Work on Writing
I love the distinction of how Writer's Workshop is about writing using a taught strategy or genre. Working on Writing is sustained writing of their choice. That is the "fun" writing or at least should be in my opinion :)
Launching Work on Writing
Do you notice the kids being excited to work on writing? Why do you think this is or is not?
Focus Lessons
I like the technique of showing them how to underline words they don't know and move on. Do you have their "Writer's Notebooks" in their book boxes? I don't know how much of that I have seen.
Are we getting 30 minutes of writing every day in primary and 45 in intermediate? That seems like a lot of time??
Word Work
I struggle with this one as I know there are as many ways and programs out there as there are teachers.
How do you get them to recognize spelling patterns in your room? How do you get them to internalize high frequency words spelling patterns?
Launching Word Work
Do you use Wikki Six? I love those as a teacher.
Do you use this part of the Daily 5 since we have iSpell at 3rd-5th?
Have you noticed that as you add new Daily parts that they are "better" at it as you have scaffolded it with them?
I think it is crucial to note that they say to give them time to just play with the materials before expecting them to use them for spelling. I like that they have it divided into thirds: Materials setup, Materials placement, and Materials cleanup.
How do you make sure to leave enough time for clean up AND to gather them back and check in? That is always so hard......
This blog is for Thomas Jefferson Elementary teachers only. The purpose of this blog is to share reflections, post questions, share ideas, and improve teaching and learning for all involved. This blog will give us a way to share our learnings from our two professional reading books and improve our technology skills at the same time!
I agree with you on struggling with word work. I find that the students do not have a strong knowledge of spelling patterns and the new district spelling program still does not address this weakness. I have tried making big words and month to month phonics. I feel like we are not getting anywhere and they are certainly not independent. The speaker that we had at NA on word work did give some good suggestions so that is what I am trying next. I don't find my kids excited about writing. This is my class's weakness. They have difficulty generating ideas. But I think that they lack vocabulary and this hinders their writing. My goal is to build more writing into the Daily 5 next semester. Right now I am teaching writer's workshop as a separate subject. I am not using Launching Word Work like the book suggest, but I like the idea.
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