One of the favorite parts of my first graders' day is Writers' Workshop. We begin the year writing class books at this time of day. The children become interested in themselves as authors because I set the stage for authentic writing and treat them as writers from day one. The class books that we begin writing are cherished by everyone. These books get to go home for a night and family members read them and comment on the "Family Comment Pages". We also share the books together as we finish them. I do this during our regular read aloud time intermixing these books with children's literature. Our Class Books also have a special bin in our classroom library and are some of the most sought after books to read during SSR time. Of course the kids can list these books on their reading logs at SSR time, further reinforcing the value and importance of the class books.

When the children seem ready, usually in January, I begin Writers' Workshop. Some years we have started as early as November. Each student participates in a Young Author program which is school wide so their interest in writing is peaked already. We also have a special school assembly from the Brainstormers, an acting troupe, that does a kick-off motivational assembly in the Fall with a follow up assembly in the Spring. At this second assembly stories that our students have written are acted out complete with costumes, sound effects, and zany antics! So the stage is set for writing succeess at Pioneer School. This makes my job so much easier from the start! I always build up Writers' Workshop's arrival so that anticipation builds and the children can't wait for it to begin. I make Draft Books for each student which consist of bound pages of writing paper. The children also have a Writing Folder which contains their journals that they write in daily, a things to write about list, and a book of words they can refer to for ideas and spelling.

Prior to Writers' Workshop, we have had many mini lessons on writer's craft and six trait writing. We have read numerous examples of fantastic books to show various things that authors do to write a successful book. Katie Wood Ray and Stephanie Parsons have been a guiding force in the way I motivate children to write using children's literature as models. (See link below for their books.)

Writers' Workshop Framework:

~*~Children write stories daily in their draft books.

Free choice on story topics.

~*~I meet with small groups daily for support and editing help.

Children edit their piece for word wall word spelling, capitals, end marks, and finger spaces between words.

~*~Children peer edit before meeting with me. This is a work in progress...some first graders can do this, some are not ready yet.

~*~I ask that they have three stories completed before meeting with me. That encourages the children to choose their best work and understand that not every piece is taken to the publishing step.

~*~After we meet and edit the chidren choose a cover for their book. They can draw a cover or choose a pre-printed template to color. There are shape pages or regular writing paper with space for a drawing at the top as choices. As the year goes on, paper without a drawing box is also available.

~*~Once the book is completed, an important step is sharing the book with the class. We have a special "Author" chair which is only used to share these books. The children can't wait to share their stories!

~*~At the end of the year we hold a Family Literacy Day to share all of the stories and poems the children have written. Each child has a special portfolio full of his/her work to share with a family member or guest. If a student's family member can't attend, I arrange for a staff member to serve as a special guest. The room is abuzz as all of the hard work is shared with pride!

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