Paragraph Writing in 1st and 2nd Grade Just a few months ago we welcomed our first-grade friends and they were able to write a few words and if we were lucky, a complete sentence. How can we help t…
When teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, there are so many writing skills to cover. They range from creating a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and end) to more difficult
Writing doesn’t have to be hard. Whenever I talk to fellow teachers about what they HATE teaching… it always seems to be writing. Why is that? I theorize that it’s because writing is very personal. There’s no cut and dry methods that work for ALL students. It is also time consuming to teach AND especially […]
Follow this step-by-step lesson plan to teach your students how
3rd Grade Writing Worksheets can help kids step it up a notch in their writing skills. Practice paragraph and multi-paragraph compositions. Introduce them to simple thesis statements that are thought out and supported by research and organization. Teach how stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Prompt ideas in their story writing and more. Our […]
Are you searching for a fun and engaging way to reinforce reading comprehension skills for your second-grade students? Look no further! Introducing the Second Grade Short Story Worksheet�a perfect resource to help young learners practice identifying key story elements, improving vocabulary, and strengthening their overall reading skills. This worksheet focuses on fictional short stories specifically designed for second graders, making it an ideal tool for teachers or parents looking to enhance reading comprehension in a targeted and effective way.
A writing template to help children when structuring text types.
While tried-and-true journal topic lists help students explore topics and express ideas, picture writing prompts for kids are a unique way of inspiring kids.
Simple tips for improving writing in your second or third grade classroom. These tips are a must if you want better writers!
Use some expert help from top professionals in any academic field! Hire a Best Paper Writer => https://bit.ly/click_me_for_help <= Hire the best essay writers doing quality paper writing faster than lightning. ✔️ How do you write 100 words about yourself? Here are some statements that recruiters love: “I am eager to learn.” “I am determined.” “I never give up until I get something right.” “I get on well with all kinds of people.” “I like to keep a positive attitude.” “Hard work doesn't bother me. ... “I enjoy facing challenges.” “I like everything I do to be well-organized.” 2 Nov 2016...
If you haven't had the chance to read about how I am using small groups in writing this year, be sure to read the overview HERE. I wanted to talk about each of the individual sections to help give you a better idea of how to start implementing these in your classroom. The first two groups I introduced to my class were Independent Writing and Partner Writing. Independent Writing I started with this first because it's the most familiar. I consists of students writing on their own for the entire time. We talk about keeping their pencils moving, not their mouths ;) The activities that students complete in Independent Writing consist of: finishing work started in Teacher Time~ Independent Writing always follows Teacher Time, so it's an easy way for kids to pick up where we left off together and keep writing writing about anything that interests them~ some students just love writing, so they are welcome to free-write once their Teacher Time work is done looking at their Writer's Notebook cover and/or the List of Things I Love~ read more about that HERE getting ideas from our Writing Ideas Bin Our Writing Ideas Bin is full of great resources to help kids generate ideas! Inside you will find: Seasonal Writing Prompts (I change these out when we switch our other seasonal items in Word Work and Math Centers). Find more information on how I incorporate these HERE. Full-page printouts of some of the most creative writing ideas e-v-e-r! Have you heard of Luke Neff's Tumblr site completely dedicated to prompts? It's called http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/ and, while several are way too hard for my kids, there are some that blow.their.minds! I was excited to read he has a TpT Store now, and has also aligned many of his prompts to CCSS. Check him out HERE. I just print out his prompts and put them in a document sleeve, then attach them all with binder rings. That way, I can add to them as he comes out with more :) We discussed as a class a nice amount of time to spend either choosing or planning their piece (using planners, graphic organizers, webs, etc.). They came up with two minutes, which is obviously relative, since there's no way I can time them, nor would I want to. It does give me some leeway, though, if I see a student at the Writing Ideas Bin forever. I can simply hold up two fingers and they will oh-so-gently be reminded to choose and get to work ;) Partner Writing This was a big risk for me