Work on Writing Ideas

Happy Monday!  I'm getting ready to present tomorrow about Daily Five to some sweet people in my district.  I wrote THIS POST last week about it and wanted to give you some ideas about Working on Writing.  This is the daily that makes most people cringe!

Here is a picture of some of my Work on Writing areas from different classroom set ups.

 

 

 This shelf is empty because these pics were taken before the year started.  You can see I have lots of space for trays/tubs to hold the writing materials.

  

This was another year and I snapped this pic about six weeks into school.  You can see the tubs are in place and filled with materials.  This is also from a year I taught pre-k, so the materials are a little different for work on writing.

I do want to preface that this is the only one of the dailies in which I have my students turn in a physical "something".  The other four dailies are more kinesthethic, but writing needs to be about writing.  Your littles will only get better at writing if they're writing.

I also wanted to share where I got my signs for each of my Daily Five materials areas.  Click below to grab this freebie from my friend Kristen.

Okay, so here is a little chart I made with some writing ideas.  Remember the goal of Daily Five is INDEPENDENCE!  Whatever you add to your Work on Writing choices should be an independent activity for children.

A lot of these are pretty self explanatory, but I did want to show you some of my littles' creations in Work on Writing this year!  

SIDE NOTE: Since kindergarteners are still learning how to print letters, it's OKAY to have letter printing activities in your Working on Writing choices.  This is a scaffolded skill.  The joy in Daily Five is that there are many choices, so your higher learners can have writing choices while your emergent writers can work on letter printing.  YOU KNOW YOUR KIDS BEST!

Here is an example of one my cutie's pop up book that she created independently during Daily Five when we were learning about zoo and African animals.

 

Now this cuties didn't just know how to make a pop up book.  I added pop up paper to our choices in the second semester after we had created a few pop up books as a class during the first semester.  

Here is my FREE pop up paper and a video I made to show you how to make pop up books with your kiddos.

Another simple and preferred writing choice is writing about exciting news.  We all kinders can talk for HOURS about themselves and gradma visiting and their dog digging a hole and what they had for dinner... You get the point!  I often stop the stories by saying "That sounds really fun! Can you tell me all about it by writing to me?"  So, I created this little gem for sharing news!  Click on it to get it for FREE!

That reminds me, if a cutie wrote a letter for me, I have them place it in my mailbox.  Do you see it on the shelf to the left?  I would encourage you to get a mailbox to collect ALL of the treasures your kiddos write you!

Another writing my choice my kiddos love is creating 3D stories.  Here are two examples.

Again, this has to be taught.  I showed my littles how to create characters that stood up and about details in a setting, as well as how to attach the written portion of their story.

One of our most favorite writing choices are our shard journals.  I don't have a picture of them from my classroom, but I bought them from my friend Lori.  They're just journals in which you add a topic label to the front like "My Teacher" or "Pets" and anyone from the classroom can write in the journal about that topic.  Here they are from Lori!

I hope this gives you some ideas about what to add to your Work on Writing choices!  Just a few tips...

1.  Remember it is a choice so it's alright if a student chooses the same Work on Writing choice each day at check-in.  After all, it will take a child days to create a pop-up book, so she may choose to work on it each when he/she picks Work on Writing.

2.  Make sure you have a system for supplies.  Where are your students' pencils, crayons, etc. that are needed for Work on Writing?  Do they each have a supply box you want them to use?  Are there shared supplies stored in the Work on Writing area?

3.  What is your system for turning in the finished product?  Do they place it in a turn in basket?  (Mine do!)

4.  What if a child isn't finished?  Since this is the only one of the dailies that I have students complete since all of the other dailies are open ended, I have mine place unfinished Work on Writing stories in their blue pocket on the back of my easel.  Each kiddo has one for unfinished stories to store for the next day.

Have a marvelous Monday!