First Day of Kid Writing in First Grade

Wow! What a great morning we just had in Blooming Grove with some amazing writers. Poor Becky had no voice and when I got there she was whispering to the kids at the carpet reviewing sight words and they were whispering back. That calm mood helped us with our first day of kid writing I'M SURE!

Remember... I have already done Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin pie with this group. They have watched me tell/write my own stories and Becky has done the same for a week. They have also heard their friends tell stories and draw the pictures. Today... they all got their own paper to write their own story. No folders yet, just an individual piece of paper...folders will come tomorrow.

We set up some basic rules to help the day be successful:
1) Stay in your seat to write.
2) Do what you know writers do.
3) When you are finished, get your reading tub.

We also did rehearsal for writing... I had all of them think of their idea and talk about their beginning/middle/end pictures before I sent them to their seats to work. The enthusiasm and confidence were there! They did so great. I walked around and praised them for their pictures.. and their hard work. I took notes when I could. I had a few kids who said "how do you spell..." and I said "Do what you know writers do" and that was all I had to say. I had kids who got up to come and show me their work and I said "Stay in your seat to write" and they went back to their desks. I had three kids still writing when the time was up, they will be able to see/read those stories and work on them again tomorrow... it was a great day!

I will clear up one thing that I want you to remember on this first day- we are not "fixing" writing on this day. EVERYTHING that they write is going to be perfect. We need them on this day to build confidence. We have the whole year to make the writing better- let's be sure that we get them love and feel good about writing first!

I did the Brag Board with them today.. I praised E. He was the first one done and he got his reading tub without needing a reminder! I praised A. she asked me how to spell McDonald's and I just said "do what writers do" and she wrote.. mkdonlds. Pretty good if you ask me! I also praised S. She is an ELL. She was writing a story about her dog- I learned the word for dog in spanish today- perro. We wrote that word together. I also learned that she does not have a sound/letter link in Spanish so I will stop making a link to Spanish names of letters for her- we will focus on English.

Next time we write I need to work on the use of crayons. We had kids coloring their pictures rather than writing their words. I didn't stress over it today, but next time we write, we will allow crayons- AFTER all their words are written!

I love being back in the classroom and having a chance to work with these writers.