In our second grade classroom, students participate in a daily writing workshop. At the start of the workshop, the teacher models writing through a mini-lesson that targets a specific writing skill or concept.
Mini lessons will consist of teaching about the writing process, the six
traits, and genres of writing.
|
Writing Process |
6 Traits |
Genres |
|
Prewriting
Drafting
Revising
Editing
Conferencing
Publishing |
Ideas
Organization
Voice
Word Choice
Sentence Fluency
Conventions
|
Fiction Stories
Personal Narratives
Nonfiction
How To Paragraph
Biographies
Friendly Letters
Poetry
Tall Tales |
The mini-lesson usually lasts 10 minutes long. The mini-lesson is then followed by independent writing time by the students. At this time, the teacher also holds writing conferences with small group of students and/or individual students. Independent writing time usually lasts approximately 25-30 minutes.
Beginning of Year Writing Workshop Ideas
Too
Much Noise by Ann McGovern
 Discuss the book and how our voices should
sound during WW.
Model and role-play how to/not to behaviors. |
Listen, Buddy!
Discuss the book and why it is important to listen and watch
carefully.
|
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A Chair for my Mother by Vera B. Williams
Day 1 Today I want to share something special with
all of you! This is our special author’s chair and each of you
will be able to sit in this chair.
When it is your turn to share, you can read anything that
you have written in your notebook.
While you read your story to the class, everyone else
should listen with their whole bodies!
After you are done reading, you can call on your
classmates to give you 2 Stars (2 things we liked) and 1 wish
(ask a question or given a suggestion).
**Continue this mini-lesson tomorrow** Day 2 Review author’s chair and what it is Begin an anchor chart together (T chart)
Role of the Author
Role of the Listener
|
Discuss what children like to collect.
Today we will read a story about a boy who likes to
collect things (words!). Read the story and discuss.
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Mini-Lessons for 6 Traits
| Idea Song Sung to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" Write, write, write your thoughts, Make your ideas clear. Tell the reader what you know And what you hold most dear. |
T-Shirt Idea
●Use actual t-shirts XL, L, M, S ●Create shirts and glue to construction paper; write ideas for students to place in order by clipping the construction paper shirt to the actual shirt
EX. XL= Pets
L= Dogs
M= Taking Care of a puppy
S= Teaching a puppy to sit
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Binoculars (can get these from Oriental trading or any dollar
store) ●Give
an XL idea and students look through the binoculars and say an
idea that is smaller.
Keep going until the idea is a “small t-shirt”
EX.
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Jot It Down
Giggle, Giggle, Quack
By Doreen Cronin (note
writing)
This helps students see that writing is an important part of
daily life both in school and away from school.
Start off by telling students that you have been thinking
about all the reasons that you write and you want to show them
your list.
1.
Grocery list
2.
to do list
3.
list of things to bring to school
4.
a thank you note for a friend
5.
lesson plans
6.
a note to the principal
Have students write a list to do when they are done with their
work, a list of books they want to read, etc. |
|
The Sketchy Story
Day 1
1.
Create a “sketchy story” and write it on chart paper or on the
overhead.
EX. We went to the beach.
It was sunny.
We had fun.
2.
Read the story aloud with your class.
3.
Invite your students to ask you questions about your story.
Record their questions next to the story.
This offers a meaningful opportunity to focus on “Wh”
questions! |
The Sketchy Story
Day 2
1.
Rewrite the story utilizing the answers to your students’
questions.
2.
Reread the original story and compare it to the revised story.
3.
Ask the students to comment on the differences.
Discuss the importance of DETAILS
and ELABORATION.
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Story Element Cards
Have pictures of different settings ( in the living room, in the
park, in the car, in the bathtub etc)
Have pictures of different actions ( giving a gift, watching the
tv, etc.)
Have pictures of different characters
Students pick one from each category and then they have to write
a sentence. |
Visit My document Page for more downloads of
lesson ideas, and 6 Traits Baseball
rubric. |
Organization Mini-Lessons
|
Mix It/Fix It Write a story on sentence strips. Mix- up the sentence and have students put them back in order. Going on a Lead Hunt *Collect a number of picture books with strong leads. *Read the first few lines. After reading ask, "Did this lead make you want to read this book?" Why? Puzzles *Give groups of students a jigsaw puzzle to solve. Ask students: How did you go about solving your puzzle? What did you do first? Next? 10 Minute Stories Have students write about what happened in the last 10 minutes. This helps with chronological order. Books for teaching Organization Zoom By Istvan Banyai The Important Book By Margaret Wise Brown The Red Book By Barbara Lehman Big and Little By Steve Jenkins Dr. DeSoto By William Steig Oink By Margie Palatini |
Beginning,
Middle, and End *Materials needed- butcher paper, and photocopies of pictures *Divide butcher paper into thirds for each group *Have students glue the picture on the top half in each section. *Students write what they see happening in their part of the story. (beginning, middle, and end.) Patterns *Make a list of things that are organized in our lives. Ex. stores, telephone books, calendars, etc. Talk about how these things are organized. *Make a list of things that are disorganized. (random) Ex. some desks/closets, your hair when you wake up etc. Talk about how these things have no pattern. *Have students draw a picture of something that is organized and something that is random. Then have students write what makes those things organized and random. A ___________ is organized because ______. A ___________ is random because ________. Teaching Organization Using Red-Eyed Tree Frog (Scholastic Link) |
Personal Narrative Ideas
Books to Inspire Writing:
Thunder Cake-
Write about a time you were scared or nervous.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day-
Write about a bad day you had.
The Relatives Came-
Write about a visit with a relative.
A Chair for my Mother-
Family
The Art Lesson-
Write about an experience you had at school.
I’m So Embarrassed-
Write about an embarrassing moment you had.
Word Choice
Painting
a Picture
·
The words we use in our writing paint pictures in the minds of our
readers
·
Have students close their eyes and tell them to picture the word “dog”
in their mind
·
After a minute or so have them open their eyes and draw a picture of the
dog they saw
·
Have students share their drawings
·
Explain that the word dog creates a different picture for everyone that
hears it ---therefore:
o
It is extremely important to describe the dog in your story the best you
can so that all your readers picture the same dog in their mind
Delightful Descriptions
·
Review how the words we choose draw a picture in the mind of our readers
·
Have a picture of a boy, house, car, and cupcake (or any other
pictures/clipart)
o
Table groups will use a graphic organizer of looks, feels, tastes,
smells, & sounds to describe the picture they see
o
They will write two sentences describing the
picture the best they can.
Class will vote for the table group that
described the picture the best.
o
Repeat for all 4 pictures
Revving up Writing
·
Introduce synonyms as words that mean the same thing
·
Tell students that lots of times 2nd
graders use words like big, said, mad, and little because they are
familiar with them and they are easy to spell
·
Challenge students to replace those “tired” words
with synonyms that are 2nd grade words (juicy words)
·
Write sentences on the board and brainstorm “juicy” words together.
o
My stuffed animal is big. (huge, gigantic, enormous)
o
I saw a little bug.
(tiny, petite, small)
o
“Can I have another cookie?” said the girl. (cried, yelled, whispered)
·
Have students write a sentence using a “tired” word and then rewrite the
sentence using a “juicy” word.
Max's Words-It
is about a boy whose brothers collect stamps and coins, and he wants to
collect something. He decides to collect words. Read the book aloud,
pointing out words like slithered, hissed, darted, etc. Then provide
lots of magazines for students to use to find interesting words.
Resources
Mandy Gregory Writing Workshop
Fargo Public School District- 6 Traits Lesson
Bank
Thank you to these teachers for their wonderful ideas!