We started our second term off with some creative procedural writing. First term students wrote about their lives, then they created stories with fictional characters, and now they are writing to teach. The kids are loving this unit! To help the students think of topics to write about, each student created a list of things they were good at at school, and then for homework, created a list of things they were good at in their homes. After picking a topic students just started writing to teach!
Many of the mini-lessons I use for writer's workshop are based of off Lucy Calkins Grade 1,
Curricular Plan For the Writing Workshop. This writing curriculum is much cheaper than the $300 units of study from the past. Now you can buy a downloadable version for your specific grade for only $10, save it on your thumb drive and take it to Kinkos to be printed and bound!
To teach specific word choice I brought in a toaster and had the students give me directions on how to make toast. They definitely started using transition words after this demonstration :) We also did a mini-lesson on "warning words". I used a cook book filled with warning words, as a read aloud during the mini-lesson. Then students went back and worked with their writing partners to add and revise. We will be wrapping up this unit next week with a writing celebration with our reception little buddies.
