What is Writing Workshop?
Writing Workshop was created at Columbia University and follows a similar schedule to Reading Workshop. The children come together for writing strategy lessons and then bring those strategies to their own writing. Each child has a writing folder and works on books for about a month's time. Then, the children choose one piece to revise, edit and fancy. Finally, we have a writers' celebration to reward their hard work. The books are put up in the hallway for all to see. Each 4-6 weeks we start a new unit of study. The primary focus in first grade is writing Small Moment stories. The children are encouraged to zoom in on something that has happened to them and write about it. As the year progresses, the students begin to write How To books, Poetry and even Persuasive letters.
Should my child be spelling words incorrectly?
This depends on what kind of writing they are doing. During writing workshop, I encourage children to stretch out the sounds of unknown words. Always give positive feedback for inventive spelling. The students are using the knowledge they have about sounds to form words. This is hard work! When finalizing a piece of writing, I will usually look back at their writing with them and edit words that are not stretched out, or have them fix spelling words they know. Be supportive of their writing process and help them to write creative stories.
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