Writing classroom

Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection. Day 1 To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar. I read my class the story "The Name Jar"…

Using Jamboard templates for writing has been a game changer for my writing mini-lessons. It's easy to get students particpating and hold them accountable with these Jamboards for ELA.

I wrote recently that I think it’s important that we give students a daily writing time . But, obviously a logistical issue comes up when you have your students writing every single day of the school year (or at least pretty close to it). How do we organize all of this writing? How do we keep up w

Do you have reluctant writers? You know- those students that stare into space the entire time that they are supposed to be writing? Do you have bored writers- students who watch the clock during wring? How about adding some fun to your writer's workshop! I have some simple ideas for you! 1. Let Students Choose

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links I receive a small amount of money at no additional cost to you. Last year I saw a great post from Heidi at Heidi Songs about using her sight word videos with white boards. It was a big hit with my kiddos last year and today I decided we were ready to try it with this group. They LOVED it! It's a super simple activity that gets them connecting with the videos in a whole new way. Total engagement......very little effort…

Writing letters is a huge staple in our first grade classroom, not to mention one of the most FUN activities we do! This year, I have really focused on upping the fun factor in my classroom–not to say it hasn’t ALWAYS been fun ;). I am really into creating songs…

Do you do writing workshop with your students? Long before I expect students to write stories, we spend a lot of time discussing stories. For example, every time we read a story, we … *name the author and illustrator *find words to describe the characters and talk about who they might remind us of *talk about […]

It's time to think beyond Mad Libs.