WRITING

Writing Workshop Steps:

Prewriting- This is the stage where the student brainstorms ideas.  A brainstorm web is constructed to generate several ideas.  Then a topic is chosen.  

Drafting-  The student takes the ideas from the brainstorm list and writes them into a rough draft.  In this stage it is not important to focus on spelling or grammatical errors.  It is strictly where the child puts his/her ideas down onto paper.

Conferencing- This is the stage where the students conference with their peers to make suggestion for improvements in their writing.  Students ask each other questions which will aide in the process of writing a better paper.

Editing/Proofreading- The teacher or peer will edit the rough draft for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.

Final Draft- The final published copy with no mistakes.

WRITING PORTFOLIOS-
Each student is required to complete 6 writing samples in 3rd Grade.  These samples include narrative, descriptive, informational, and persuasive writing.  Throughout the year the students will engage in many writing activities.  We keep our final drafts in a portfolio which goes with the child to their next grade level.  After conferencing with me, the students make the choice as to which final drafts they would like to include into their portfolio.

HANDWRITING- 
                                      Palmer Method 
Handwriting lessons occur 2-3 times per week.  Each student has his/her own Palmer Workbook to practice their cursive writing.  By the end of October, everything should be written in cursive.