I have to say that things are going really well during independent work time. Most of my kiddos can work independently for a sustained amount of time. During my literacy block I have the kids write for one of their stations. I started out the year having them just continue the work they had done during writer's workshop. But I wanted to change things up to keep it interesting. So I am starting with three different activities they can choose from.
The first activity is Roll and Write a Story. There are many versions out there like this one by Jordan Reads that I found through Pinterest and can be downloaded from TPT. I took ideas from several ones I found and made my own. I laminated three of them and used foam blocks for the dice. The kids choose one of the publishing papers that I created and write their story on that. They continue working on their story each time they have writing as one of their stations. Once the story is finished, they turn it in so I can bind all the stories together in a book.
Another activity I have added is writing prompts. Depending on how this month goes and how popular it is, I plan on changing the prompts every month. I got my prompts for September from Second Story Window and here. I simply wrote the prompts on colored index cards that I had cut up and placed them in a purple tin I had gotten at Target a while back. I added a label and it was ready to go! They can change out the prompt two times while choosing one but have to keep the third one. They answer their prompt on one of the publishing papers and turn in so I can bind those also into a book.
The final writing activity I included in the station is class journals. I got this idea from Pinterest. The kids will pick a journal that has topics such as pets and special memories. I store them in a magazine bin and the kids choose one to write in, write their name at the top of the next blank page and then write according to the topic.
I keep all the materials in my writing station which is a work in progress. There is nothing spectacular about it but it works for us for the moment. (If you look closely, you can see the baggie I taped to the desk on the left hand side. It is holding the dice for the Roll and Write a Story activity.)
So there you have it! The kids really enjoyed this station when I introduced the new activities last week. I plan on adding and changing out activities throughout the year to keep the interest going. What kinds of activities do you you do for writing outside of writer's workshop?
Marlene
Labels: Writing
