Writers workshop

Our writers workshop has started off on how to brainstorm ideas for topics to write about. The kids brainstormed people, places, animals and things they can write about to refer back to through out the writing unit. We are focusing on writing detailed stories so we begin by telling the story to a partner and they ask questions to help each other make their stories more detailed. The students are also practicing how to sound out words by saying it, clapping it, and then writing it. I've been drilling in their heads that I don't want to hear, "How do you spell...?" It's important not to give them a crutch by spelling out words and rather have them work through tricky words by sounding them out, to help them become better writers!