Several weeks ago we began Writers Workshop.  We read the book Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk, about a young mouse who lives in a hole in the wall of a library.  At night he comes out to read all of the wonderful books.  He decides to try writing himself and discovers that writing is quite fun and not all that hard, especially when you write about what you know.

On Mondays we always write about our weekends.   This is a consistent routine that children come to love and I find gives me a wonderful lens into children's writing growth over time.  On other days children have been writing about any topic they choose, but if they feel stuck for ideas I encourage them to write about what they know.  At this point most children are using pictures to convey a story, dictating words to me when they are ready.   We have worked on adding details to our writing, either in the pictures or by adding more words or new related pages.  As we begin to learn more and more letters and some sight words, children will begin attempting their own words.  Generally this begins with writing first sounds in words, but I encourage children to write any sounds they hear or any letters they think belong.  A few of us are already eagerly beginning this process.  We have been writing for about 20 minutes and then sharing the work of a few children each day, which is a wonderful way to inspire each other and spread ideas and strategies.