last updated 9.9.18
Wonder*Write Time...learning to write routinely. Everyday.
Teaching students to believe in themselves as writers
Students have a composition notebook which has been nicknamed the "Double W"! It waits in earnest for them on their desk every morning. The purpose of a notebook is to provide a place for students to practice writing. It's a place for them to generate text, find ideas and practice what they know about spelling and grammar. Being able to think and write at the same time is an important skill for students to develop.
Writer's Notebooks are filled with thoughts, ideas, observations and things we wonder about, hope for or want to know more about.
Our "Double W" is a place for students to collect observations, ideas, feelings, facts and lists. Everyday, students are expected to paste a writing prompt or idea into their notebook (document the date and time) and engage in some exploratory thinking and writing. Engaging in this routine will naturally invite and lead student's to shape their ideas into formal pieces of writing.
Toward the end of our daily Wonder*Write time, students are encouraged and invited to share their writing aloud.
Fluency is the ability to generate text- a lot of it in a short period of time. After students get the text down on paper, they will be asked to go back to it- rereading, reflecting and adding to it. Keeping this notebook is a process. Students are writing as a habit, not for significance. Sometimes they will write something significant and sometimes they won't.
Wonder*Write Time--is a quiet, reflective way to start the day and we take it very seriously. Teaching students to be better writers means we write every day, and Wonder*Write time is our opportunity to develop that daily practice. Ten to twenty minutes may not sound like much time at all, but that becomes almost an hour and a half of new writing per week they are adding to their routines for me.
Did you know there are 1440 minutes in one day?
Why not use 20 of those minutes to write?
You will still have 1420 minutes left!
Notebook Expectations
Students are expected to:
Students are expected to:
- Write daily in their "Double W" notebook
- Try and continually test strategies presented in class
Strategies are often embedded in the daily prompts pasted into their notebooks - Fold over any entry they deem too personal to share. Any folded over entries may not be read by the teacher.
- Respect the integrity of the notebook by taking care of it and having it in class everyday.
- Practice what they know about spelling and grammar rules. Entries must be legible.
- Reflect on their writing with a visit from "Mr. Stick" -our margin mascot...
Mr. Stick makes an appearance at least once a week with a facial expression that somehow relates to what the students have written and a dialogue bubble that allows him to make a comment about the topic or what was written by the student. - Discover how writing can enrich their lives.