WRITER'S WORKSHOP MINI LESSONS

Editing: Mini Lessons for Checking a Writing Piece for Capitalization, Punctuation, Spacing, and Illustrations, Etc.

The pencil anchor chart on the wall was created by me based on the work of the wonderful Kindergarten teachers at Washington Elementary School in Sheboygan, WI.  They are a "Comprehensive Literacy School" based on Linda Dorn's work in Arkansas, and shared the pencil anchor chart idea with a team of teachers that visited them a few years ago.  Thanks to them for their originality and generous sharing spirits!

• Large Editing Icons for Pencil:     

• Small Student Editing Pencils:    

Lesson 2: We Can Fix Our Writing So It Is Better

Determining WHY there is a problem...

Gather students around the carpet area.

Briefly discuss what was learned yesterday - Good readers read their writing to find WHAT problems need to be fixed.

Tell students that today's book will help us all to become better writers.

Read Fix-It Duck by Jez Alborough.

Facilitate discussion about WHAT needed fixing, WHY it needed to be fixed, WHO fixed it, and HOW it was fixed.

Say, "I am going to read to you what I wrote yesterday."

Read pre-written story to the class.

When finished, guide the class in remembering WHAT needed to be fixed.

Say, "We highlighted problems that we found in my story."

Say, "You were very good detectives and you found WHAT the problems were."

Say, "Today, let's talk about WHY these are problems."

Discuss problems marked by the highlighter tape.

SAMPLE problems:

• capitalization 

• spacing 

• punctuation 

• spelling 

• repeated words

• etc.

Talk about why it would be a problem to leave each mistake in the story.

Commend students on their ability to determine WHAT are problems.

Commend students on their ability to know WHY they are problems.

Share, "Tomorrow we will continue working with this story.  We will talk about WHO can fix these problems."

Remind students that good writers read their writing when they are finished.  

Remind students that good writers listen and look for problems as they read their writing.

Remind students that good writers think about why the problems need to be fixed.

Encourage students to read their writing and listen and identify problems that need to be fixed..

Encourage students to think about WHY the problems need to be fixed.

Dismiss students for Writer's Workshop.

Resources:

Fix it Duck by Jez Alborough