We have begun a new writing program along with all other Mohonasen Elementary classrooms from Kindergarten through Fifth grade. This common core writing workshop curriculum was designed by Lucy Calkins with help from the Teachers College at Columbia University.
Our class is currently working on personal narrative, or "small moment" stories. The children are learning how to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end and then how to write and revise their stories.
Each writers workshop consists of a 10 minute "mini lessons" followed by a 40 minute period of student writing, with some teacher and peer conferencing. The kids are learning that their lives are full of stories to tell and then planning, writing and revising these stories with the help from me and a "writing buddy". Each writers workshop ends with an opportunity to share some of the students writing.