this year, because I have never instituted regular partner writing ever in my teaching. I was deeply impressed with the community-building that was coming out of Read With Someone, so I took a chance and *wow* I am glad I did! I had to structure it so it wouldn't be a free-for-all, or a partnership where one student wrote and the other just sat there for 20 minutes. I came up with three options: Sharing any piece in their Writer's Notebook and getting feedback Shared Writing Partner Writing Shared Writing is when both students are working on the same story. They both need to be writing it in their own Writer's Notebooks, so at the end of the writing time, there is an identical story in both. This has been a wonderful lesson in collaboration and also teamwork, as they ask each other how to spell a word, come up with characters' names, and work to create something new from each others' ideas. Partner Writing is similar, but different. In this activity, kids are both writing and are working together, but their pieces are different. How different is completely up to them. I have had students work on the same story idea, but write it from differing perspectives. I have also had kids write about two different ideas but check in with each other when they need help spelling something or want input on how a part of their story should go. Although I was most nervous about this one, the kids didn't fail to impress and came up with some very unique ideas! Plus, it was a wonderful experience to truly collaborate in writing, which is something that was new to all of us :) Kids go to Partner Writing in the same groups as the rest of their Writing Groups, so they can continue to build on their partner pieces week after week, or choose to meet with new partners every time. I hope this introduction to Independent and Partner Writing helped give you some ideas for your own classroom writing program. We started with building stamina in these two groups before I introduced the Spelling Practice and Teacher Time, but it didn't take long for students to get the hang of it-- not just because the layout was similar to how we ran other subjects, but because the choices were fun and the time was shorter than in years past. Let me know if you have any questions and I will be going more in-depth with Teacher Time, Spelling Practice, and Handwriting next! If you're interested in picking up my Chevron Writing Groups Signs, they are available in my TpT Store HERE. Have a wonderful afternoon!
Make the most of your writing block with these funny picture prompts! Go here:
Fun and creative prompts for narrative writing that will spark student's imagination. Plus mentor texts, rubrics, and other helpful resources.
Do you want to make your writing lessons more hands-on and engaging? Try writing interactive notebooks with your students!
Steal these for your writing unit!
Is your child struggling with their writing? We have made these fun and engaging picture writing prompts along
Planning for writing workshop? Grab some ideas to teach a descriptive writing unit in your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade classroom!
Teaching writing DOESN'T have to be complicated! With these simple strategies, you can improve students' writing without having to work so hard.
3rd Grade Writing Worksheets can help kids step it up a notch in their writing skills. Practice paragraph and multi-paragraph compositions. Introduce them to simple thesis statements that are thought out and supported by research and organization. Teach how stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Prompt ideas in their story writing and more. Our […]
Summer holidays are a great time to emphasis on children creative writing and enhance their writing skills.
This fun introduction to Opinion Writing is great for kindergarten and first grade students. Your students will love expressing their opinions with these writing prompts! You will find 21 Opinion Writing prompts where students have to choose one or the other. For example: What is the best season - fall or summer? Students will circle and color the picture they feel best supports his/her opinion on the topic. They will then state his/her opinion and give reasons why. You will also find 15 more questions asking about favorites. I have provided 2 different types of paper for these prompts - one with a sentence starter and one without. I've also included a few more things: Opinion Writing poster Pre-writing Graphic Organizer Opinion Writing Journal Cover Opinion Writing Tips page Word Cards (Opinion Writing Starters, Transition Cards, Conclusion) Please download the preview to learn more! You can also check out a few free samples here. You may also be interested in this writing pack: Monthly Writing Prompts Don't forget that leaving feedback earns you points toward FREE TPT purchases! Also, follow me and be notified when new products are uploaded. New products are 50% off for the first 24 hours!
Use these FREE and fun 3rd grade writing prompts and give your students a chance to write about the things that inspire them.
