"Penciling in" a ^Worthwhile Writing Life

Back to School with students on MONDAY!!! :) I recently created a set of journal prompts and quotation posters for my "Building a Reading Life" minilessons. As I was getting ready for our upcoming year this week, I decided that I also wanted the same type of journal prompts and quotations for writer's workshop to help me get to know my students as writers. So, here it is!

***As I was making " 'Penciling in' a Worthwhile Writing Life," I decided that "chart parts" or anchor chart labels would be really useful, so this set includes four different designs of chart parts and I am going back today to revise my reading set to also include chart parts.***

From the teacher's note in "Penciling in" a ^Worthwhile Writing Life: "You might be wondering how you can inspire your students to believe they are writers this year, and in turn, help them become invested in improving their writing abilities. First, I want to remind you that for some of us, writing can be difficult depending on what our worries are. (Who's going to read this? What will they think about it? Am I spelling this right? Does it sound good? What will someone think of me if I actually write this down? Does this only make sense to me?--any of these questions might make a young writer freeze up before getting out their wonderful ideas.)

We can help students by teaching them that writing is a gift. Writing has something to offer me in my own life. Just like running (where I receive a positive way to deal with my stress, create more work-life balance, and reap health benefits), WORTHWHILE writing provides positive benefits. Not to mention, looking back on something we have written is a gift to our future selves. (This is the LOVE of writing perspective that we can express to our students). As a safe love of writing grows, other aspects will surely grow too--grammar, spelling, neatness, etc.—”

  

Chart Parts/Anchor Chart Title Pages/Bulletin Board:

14 Journal Prompts:

15 Quotation Posters about Being a Writer:

Putting together this set of quotes was so rewarding to me. It made me start thinking about the idea of "what writing gives us" because lets face it, I am a writer. I love to write to share things on my blog and I also do some pretty creative writing sometimes when I am putting together parent letters. I have to write emails, sometimes I have to revise and consider how to reword things to get the results that I want, and I also grab my writer's notebook often to write with my students. I can think of many positive benefits that being able to write with enjoyment gives me.

So, I aim to help my students see that writing is a gift to them too--like being able to talk, taste food, have a heart do the beating for us, lungs that breathe in fresh air, to hear the sounds of music or laughter, to feel the warmth of a handshake, writing is one of our human abilities that we are lucky to have!

My Building a Reading Life set has already received great feedback! 

I am so excited about these two new creations because it relieves the stress of my minilessons for the first few weeks of school. As I get to know my students, I can pick and choose which journal prompts and quotations would be most beneficial for them to reflect on and discuss. I can't wait to get to know my readers and writers this week and inspire them to BUILD and PENCIL IN worthwhile "life love literacy" lives. :) I think the reasoning behind my blog name has finally come to fruition...haha, 2 years later! 

 

For more from my back to school series, click the image above.

You can now get my "Building a Reading Life" and "Penciling in a Writing Life" sets in a bundle! 

Need more ideas for Back to School Writer's Workshop? 

The Writer's Notebook

Launching Personal Narratives

Happy Weekend!