Writing

Writing tends to be one of the subjects that my student like the least! I personally love writing and I try to instill that love in my kiddos! One idea that I found on Pintrest that I made my own was having a personal "writing office" for each student. The ideas I found online for most offices were very basic. Because my student's needs vary so much I took some ideas I had found and added my own as well.

Each student has their own office with their name written on it! To make the offices, I glued together two Manila folders, attached all of the items and then I laminated them. In each student's office there is information about: the writing process, commonly used words, writing checklist, transition words, letter formation (both print and cursive) number formation, writing super sentences, the structure of a paragraph, story words, wh- questions and punctuation.

This is what the inside of the folder looks like. There is also some information on the back. My students are forever loosing their work, so one of the things I was looking for in my writing office was a place to store the papers they were working on. On the back I created a pocket for them to place their working on papers in. To make this, I attached a half sheet by gluing only the very bottom of the page. I did not glue the top or sides. Then, after I laminated, I used a seam ripper (If you do not have a seam ripper, I'm sure an exacto knife would work as well) and I sliced a seam in the laminating to create a pocket. On the back I also left a blank space titled Things to Write About. The students will be soon revising their "heart maps" which list things that important to them which we will tape to that space. Their current hearts are a little too big!

 

You can see this student's hamburger graphic organizer inside of his pocket!

This is what they look like when they are set up! Not only do they work wonderfully for providing reminders about important writing things, they also serve as dividers which help the kids focus on their own work!

So after creating these wonderful offices and introducing them to the kids, I quickly discovered the only problem I have found with them .... where to store them! As we know their desks tend to be black holes! So I thought for a while of what to do, when one day at Micheals (craft store) I stumbled across an artist portfolio! After some measuring I discovered that they would fit perfectly. I now have them stored nicely inside the portfolio which I have hanging from my chalkboard!!



You can find a link to my template on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking here.

Enjoy and happy writing!