Analyzing writing curriculums, planning writing workshop and teaching writing lessons can be overwhelming. You might think, how am I going to fit everything in and produce successful writers? Where do I start? What skills do they need? This post will share the 7 BASIC WRITING LESSONS that every teacher should teach! With this basic knowledge, students will be able to perform other writing assignments more effectively. The following skills are not only effective in upper elementary, they are often needed at the middle school level for review or the primary level for differentiation. So yes, every teacher should teach them! If you start with these 7 fundamental skills, it will set the expectations for your writing lessons and assignments throughout the year! Frequently Asked Questions What are the basic skills and what order should I teach them? Sentence Structure 1. Complete Sentences Lesson for complete sentences 2. Fragments Lesson for fragments 3. Run-ons Lesson for run-ons Paragraph Writing 4. Topic Sentences Lesson for topic sentences 5. Relevant Details Lesson for relevant details 6. Transition Words Lesson for transition words 7. Closing Sentences Lesson for closing sentences How much time should I dedicate to teaching these fundamental skills? I recommend one day for each skill. If you spend a whole writing block for each skill, students will benefit from the practice. How do I teach each skill? First: Start with an anchor chart explaining the skill. (See each lesson link above for effective anchor charts.) Second: Provide examples. Students can share examples too! Next: Students should take notes. I love using Interactive Writing Notebooks to take notes. Research supports the use of interactive notebooks through studies on multiple intelligences, the brain and note taking. Here are a few videos to Set Up Interactive Writing Notebooks. Click photo for the Upper Elementary Version. A Primary Version is also available. Then: Identify the skill. Provide practice sheets and task cards for students to practice identifying the skill in sentences and paragraphs. Last: Apply the skill. Students should have the opportunity to write their own sentence or paragraph to apply the particular skill. What if I can't fit the lesson in one writing block? If you can't extend the days to complete them, there are other ways to get the whole lesson in. You can put practice sheets or task cards in a center, or you can have students apply the skill for homework or morning work the next day. What if my students, some of my students, or absent students can't do interactive notebooks? Make a small anchor chart to put in their notebooks with the same information! If you don't have a printable poster, take a picture of the anchor chart you used in class and print them off! I hope you found this post helpful and your students become successful writers this year! Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog
Hello Everyone!! Happy New year to all of you! The end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 have been very emotional for me. We started off our winter break visiting my son, Jordan in Indiana. He has made his way into the hearts of the people of southwest Indiana with his amazing storytelling and reporting for the local news station. And...He just bought his first house. We are so excited for him! We loved spending time with him over Christmas. --- On our drive back home, we kept getting texts, phone calls, and e-mails from friends about the 12 tornadoes that ravaged their way through the towns around our home in Texas. Oh my goodness---our emotions went from bliss to absolute heartbreak. So many of our friends lost everything, including a couple of teachers from our district. One of the elementary schools was hit and is now deemed unsafe. And sadly, 11 people lost their lives. The past few days have been filled with helping school and church groups gather needed supplies for those affected by this disaster. Texans do tend to jump in and help whenever needed!! The cleanup and rebuild will take years, but the support will be there. If you would like to help those in need during this time, here's a link to the red cross donation sight. Thank you in advance for sharing your blessings! http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/2015/12/28/how-to-help-tornado-victims/77965462/ These events really put things into perspective for me. What is important? Where should we put our passion? So many of us are blessed beyond measure. We take for granted who and what we have in our lives. Herein lies the resolution. Giving. The more you give, the more you receive. Throughout the coming year, I will continue to share things on this blog for anyone who can use them to help teachers, parents, and kids get excited about learning. Teaching is sharing. Teaching is giving. I will give the best I have. It may not always be perfect, it may not always fit everyone's bill, but, if what I share can help even one person, It is worthwhile!! So, having said all that, I am sharing a new unit. This one is all about Opinion Writing. You all know how much I love Lucy Calkins. This unit is based on her "Writing Reviews" book for first graders. When we get back from winter break, our firsties will be learning all about opinions and how to share them through writing. This unit is a precursor to one we will do on writing book reviews and other type of persuasive writing. It includes everything you need to print and go! Here are a few pics. The unit is about 32 pages. If you think you might be able to use any of this, simply click HERE for the printable download. As always, thanks for taking time out to stop by and read this little blog. I appreciate you! My New Year's wish for you is that you are surrounded by love and joy, and that you are blessed to be a blessing to others. If you are heading back to school next week, have a wonderful reunion with your littles. Give them the best you have!! Joyfully! Nancy
