In our study of poetry, students are being asked to make their words "More Poetic". This week we are studying the way poets revise their writing to add metaphor and adjectives to help create images in their writing. Help your student at home by coming up with awesome adjectives and teaching metaphors that you know of as well!
Many students find it difficult to transition between Personal Narrative and Realistic Fiction. I hope that this helps clear up some confusion!
Some have asked, "What do you do in Writer's Workshop?" "How do you grade their writing? What do kids do during Writer's Workshop?"
Let me explain:
Students are constantly coming up with ideas in their Writer's Notebook. Then, if they think it has "potential" as a story then they do a quick write in their notebook. This gives them a chance to use strategies such as telling the story across their fingers and/or using a timeline to plan out their story. IF the story is indeed a gem... then they draft it! This is a continuous process that goes on and on daily.
During the mini lesson I teach them different strategies to use to improve their writing. When we grade the students, I grade them on their ability to try out what we've been doing in the lessons. When they go to their desks after lessons, they try out what I've just taught on their drafts.
One thing I taught was something called, "Where's the BEEF?" Check out the anchor chart and ask your child what it means, and if they can add it to their writing.
In our Writer's Workshop, we spend a great deal of time coming up with ideas, writing long from those ideas and then drafting them. Once we've chosen an idea to draft, we use the lesson from class to constantly revise and edit our work to make it better. Often kids are working on two to three different drafts before they commit to publication. I encourage my students to wait until the end of our unit to publish so that they can use the various strategies and skills taught in class on their writing. Our rubrics are built from the lessons taught in class.
Every day we participate in Writer's Workshop. There are several components to our workshop time. We spend a small amount of time together learning about a new strategy or skill. The students have time there with me to be introduced to it and to practice on their own. Then, they go to their desk to work on self selected topics using what they've learned during the lesson.
Our third grade students are really working hard to try out all the new learning they've been doing. We look forward to sharing our writing with others!
