Workshop Wednesday

Okay-- i just had to write another post!! I am loving the Workshop Wednesday linky. So I am linking up today with Ideas by Jivey. Bare with me here as I explain things in my classroom ( I wish I had a picture for everything I am about to talk about!!) I am home for the summer--2 hours away from my classroom because I did not want to pay $1,000 week for my apartment over the summer. Yikes. But every time I write a post--I wish I was in my classroom to take a picture! I am going back this month so I will be sure to add back to this post for a throwback Thursday linky!

I am also going to talk about Writing Workshop (since my last post was about Reading--literacy would not be complete without writing!). My students have a chance to write every single day in their writer's notebooks. At the beginning of the year I ask my students to purchase the black/white composition notebooks. We take some time at the beginning of the year talking about our writer's notebooks and what we will put in them. We do a couple lessons on getting ideas and writing an "expert list" topics that we know a lot about. That way--when we get into the swing of writer's workshop--I don't have a student coming up to me saying "I don't have anything to write about." I can simply say..go back into your writer's notebook and find the ideas or expert list page. Problem Solved!

So here are some older pictures of my writing center in my classroom. It doesn't look like this now but I will update with pictures when I can get them! On the same bookcase as my supplies the front of it (which I don't have a picture of) shows the writing process Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing are the ones that I use to match the poster on the wall. The graphics are pencils that I laminated and wrote the steps on. Each student has their own star with their name on it and they move the start to whatever step they are on. That way, I can keep track and they can keep track of the writing process. Students have access to this area at all times so grab paper or supplies throughout the day.  At my school we use Step- Up to Writing, however, I also like to include 6+1 Traits of writing (Voice, Organization, Ideas, Conventions, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency) using VOICES (as seen on my back wall) really helps my students focus on a specific writing trait. We use our notebooks for the lesson as well as drafting our own ideas before publishing on the "nice" paper as my students like to call it.

 Here is the bookmark for Step Up to Writing.

 Here are the different resources for 6+1 Traits of Writing!!

What do you use for Writer's Workshop?? I would love to hear your ideas!