As you may remember from back in August, one of my goals this year was to implement a Writer’s Workshop curriculum. We completed our seventh Writer’s Workshop lesson today. Over the course of the past three weeks, we have discussed the job of a writer and how it takes stamina to be a good writer. We have been working to build our writing stamina, as well as take risks when spelling words independently.  Today’s lesson began with a read aloud of a great children’s book entitled, The Best Story. In this story, a young girl hears about a writing contest that is sponsored at her local library. The best story will win. She is motivated to write the best story, but is unclear on what the topic should be. The girl asks her dad, her brother, her sister, and her aunt for advice on what they think the best story will be about. Dad says there needs to be action, while her aunt says there needs to be humor. The girl rewrites her story several time to accommodate these topics. In the end, her mother helps her realize that the best story is one that the girl is excited to tell. My favorite part of this book is that the story ends with the girl turning in the story to the judges. We don’t know if she wins the contest; we just know that the girl has written her best story.

After listening to the story, we discussed what our best stories would be about. Some students wanted to write about P.E., while others wanted to write about New York or rollercoasters. I reminded the students to try their best. We also made muscles with our arms to signify the muscle we need to grow our writing stamina. Finally, we discussed writing using our best guess spelling. I encouraged students to repeat the word they wanted to spell several times, breaking the word apart into syllables. Off to their desks they went! Below are some of the stories that the kindergarteners wrote today. As you can see, their stamina and best guess spelling is definitely improving!

“In music class we learn songs.”