Writer's Workshop Update

As you all know, this session we started incorporating writing curriculum from the Institute for Excellence in Writing once a week in the Elementary studio. So far, it's gone swimmingly. The book "All Things Fun and Fascinating" serves up paragraphs on topics that cater to kids' curiosity, and they're either adopting or honing the skill of making Key Word Outlines. I've enjoyed seeing children who are a bit farther down the road with this skill help those to whom it's brand new.

One of the Writing Badge requirements for Level 3 and higher is a certain number of "polished papers." We've been using the last couple weeks of this session to hold their hands and gently guide them toward a polished paragraph. Today, nearly everyone chose their favorite Key Word Outline from the past few weeks and worked for about 15 minutes to transform it into a simple paragraph.

At the end, I handed out checklists which will be their rubrics for spiffing up those rough paragraphs and turning them into polished work. This process can occur at any time of their choosing, but paragraphs are due next Thursday. This assignment is optional, but strongly encouraged for anyone working toward their Level 4 or 5 badge. Completing a paragraph each session at the suggested time means no one need scramble to crank out paragraphs in July!

If you want to help your writer at home with revising his or her work, feel free to email me a request for the rubric so you can have a backup copy. Oh, and one more thing -- now that we have sixteen children in the class, I've started running two shifts of Writer's Workshop, each with eight children. Group One meets at 10:30 and Group Two at 10:50. The children prefer it this way, and I see the effect on their level of focus.

Onward and upward!