Writing Reflection

Do you ever look at something you've done and think, hmmm, that was pretty good. 

I've done some classroom books -- I got the idea from Tammy at Forever in First. She does all kinds of different class books -- telling time, Elf on the Shelf, Reading Makes Me Feel Good --- etc. etc. {You should thank me for this link - Tammy really likes writing and has like 90 posts with that label!!!} And at the end of the year, she gives away the books to the kids. 

She started me on a journey of class books -- and the kids do like them! I don't bind mine and at the end of the year, I sort out each students' pages and make them their own book of their own writing for the year. 

While I was sorting through the writing, I realized I had done some good things.

Nonfiction writing:

Well, apparently I didn't snap a pic of any of the actual writing - 
What I had the kids do is research an animal and write about it. I think they had to have four facts. Then {because we had just finished studying text and graphic features} I had them draw a picture of their animal and label it - I think I asked them to use 4 labels. The first two are actually by the same girl. As I was looking through these as I was putting them in their individual books, I kept thinking what a nice job they had all done. 

Narrative writing - some small event that happened to them.

 Although this girl's wasn't a small moment - it was when her step-dad proposed to her mom. Very special story. 

We also did some writing on the computer, using powerpoint. I am very disappointed in Microsoft -- they've changed the way they do their clip art and it is not as kid friendly as before. 

I had kids review books they read. This didn't go as well as I had hoped. I need to figure out a way to tweak it. 

I also had an end of the year writing project where they wrote about a book that they liked. No pics on that, either. 

I'm happy about these writing samples -- and it helps my end-of-the-year discouragement, thinking we didn't get much done. Yes, we did! 

So I'm doing a bit of reflecting and reminding myself of the good things that happened. Next year, we are using Empowering Writers, which will be more structured than what I've been doing. I haven't looked at it yet, but I'm excited about it. 

I'm so enjoying my first week of summer. It has been cool and rained several nights. My part of Kansas has certainly needed it. Happy Friday to you!