Use this Personal Narrative Writing Choice Board to supplement your Personal narrative Unit! Perfect for those early finishers or to use as a center to reinforce the genre. It includes a choice board with 9 different writing topics and a writing page with a picture box. The sequence words are included. Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOW TO GET TPT CREDITS ON FUTURE PURCHASES: - Go to MY PURCHASES page. - You will see a PROVIDE FEEDBACK button. - Please leave a star rating and a comment. This will help lower the cost for a future purchase. Why is feedback so important? Each time you provide feedback, you will earn TPT credits that you can apply to future purchases. This will save you money! Also, when you give me feedback, it helps me tweak my products to fit your needs! HOW TO FOLLOW MY STORE If you are happy with the products that I have made, I would love for you to become a follower! Simply click the green star beside my name at the top of this page or at the top of my store page. When you are a follower, you will get notified when I post a new item and you will get email and messages about upcoming sales!
Steal these for your writing unit!
Follow this step-by-step lesson plan to teach your students how
Use these FREE and fun 3rd grade writing prompts and give your students a chance to write about the things that inspire them.
I'm sharing 5 tips for How to Teach Informative Writing & details about the Informative Writing Units that have ALL you need to teach informational writing to your K, 1st or 2nd grade students.
2nd Grade Writing Worksheets are a great way to get children thinking in a communicative way. When we communicate we tell a story. Much of our communication is an expression of action, emotion, direction and of course the details. In order to reach others, we typically use words. And written words are so very important. […]
Make writing fun with free printable writing activity for kids. Students will roll the dice to create zany characters as they write a story.
Do you do writing workshop with your students? My program has evolved over the last 23 years, and now it runs smoothly – although I can’t help but add new ideas each year! Long before I expect students to write stories, we spend a lot of time discussing stories. For example, every time we read […]
Check out these 10 things to remember with narrative writing. This post includes several free foldable organizers to aid in teaching.
Teaching students how to write a paragraph is not an easy task! Especially since many children struggle to put their thoughts down on paper.
This past week, we started a new personal narrative writing unit all about my many memorable firsts. I began this unit with a hook to engage student interest--we talked about roller coasters. Who doesn't have a love-hate relationship with a good ol' roller coaster? Especially in a room of second graders, the feelings are unanimous. "Roller coasters are SO MUCH FUN!" We talked about what it was like to go on a roller coaster for the very first time--how that wait in line feels like forever; how when you get into the cart and put on the seatbelt, your heart starts to race; how as the coaster slowly goes clickit-clackity up the tracks, you are thinking "We are going up so high!" and your heart is beating out of your chest; how at the very top it feels like the world stops for just a moment, and then woosh!; how you scream at the top of your lungs as you zoom down the track and loop upside down. I shared my personal story of the first time I went on the roller coaster The Mantis at Cedar Point, and my students were all in. They couldn't wait to start brainstorming! I modeled how to come up with some ideas to get my students on the right track (no pun intended), and put some common experiences down, like the first time I lost a tooth or the first time I rode a bike, to prevent students from getting "stuck" in a writer's block. Students had to come up with at least 3-5 ideas, but many of my students came up with many more. We did lots of sharing out, and then we each circled one idea on our web that we would write about. The next day, it was time to start some serious planning. I created a pre-writing organizer that would not only engage key information like the "who," the "where," and the "when" but also would engage sensory details right from the get-go. We spent the most time on the "Things on the Outside" section as we went through the five senses. What did I see? Hear? Smell? Feel? Taste? I chose to use the idea of the first time I swam underwater, so I wrote down things like I saw the blue water of the pool, I heard my mom cheering for me, I felt the blazing sun, I smelled chlorine and sunscreen, I tasted salty sweat on my lips as it dripped down my face. Then, it was time for our sequencing organizer to get the meat of our story told using temporal words. I can't wait until we are to the revising/editing portion and can dig into these checklists! If you are interested in this "My Many Memorable Firsts" common core aligned personal narrative writing unit, I just uploaded it to TPT. Just click the picture below! Also, get the "Peer Editing Checklist" as a FREEBIE! :) Click the picture below!
