Kindergarten Writing Workshops: solid structure grounded in teacher consistency, predictability, and active involvement.

Materials: Unlined paper with different types of textures Crayons Pencils without erasers Time: Blend Read aloud time and the beginning of writing workshop with brief mini lesson. Children move to tables to begin drawing. Writing lasts about 10 to 15 minutes. At first it will be slow from mini lesson through sharing in half an hour. Teacher allows 1or 2 kids to share until everyone has gone.

Conferences: Work with children briefly. Focus on developing the “how” and getting ideas on paper. Teacher must read the child to know when to back off. Kindergarten Mini Lessons: Must be short! Short daily lessons are essential in Kindergarten. Focus on lesson teaching with examples rather than explanations. Writing demos: good because children learn by watching others then try for themselves. Vary the lessons.

Revision: Re-seeing, rethinking, what one has written and making appropriate changes in content to clarify ideas in writing. Makes ideas on paper reflect intended meaning. Process over product. Teacher interest in child’s writing leads to improved writing skills.

Publishing: Less amount of revision and editing than older kids. Depends on experience level of the class. Every child should feel confident as a writer before creating a published product. May be frustrating to some. Make process a celebration! Writing Leads to Reading How does writing lead to reading? What are some topics you can incorporate into writing and reading activities in the classroom? How would you incorporate them in your classroom? Let’s discuss!!!

Writing to think and learn: children must reflect, inquire, investigate, gather information, and explore ideas. Guidelines for approaching curricular studies: Raising questions is an important beginning: questions that lead to other directions; more important than the actual answers.

Writing for purpose of thinking and exploring is a key component: everyone explores the same topic. Different from workshop writing in that it is a log of open ended discussions. Writing is initially not revised or edited. Children’s literature contributes to investigation: teacher reads books then compares information in books and author's perspective questioning the facts.

Writing to communicate information to other audiences: children select aspects of these topics for writing in writers workshop. Teacher asks students to write a focused piece in their logs. Helps children synthesize a broad range of info & raise new questions.

Talk is a key component through all of this learning: talk after writing in logs; as you read books; to question, speculate, predict, confirm, clarify, and wonder. Teacher conference with kids as they write. Workshop provides a strong foundation for children to talk about topics. Talk between children and teacher is crucial in thinking and learning.

Avery says that, “Reading and writing and talking and listening really are tools for learning, regardless of the topic.” At your tables, discuss a way to integrate reading and writing with either Math, science, or social studies.