Go, Love, and Do

I went to a TC Zoom workshop in the fall and heard Lizzie Hertz TC staff provider talk about a way to support students with generating topics for writing workshop. If you ever get the chance to hear Lizzie talk, I would strongly recommend it. Lizzie is a dynamic presenter💕. 

Kids can get writing ideas by thinking about 

1. Go
2. Love
3. Do

Places I go 

People or things I love 

Things I do 

If I am writing a HOW To book can I get an idea from a place I go, love, or do?

I could write a HOW to Go to school book.

I could write a HOW to take care of my dog.

I could write a HOW to do ballet book.

If I am writing an ALL ABOUT book can I get an idea from a place I go, love, or do? 

I could write an ALL ABOUT school book. 

I could write an ALL ABOUT dogs. 

I could write an ALL ABOUT reading book. 

If I am writing a NARRATIVE book can I get an idea from a place I go, love, or do? 

I could write a book about a TIME when I went to the beach. 

I could write a book about a TIME when I took my dog for a walk. 

I could write a book about a TIME when I read a great book. 

Pictures From Home

 I had students bring in two photos of a place they go, love, and do. The kids LOVED sharing these photos with one another. 

When students feel stuck on what to write, they can visit the board. 

(Due to privacy issues the picture is far away)

Nonfiction Teaching Books Template 

Some of my students were struggling with finding topics for their ALL ABOUT books so I created this template as a scaffold. 

• Pick one picture from the GO, LOVE, DO board. 
• Working with a partner come up with possible subtopics. 
• Tell them across your fingers.
• Put this sheet in your writing folder.  

Click here for the GO DO LOVE sheet

Tip: Have students draw a picture of something they are passionate about or something they are an expert in. 

Fun Things to Do in the Summer 
Camping
Trip to New York
Playing Baseball 
Going to the beach

ten tips for writing workshop

Here are ten tips for writing workshop:

Tip 1: keep the routine of writing workshop consistent.  

always start with a focus lesson (mini-lesson)  on the rug, lots of time to write and a ten to fifteen minute share time. we can sometimes be so busy to finish and move on to the next part of our day we might skip the share. we would urge you not to, there are lots of teaching opportunities during that time and kids LOVE to share!! Leah Mermelsten wrote a whole book about the sharing time and the teaching impact it can have on our little ones!

Tip 2: Rally the kids about writing time.

our energy and excitement about workshop time impacts all of our students.   before a new unit of study begins build excited by creating a sign outside your classroom door “nonfiction writing coming soon… two mores days."  this will build excitement about the new unit. on the classroom calendar mark the beginning and end of the unit. this also allows kids who may not love the current kind of writing to know that there is an end in sight and that they get to transition to a new genre.  try to stick to the timeline. if a unit gets dragged on too long, the class could lose interest. momentum is the key!

Tip 3: Have the kids help you set up for workshop time.  

this helps kids anticipate what will happen next and gets them moving around the classroom before having to sit and listen. right after setting up, we go to the rug for the focus lesson. since the classroom is set up for writing, once students are dismissed from the rug, they can get right to work!

 

Tip 4: use your anchor chart to dismiss kids from the rug. 

 For example I may say, if you are working on making your writing easy to read, you may get started. if you are working on adding details to your pictures and words, you may get started. the kids who are unsure what to do can stay on the rug and the teacher can work with them right away.   we find that students will quickly find something to work on.

tip 5: the power of partnership.

there is power in having a writing partner. instead of having the author’s chair for fifteen minutes, have partners share for five minutes and the author's chair for ten. students will realize that if someone does not work during workshop time, then they will have nothing to share. knowing that you are going to have to share every day will motivate students to write. you will need to circulate during partner time at first to set up this routine as an expectation. try to keep partners together for as long as possible. 

tip 6: don’t let kids erase.

teach kids to cross out or give them black felt pens for writing erasing can be a stall tactic and when they do erase, the often put holes in their paper...not good for reread reading and very messy. another bonus to using the pen is that children realize that they should try to write neatly, because it is “permanant”.

tip 8: save samples of kid work.

the year gets so busy that we sometime forget this important tip but try to save samples of student work for mentor text. try to save a few different examples (not just the strongest) to use for the next year.

tip 9: create a risk taker or strategy sign 

when teaching a new concepts hang up a sign and say ________ has tried this. you’ll be surprised at how many student will be willing to try something new because you gave them recognition.

The kids could record how long and strong they wrote that day by putting a Post-it

 tip 10: make someone famous in your class.

can you imagine what it would feel like if the teachers put your story on the bulletin and highlighted your strengths? the first grade teachers in our building find a way to make each child famous by putting their story on the bulletin board and naming what they did.

we all want to feel famous someday, why not start in first grade.


happy almost friday!


jessica & laura & melissa

writing workshop

one of our favorite part of the day  is writing workshop. we believe if you want to teach a child to read, you teach them how to write.

in our building we use some of the teacher college units of study and develop some of our own. one of our favorite go to resources is katie wood ray and lisa cleveland about the authors, writing workshop with our youngest writers. we have learned so much about teaching writing from these master teachers.   

workshop happens every day 30-40minutes

we believe that kids get better at writing, by writing every day.  we also feel it's important to show them how to do it.

dating work helps keep track of student growth

where there's so much debate about appropriate practices
 in the primary classrooms we have to say, we believe that making books is appropriate practice.  we are often reminded by katie wood ray that writing workshop is about making stuff and kids love to make stuff. we know this because the minute we announce it’s choice time… kids begin creating stuff with joy and energy. 

this child wrote a BLURB on the back of his book.

the beautiful thing about making books is that every child can do it. katie and lisa remind us why making books is important in the primary classroom. 

• making books encourages volume right away
• student communicate with both pictures and words to make meaning which is similar to the picture books they have read to them
• the pictures hold the most meaning which makes a lot of sense for our tiny writers
• picture books are an important tool for teaching
• the work may seem small but the work is so BIG
• lastly, katie reminds us that picture books is a form, a container in which different genres can be written and this will come in handy when we introduce kids to different kinds of writing
• students begin to read like a writer 
  

  

  mentor text for writing workshop
  

when we give kids the time and the tools to make books we believe that joy and enegry happens at our workshop time too.

happy bookmaking and go pats!

jessica & laura & melissa