Narrative writing lesson plans for third grade! The best mentor texts, story prompts and lesson ideas to keep students engaged and get them ready to write creative stories.
Use these FREE and fun 3rd grade writing prompts and give your students a chance to write about the things that inspire them.
Informational writing can be a very new type of writing for many elementary students in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Primary students are usually used to writing in their daily journal or creating fictional
Learn Round Robin Writing & Editing Idea. Visit for more!
Make the walls of your classroom work for you and your students! Ideas for planning a Writing Wall that will truly support your little writers.
Explore the many types of writing with this writing center! It includes 10 common writing genre posters and writing paper templates with and without primary lines. Transform your writing center into a hub of creativity! These anchor charts are perfect for explaining the common reasons authors write, making them a valuable addition to your ELA classroom. These genre posters are designed to spark creativity and guide students in their writing journey. They will serve as valuable aids during your writing block, promoting a deeper understanding of different writing styles and their purposes. This writing center also includes a variety of writing paper templates that can be used for ALL 10 types of writing. The paper options come with regular AND primary lines so that they can be easily differentiated and used across all elementary grades. A digital option comes with this resource, too! If you ONLY need the digital option, check out this DIGITAL Writing Center! Posters Include: Narrative (Personal Narrative) Story Book List Letter Postcard Recipe Poem Card Journal Your students will love the colorful visual examples on each full-size poster, but you can also print these in a mini-size without losing the quality of the text or graphics. Print full pages for wall anchor charts or shrink these on a copy machine for mini-posters. You can also print from the document and change the slide “handouts” (the more on a page, the smaller they become) for mini-posters. Another option is to add them to rings to allow them to become portable and travel around the room! All posters are 8.5x11 and come in color and black and white! LOTS of paper templates included! Prep is quick and easy... Just print the anchor charts and printable templates, gather the materials your students will need, and you're ready for a fun and engaging writing center! TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gemma C. says, "A strong visual resource to help my students work on the different types of writing styles and purposes. Each of my students is building a folder to be able to use this as a reference. I love it!!” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cassadie G. says, "I have purchased many of her resources and this one fits perfectly into my collection! I love how concise the information is and how different-sized posters can be utilized! I can use the large one for teaching, while the students can have their mini copy by shrinking the size down! You will not be disappointed in this resource and will probably come back to purchase more from her. :)" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Leaders and Literacy says, "I love the visual supports to help students INDEPENDENTLY do each of the styles of writing. With Daily 5, I am meeting with a small group when my first graders are responsible for using the writing center. I needed a way for them to get started and write without coming up to ask me what it should look like or what is expected of them. Thank you SO much for creating these!" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ellen B. says, "This is the perfect addition to my writing center. It's a wonderful visual for students to help them remember the different types of writing. Thank you for this!" You may also like… → Writing Process Charts → Writing Office Folders → Thesaurus Charts → Writing Hooks Charts → Show Don’t Tell Charts Copyright © The Literacy Dive Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Please purchase additional licenses if you intend to share this product.
Informational writing can be a very new type of writing for many elementary students in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Primary students are usually used to writing in their daily journal or creating fictional
