We spend a good amount of time each day working on our writing practice. Writing workshop provides the structure needed to implement direct instruction, modeling of writing, interactive writing, shared writing, guided practice and independent practice.
In kindergarten children practice oral story telling and move on to drawing a part of their stories. As children become confident in their understanding of letter sound relationships they begin to label parts of their drawings. Most of the children in the full day kindergarten are working on labeling drawings so that their readers can better understand their stories. We are all writers in the full day kindergarten.
An important part of the writing process is sharing. Children love to tell stories, draw parts of their stories and then share their stories with their friends. In a class of nineteen students in class we rarely get the opportunity for all children to share. This can be disappointing. Today at the end of writing workshop I was preparing to have a few students share when I had an idea. Why not have small group based sharing circles? I suggested my idea to the class and they were thrilled. Everyone would share! Quickly I chose one student from each table to be the leader. That friend would share first and then decide on the order in which the rest of the group would share. It was amazing! The children did a fantastic job sharing, taking turns, asking questions and attending to the task at hand. I am so proud of these children for sharing their stories in such a grown up way!
