Literacy

Professional Development

November 18, 2018

Kindergarten Writer’s Workshop

I don’t know about you, but kindergarten writer’s workshop was one of my favorite ways to see my students blossom throughout the year. It’s amazing to see them start with scribbles and letters to ending the year with full stories and books! But what if you don’t know where to start? Some districts may not have a solid writing curriculum for kindergarten, but that’s okay! This block of time lasts about 45 minutes and is a powerful time of day. I want to share the basics of a kindergarten writer’s workshop so that you can implement it as soon as today!

Are you looking to begin writer's workshop in your kindergarten class, but aren't sure where to begin? Are you uncertain of what each component should look like? This blog post shares each component of writer's workshop and how you can easily implement them into a kindergarten classroom.

** Amazon affiliate links are used below at no cost to you. 

Mini-Lesson

I always open my writer’s workshop block with a brief, but meaningful, mini-lesson. This explicit instruction lasts for five to ten minutes. The teacher is actually writing during the mini-lesson in a way that all students can see it. This could be on your projector, smartboard, chart paper, etc. At the beginning of the year, the mini-lesson might be closer to the five-minute mark. It just depends on the stamina of your students.

No matter what the mini-lesson will be, the key parts are: 

-thinking out loud about your writing so the students can hear your thought process and

-modeling what you want them to do.

For kindergarten writer’s workshop, I liked to start the year with mini-lessons about writer’s workshop procedures, then move to drawing, and finally, writing. I would look at what most of my students needed to work on and go from there. During writer's workshop, it's important to model exactly what you want students to do. Read more about the basics of kindergarten writer's workshop on this blog post.

I also liked throwing in fun lessons to make writing more interesting like onomatopoeias, quotation marks for talking, labeling, and simple transition words. Just remember these are mini-lessons, so they can be as simple as remembering to use spaces, punctuation, starting with a capital, listening for sounds in a word, and using the word wall. There are so many people that have written lessons for writer’s workshop if you aren’t quite ready to fly solo.  Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study is one of my favorites and was so helpful in my classroom. Here is one of her books that talks about getting started. 

Lucy Calkins Book for launching writer's workshop

Independent Writing

After the mini-lesson, students are sent to begin writing. This time frame can range 10-30 minutes, depending on your class. I found that my students were able to write longer than I expected sooner than I expected. So don’t hesitate to try stretching them towards 20 minutes early on. Typically, this is where we landed. I would set a timer, start our “quiet music” and off we would go!   

In the beginning of the year, I give the students paper with a space for a picture on the top and writing lines on the bottom. Since we are still working on letter formation, the lines are not dotted. I don’t stress about handwriting during writer’s workshop. I just want them to get their ideas onto the paper!   

Providing your kindergarten writers with age appropriate writing paper is a great tip for writer's workshop. The writers will be able to draw pictures and write words to tell their story. It’s important to not give students a prompt or topic in kindergarten writer’s workshop- we want them to be authentic authors and come up with this on their own! The exception would be if we were working on a genre of writing I would have them do something in that genre, but still as much of their own ideas as possible.

One thing I love about this time is that it can naturally be differentiated for each student. If you have little ones that can only draw, that’s absolutely fine! If you have students who can write several sentences, let them! By thinking aloud during the mini-lesson, you’ll be encouraging all of your students to try something new, check to make sure they are doing something correctly, or show them how to extend their writing.

Conferring

While the students are independently writing, I confer with them. This is the heart of the workshop model. I meet with several each day so I can get a good feel of where they each are at. The goal would be to meet with each student at least once per week, and some students twice a week.  I keep a log of who I meet with each day, what we talked about, and what I wanted them to try next. This could be done in a notebook with sections for each student, a weekly chart with room for anecdotal notes, or a folder with Post-Its with your notes for each student. Whatever makes you feel most organized!

Conferring with writers during writer's workshop is the heart of the workshop model. It's this that allows you to see where students are, what they need work on, and how you can truly support them.

When I met with a student, I always started with “What are you working on today as an author?” When they answered, I got to hear how they were thinking and what they wanted to write about. I also got to hear something they were having a hard time with. Then, I would tell them something positive I noticed about their writing to help build confidence. Finally, I would ask them if I could show them another thing that writers also do to give them a teaching point and set a goal for next time. In my kindergarten writer’s workshop conference notebook, I would then record what they were doing well and what their goal for next time was. Having this notebook is very helpful for parent conferences, progress and report cards, and for planning your mini-lessons.  

Sharing

Sharing time is an important part of kindergarten writer’s workshop because authors write to share stories. I usually have students pair up and share their work from that day with their partner. By the end of the year, I encourage them to ask questions and tell their partners what they like about each other’s writing. Another thing I did was have the students who I conferred with share their work from our “share chair” with the whole class. This part usually lasts around five minutes.

So what are you waiting for?! Dive in!! You can TOTALLY do this!! Here are the guidelines that we had for our writer’s workshop time. You can grab these FREE by joining my email list.

Grab these FREE writer's workshop guideline posters and be set for beginning writer's workshop!

Writer’s workshop really gives you a peek into their little minds.  It’s so fun to learn more about each child in your class!  If you aren’t doing writer’s workshop in kindergarten yet, I’d encourage you to try it! It just might be easier than you think.

Are you looking to begin writer's workshop in your kindergarten class, but aren't sure where to begin? Are you uncertain of what each component should look like? This blog post shares each component of writer's workshop and how you can easily implement them into a kindergarten classroom.

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Happy Teaching,

Amanda

Writer's Workshop Posters

Grab these FREE writer's workshop guideline posters and be set for beginning writer's workshop!
Use this set of FREE posters for writer’s workshop to help your writers remember important guidelines for writing. You can display them in your classroom for easy reference. Pick them up today!

Hi, I'm Amanda

I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers.  Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!

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27 Responses

  1. Hi Amanda,

    This was a great post. You shared some wonderful ideas and validated some things for me. I would really love to get the guidelines that you shared using your writing workshop time. I tried adding my name and email address but the link doesn’t appear to be working, or is it because I already receive your emails? I’m not sure but would you be able to let me know how I can get them?

    Thanks and you always have great ideas for the kindergarten classroom

    ingrid

      1. Hi Amanda,

        Trying to get them as well and the link isn’t working. I would love to have them 🙂
        Thanks
        Vanessa

  2. Hey Amanda — I really enjoyed this blog post, however the link to grab the guidelines isnt working. Where can I find these please?

      1. Great post! I would love to get the freebies also, but I am unable. Could you please email them to me?
        Thank you!!

  3. I would like to download the freebie for writer’s workshop, but there is no box around GET IT to click on. Nothing happens.

    1. Hi Heidi!! I wish I did right now, but I do not. They are on my to-do list, though!! Dreaming big dreams over here!! <3

  4. Hello Kristin,

    The link to download your Writing Workshop Guidelines is not working even though I have signed up to receive emails. Could you please forward these documents to me?

  5. I really enjoyed this post and would love the Writer’s Workshop guidelines but I can’t seem to download them. Is there another link to get them? Thank you!

  6. Hi! I love your site and can’t wait to check out all your creations! I entered my email for the guided reading freebies. However, it didn’t work?? Please advise.
    Thank you so much!!
    Debbie

    1. Hi Debbie! You should have gotten an email that you then click to confirm your subscription. Then it will automatically download. Sometimes school serves block it, though. I’ll send them over to you! 😉

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