Mrs. Russell's Room: Frog Writing

Hoppy Spring everyone! :)

This week, I've been on spring break and it's been awesome! :) I hosted Sarah from There's No Place Like Second Grade this week! :) She went to a conference and stayed at my place! What a great time we had! :) I got to take her to several local spots and I'm quite sure that she feels *almost* like an Orlando native now! :) Check out our IG's for a few pictures of our fun! :) You may remember that I collaborated with her several months back on a post on race? Well, from that point forward we were determined to catch up and meet! It was good times, for sure! :) This week, while she was out...I was working on my presentations for SDE! Eek! My first conference is coming up in a few weeks. I am presenting on FOUR different things! Last year at this time, I was prepping for ONE thing and I was nervous. Four is about to send me off the deep end! LOL! Real talk though...I get to talk about several things that I'm passionate about and the time to reflect on those things in great depth has been really helpful as I flesh out what I think will be the most important points to share with folks. More news on this to come in the next few weeks...

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This week, I've been working on what I'm doing for writing and I just wrapped up this little writing pack on FROGS! :)
I have come to really enjoy teaching writing and transferring that knowledge on to my students!
Most people probably know that I write a ton of fluency for K-3, but...I also have several units that I've created to teach my kids to be amazing writers themselves! :)
Every writing pack that I make has resources for three different writing disciplines: informational, persuasive and narrative. Within those three disciplines, students have printable pages with prompts that help them go from brainstorming, to drafting, peer editing, revising and then finally publishing. There is also an optional craft to do with the students if you'd like.

When it comes to teaching writing to primary aged learners, I'm a big believer in

MENTOR TEXTS

When students have access to lots of good fit books to build schema, they are more eager to share what they are learning! My big secret is that I read many of them aloud during my circle time. If I'm feeling like I really want to 'bring the drama'....I only read a few pages...almost like a teaser. The kids jump for the books during their independent reading time! :) Make sure you have a good variety of low and high level books.

Another thing that I think is important is a systematic, explicit approach. I am a huge proponent of

THE WRITING PROCESS

Although I have two sets of printable pages per topic...one is LEVEL 1 for my firsties who are on grade level...LEVEL 2 is for above grade level...and has thinner lines. The brainstorm page is for either student.

In the drafting phase, students think about what they already know and respond to a simple prompt with support.

I usually have my students take a peer editing sheet and attach it to the draft so that they can work with a partner to check for basic conventions before coming to me. Haven't ever attempted this with firsties? Check out this post and the video of some of my littles working on peer editing! :)

Once they are done with their buddy, they come see me and we revise their writing! Here I look for whatever my structural goals were for their writing, such as grammar or language conventions. I correct things that they ask me to check for them. I don't correct EVERYTHING because one of the things that they must be able to do is own their writing for the sharing time after we publish.

This is the published piece page. I will be honest and tell you...much of the time, this is what my kids turn in...sans craft. If I'm doing a portfolio, this fits in a file so much easier without something on top. If you have a hankerin' to do a little something more...you can check out the craft I included for this writing pack.

It is super simple. Cause, that's how I roll folks! :) I just made a lily pad cut out and then added the feet and a cute froggy head to it...so the frog is looking up at the kidlets! :) You can choose to have kids cut out lily pad shaped paper, or just mount the lily pad on the top of any of the publish pages that are 81/2 x 11.

Each of my writing packs also feature mini anchor charts to support writing structures throughout the year. I have sentence stems and graphic organizers too! My students really do enjoy writing and it's pretty organic in our room! The thing that I love about the way I put this pack together is that I can use it at any time of the year...and if I want to teach opinion based writing this year, and next year I want to change to narrative, I can! All that I need to do that is already within the resource.