[2soccermom]

Last year I felt I didn't do enough writing....Does anyone have any great ideas, topics, managing or organizational tips that may help me out?

Thanks

[purplehippo]

I do a daily 5 min writing. This is their opportunity to "blurb" out thier ideas on a topic as quickly as possible. It usually takes about 10 min total by the time they get out their purple journals, write, then put them away.

5+ lines in 5 min....once the whole class has 5+ lines, we go to 5 lines in 4 min, then to 5+ lines in 3 min....we keep this challange up all year. I have had a class reach 5 lines in just over a minute...awesome! I then have them post it note out the top if they want to be in the drawing for unidentified author of the week...

On Friday after our Spelling test we pull a journal from the pile. I cover the name and put it under a document camera. We then use the white board to help edit the journal entry together. The kids love to use the board. They must only edit in a positive mannor. At the end of our editing (10-15 min) the author may remain anonymous or he/she may stand to take a bow. I have a special award that I staple to thier printed edited page afterward.

The class really enjoys these and it really helps with those "common" errors that everyone makes.

[QueenBee2011]

After I started using 6 + 1 writing traits, my writing instruction improved. I think it was because it was so organized. There are so many books on it, but I really enjoy the Crate I purchased. It was expensive, but well worth it. You can also get a lot of books from Scholastic for pretty cheap. Even if you just purchased the poster set from your local teacher's supply store or online store, you could get yourself started on it.
Then, if you apply what Purple Hippo suggested, you could give the children something specific to focus on. Good luck!

[roo]

Those are some great ideas that would be so easy to implement. Thanks for sharing!

[2soccermom]

Thanks everyone!

[Mariely]

2soccermom,

I know exactly how you feel. I've been there myself in the past. I would love you offer as many ideas as I can. I would like to start by directing you to a great teacher's blog, Jasztalville: Where Inquiry and Creativity Rules!

My friend and fellow Florida 4th grade teacher, Victoria Jasztal, has a great post on what she does the first 30 days of writing instruction. Here's the direct link to that post where you can download for FREE her lesson plans: http://love4thgrade.blogspot.com/201...days-2-30.html

Now I'd like to share what I do in my classroom. The first week of school I engage students in various fun writing activities. I want to show them that writing does not have to be boring. In order to help them understand this, we as teachers, have be excited about writing and also be writers ourselves. We need to feel confident about writing.

One of the writing activities that I have my students work on during the first week of school is called the Summer "Shorts" Story. You can visit my new teacher's blog, Pencils and Magic Wands, to learn more about this activity. Here's the direct link to that post which will also have the link to the file related to activity. The file will be available for FREE until August 19 so head over to download it. http://pencilsandmagicwands.blogspot...nzy-day-1.html

During the 2nd week of school, our district has everyone administer a writing baseline assessment. I use the results of this writing test to see my students' strengths and areas of improvement in writing. Then I launch our writer's notebook, go over the rules for writer's workshop, review notes about Narrative and Expository writing, and begin with my Narrative writing instruction. This year I'm planning on teaching Narrative for 2 weeks at first and then switch to 2 weeks of Expository. After that I'll be teaching one week Narrative and the other week Expository and so forth.

When I'm teaching writing, I give a brief mini-lesson on a writing skill, model the skill to the students, and then have them write and apply that skill to their writing. While students write, I walk around and assist students as needed and also engage in some one-on-one student-teacher conferencing.

The most important thing in all of this is the MODELING! That is something I do time and time again, day after day. That will help students improve their writing. After modeling is CONFERENCING! This is also vital. Students should have the opportunity to see what their strengths are in writing and how they can improve.

I hope these ideas are useful to you. I wish you the best and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask or send me a private message. Take care and best of luck to you!