Writing Workshop
At Heritage, we use Writing Workshop as a time to learn new skills, use authors as mentors, and practice independent writing. Writing Workshop allows writing to be differentiated and personalized to meet the needs of each student. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect" and so, during writing workshop, students spend a lot of time independently writing to practice the skills taught daily.
Writing Workshop Format
Writing Workshop is made up of several different elements. These are very similar to the reading workshop elements.
- Focused mini-lesson: in this mini-lesson (typically 10-15 minutes) the teacher focuses on one specific skill that students should be working on in their independent writing. The teacher uses anchor charts and modeling of the skill to help students better understand how to use it in their own writing.
- Independent Writing Time: Students have about 20-30 minutes of independent writing time in which they are actively improving their writing and continuing to work on their individual writing pieces.
- Teacher Conferring with individuals or small groups: During independent writing time, the teacher confers with individual students or small groups on their writing pieces. These conferring sessions focus on skills that improve the overall writing of individuals or the skills related to the genre we are studying.
- Group Share Time: At the end of writing workshop, the class comes together and students can share what they practiced that day.
- Daily Writing Homework: Students will write for 5-7 minutes each evening about a topic of their choosing. This daily practice allows students to generate a variety of writing ideas and helps them to develop writing stamina.
Saline 5th grade Writing Curriculum
Fifth grade writing curriculum focuses on the writing process. Four major writing genres are taught throughout the school year, with a major writing piece constructed for each topic below:
Narrative:
Write a cohesive narrative piece such as a personal narrative, mystery, tall tale, or historical fiction using time period and setting to enhance the plot; demonstrating roles and functions of heroes, anti-heroes, and narrator; and depicting conflicts and resolutions.
Poetry:
Write poetry based on reading a wide variety of grade-appropriate poetry.
Persuasive Essay:
Write a position piece that demonstrates understanding of central ideas and supporting details (e.g., position/evidence organizational pattern) using multiple headings and subheadings.
Research Paper:
Use the writing process to produce and present a research project; use a variety of resources to gather and organize relevant information into central ideas.
Writing Process
Students will also learn to use the writing process by applying the following skills:
1. Set a purpose, consider audience, and replicate authors’ styles and patterns when writing a narrative or informational piece.
2. Apply a variety of pre-writing strategies for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic organizers)
3. Draft focused ideas using linguistic structures and textual features needed to clearly communicate information composing coherent, mechanically sound paragraphs when writing compositions.
4. Revise drafts based on constructive and specific oral and written responses to writing by identifying sections of the piece to improve organization and flow of ideas.
5. Proofread and edit writing using grade-level checklists and other appropriate resources both individually and in groups.
6. Exhibit personal style and voice to enhance the written message in both narrative and informational writing
Narrative:
Write a cohesive narrative piece such as a personal narrative, mystery, tall tale, or historical fiction using time period and setting to enhance the plot; demonstrating roles and functions of heroes, anti-heroes, and narrator; and depicting conflicts and resolutions.
Poetry:
Write poetry based on reading a wide variety of grade-appropriate poetry.
Persuasive Essay:
Write a position piece that demonstrates understanding of central ideas and supporting details (e.g., position/evidence organizational pattern) using multiple headings and subheadings.
Research Paper:
Use the writing process to produce and present a research project; use a variety of resources to gather and organize relevant information into central ideas.
Writing Process
Students will also learn to use the writing process by applying the following skills:
1. Set a purpose, consider audience, and replicate authors’ styles and patterns when writing a narrative or informational piece.
2. Apply a variety of pre-writing strategies for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic organizers)
3. Draft focused ideas using linguistic structures and textual features needed to clearly communicate information composing coherent, mechanically sound paragraphs when writing compositions.
4. Revise drafts based on constructive and specific oral and written responses to writing by identifying sections of the piece to improve organization and flow of ideas.
5. Proofread and edit writing using grade-level checklists and other appropriate resources both individually and in groups.
6. Exhibit personal style and voice to enhance the written message in both narrative and informational writing