! We also love using a lot of mentor texts to guide our students.

      Reply
    • Janet McLain says

      September 16, 2015 at 1:07 am

      Thanks so much Catherine! I also love the writing on the desks idea
      for those that have to have their work scribed! Quick, easy, and it's so handy! I love your blog and all of your first grade ideas!

      Reply
  2. Bridget S says

    September 12, 2015 at 7:28 pm

    I love your idea of writing what he says on the desk and then he can erase them!!! BRILLIANT!

    Reply
  3. Sherry says

    September 12, 2015 at 11:44 pm

    Love your ideas! I have a question. Do you have 2 writing times, writers' workshop and Daily 5 writing time? How are they different?

    Reply
    • Kate says

      September 13, 2015 at 12:21 am

      Hi Sherry! This early in the year, I haven't been brave enough to introduce Work on Writing. I know the Sisters say to introduce it 2nd but I always introduce it last. Once it is introduced, students do have 2 blocks of time for writing. Most of our paragraph and prompt writing is done during Daily 5 and creative writing is done during writer's workshop. Students will also do a lot of book response, letter writing, and typing of writing during our Daily 5 block, too!

      Reply
    • Margaret Bark says

      September 13, 2015 at 6:32 pm

      Hi Sherry,
      In my 2nd grade classroom, our Daily 5 "Work on Writing" time is when students implement what they are doing in Writers Workshop. Some days we'll spend more time with the Writers Workshop model and then during the afternoon Daily 5, students are continuing what was started in the morning or the day before. There are times when students are working in response journals et al which is separate from the WW and D5. This seems to work well for my students and they are more focused during the Daily 5 writing time because they are already prepared for what to do.

      Reply
  4. jbales says

    September 13, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    I got so many ideas from this post. Thank you! I have to tell you that my favorite idea will be used with a little autistic boy in my first grade classroom. Writing is really a struggle for him. I have tried many things, but with little success. I'm thinking that your idea of writing right in the table will be fun and motivating. Yahoo! Thanks for sharing!!!

    Reply
  5. Unknown says

    September 14, 2015 at 11:01 pm

    This is fantastic! I've been planning a total revamping of my writer's workshop for my first graders and this got me even more motivated! I can't wait to come back and hear how your little ones are doing!

    Reply
  6. Bonnie Hannigan says

    September 16, 2015 at 3:14 am

    I ordered "Ralph Tells A Story" and it just came today! I can't wait to read it to my second graders tomorrow, they will love it and will be able to TOTALLY relate to Ralph! Thanks for the great recommendation Catherine.

    Reply
  7. Emily Cullmann says

    September 28, 2015 at 3:25 am

    Read Ralph Tells a story! Such a great anchor text. Thanks for all the great ideas and lessons. Question, what does your work on writing time look like during daily 5? Thanks I would love to find out. Loving your blog- Emily

    Reply
    • Kate says

      June 4, 2016 at 4:42 pm

      Hi Emily! I've shared about our Work on Writing time here – http://thebrownbagteacher.blogspot.com/2016/01/work-on-writing-ideas.html

      Reply
  8. Barbara says

    May 24, 2016 at 7:51 pm

    Hi, great post, thank you. I'm not quite sure I understand the difference between D5 'work on writing' and writer's workshop. Is D5 more 'open' to what they wish to write and writer's workshop more 'guided' on format? Please clarify. Thank you. Once you launch Work on Writing, do you have two separate instances for writing? or do you mesh them together?

    Reply
    • Kate says

      June 4, 2016 at 4:43 pm

      Hi Barbara! Great questions. You'll definitely want to check out these two posts about Work on Writing and Writer's Workshop!
      Writer's Workshop: http://thebrownbagteacher.blogspot.com/2015/09/launching-writers-workshop-our-1st-day.html
      Work on Writing: http://thebrownbagteacher.blogspot.com/2016/01/work-on-writing-ideas.html

      Reply

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My name is Catherine Reed, and I am in my 8th year in elementary life, residing in small-town, Kentucky.  I student taught in 1st grade and never ...

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