WRITING!
I was HO-RRI-BLE at writing my first year teaching. Horrible.
The curriculum I had that year was outdated and choppy and being that it was my first year… I had little to fall back on in terms of teaching writing. I felt like I did my kids a huge disservice when they left first grade!
Year 2 was much, much better. My teaching bestie (Lindsey) is obsessed with writing and I am envious every year of her kids’ writing skills! I learned tons from her and we worked to piece together a curriculum that worked for us. It was a little Lucy Calkins, a little Write From the Beginning, a little TPT and a little *us*!
Well, now in year 3, I am ready to develop some author/illustrators right out of the gate! Our school is piloting the program, Being A Writer, and I am liking it so far. I like that it heavily involves read-alouds for different writing skills. We just started “I Like…” stories this week and we began the program by introducing {Our Writing Community}.
I am making a big, big, BIG deal of writing in Ms. Moran’s class this year! I want my kiddos to love being an author, an illustrator and I want them to be proud when sharing their work with their classmates, family and friends.
Insert: classroom anchor chart!
This community mentality is already producing better work and I thought I would share a few first drafts of our “I Like…” stories.
(BIG, proud momma smile):
*Just a little sneak peek into my room*
Does anyone else use Being a Writer??
I would love to know your thoughts on it!
Oh ya…. A WINNER!
Thanks to everyone who entered my *spook*taculer giveaway!!!
Congrats to:
Lori!!
Lori!!
An email has been sent your way 🙂
Enjoy the Halloween goodies!
Enjoy the Halloween goodies!
Woo-hoo congrats Lori! And YES, I'm using Being a Writer this year too!! It's my first year using it, so I don't have a lot of feedback to offer yet. Just that I like what I'm seeing so far! My first two years felt a lot like your first one- no curriculum, uncertainty, guilt. Last year was way better thanks to some dedication, creativity, and TPT. But this year, writing feels like it's actually *working* for the first time!! Right now we're just doing Writers Workshop because it's taken me some time to adjust to the whole combo class setting. But next week I will start individual units with both my 1st and 2nd graders using the mentor texts from the program. We also use a Daily Language curriculum that focuses on conventions, editing and grammar. I like using these two programs together. Writing is actually my classes favorite time of the day-!!
❤ -Stephanie
Falling Into First
I love the anchor chart!
Michelle
I have used Being a Writer for 3 years now. I really do like this program, but we have found that it doesn't meet all of the Common Core second grade writing standards (opinion and explanatory). So, we are heavily supplementing in these areas. I really like, though, how the kids respond to it; they enjoy writing and look forward to it every day!
Aimee
Primarily Speaking
Yay Me!!!! Thank you so much guys!! I seriously am so lucky!! I love this writing anchor chart Susan! Your kiddos' writing is amazing! I'm still trying to get mine somewhere near there… its a work in progress. 🙂