Informational Writing

Did your jaw drop like mine when you read the common core writing standards!?  I mean I always set aside a time during the day for writer’s workshop….but now I have to restructure it a bit to meet each piece of the writing standards.  As I was researching on how to effectively meet these writing standards I came across a second grade site from Georgia.  This teacher did a nice job of showing a variety of informational writing pieces and if they meet the expectations.  It was pretty mind blowing to see what second graders are expected to write.  You can take a peek for yourself below:

http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/LanguageartsES.nsf/80862A9A9191FD858525748D004D1E06/$file/2Informationalanchors.pdf

Ok, so are worried yet!?  Haha I was too, but then realized we already are writing similar to this but I just need to model informational pieces a little more frequent.  This led me to create a writing pack solely on informational writing.  I thought the best way to focus more heavily on informational writing was to integrate it with science and social studies.  Therefore, this writing pack focuses on second grade science and social studies standards. 

Included in this informational writing pack are: 5 posters breaking down each step, 2 revising and editing posters, a list of read aloud books for mini lessons, several graphic organizers to arrange information, two writing reports along with differentiated rubrics, a memory game for topic sentence practice, a list for grades 1-3 of the writing standards this pack covers, and more!  Head on over to our TPT store to take a look.      
                                              Happy Friday! =)

Writer's Workshop

It's amazing how fast time flies once the end of July hits. We are down to just three short weeks!

 Anyways, we sat down at the end of last school year, to plan some things for this school year. One big change we are making this year, is that we are combining our Daily 5 and Writer's Workshop time. In our district, we have block scheduling. It is a fabulous thing when trying to coordinate things with other teachers, especially the intervention specialists. However, sometimes we feel it can put a time crunch on certain 'blocks' of time. This year we have decided to take our whole afternoon for reading/Daily 5. (For us that is just short of 2 hours!) We will be devoting 1 of our 3 mini-lessons each day to a 'writing mini-lesson'. The kiddos will have a chance to practice the skills that we will teach and model during this time, during their 'work on writing' choice of Daily 5. This seems to be the best way to incorporate both Writer's Workshop and Daily 5 into our afternoons.

Have you ever read this book?! If not, it is a must read! It has a year's worth of lessons to use with your kiddos. We have used this book for two years and are always impressed by the growth our kiddos make from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

So, we knew how we were going to teach writing. We knew what we were going to teach. But we did not know how to get it all started. Of course that mean we needed to create something! Here is a peek at our Writer's Workshop: Getting Started pack.

This pack comes with 14 days worth of lessons to introduce Writer's Workshop to your kids, a list of trade books that accompany the lessons, a Writer's Workshop contract, a stamina graph, I-charts, as well as various brainstorming/planning pages for your students to use! 

Head on over to our TpT Store to check it out! You will find that the I-charts only are available for free there as well.

 Don't use Writer's Workshop in your classroom? Here is a freebie that you can use to fit your needs!

 

Try to enjoy the end of your summer.....while it is still here!