"Superb Writers" in First Grade!

Hey bloggin' friends! I am sharing my love of the written word as a part of the Superb Writers’ Blogathon. In partnership with Grammarly grammar checker, this series is conveying new and exciting helpful hints for young writers. I love to watch the skills of young readers and writers blossom. I believe that young children want to be writers, don't you? I have proof on my living room wall-there is a beautiful "H" scribbled on the wall where my 3-year old son so proudly revealed his newly acquired skill. "This is my name Mom!" Hunter proudly told me.  Well, 5 years later it's still on the wall. {I just can't bring myself to cover it up.} He was soooo proud & excited about his accomplishment! We know as teachers, it is our goal to keep that spark of excitement and confidence alive as we continue to guide our students through the writing process. This can also be a very big challenge. In order to promote good writing skills in my first grade classroom, we write for a variety of purposes each & every day. One of the ways that I incorporate writing with my first graders is through the use of interactive writing. In first grade, we are constantly working on spelling patterns & word families. By creating large anchor charts, I am able to "share the pen" with my firsties. Here is an example of some interactive writing from my classroom:

R-Control Vowel Anchor Chart

Another way that I use interactive writing is to have the students come up with a daily sentence using one of our spelling words. We say the sentence together, count the words in the sentence & then write the sentence word by word making sure to discuss each part of the sentence as the students are writing- {capital letters, word spaces, puntuation & rereading to make sure that we have written all of the words of the sentence.} Here is an example of our daily sentence writing:

Through the use of Writer's Workshop & the writing component of The Daily 5 my first graders work on various independent writing projects. Sometimes they are asked to work on a specific writing topic & other times they will work on their choice of writing. I have found that the "spark of excitement" that motivates very young writers is so important. If a student is excited and interested in what he/she is writing about, it will definitely show! When the class works on a specific writing project, I make sure that it is something that they can relate to & is meaningful to a first grader. During our dental health unit, the subject of tooth fairies came up. {I know! Not really part of the whole dental health curriculum, but there sure are a lot of firsties missing teeth! lol} I decided to run with the students enthusiasm. Wah-lah! Some of the best writing that I've seen from my firsties!

Awww! Isn't this just the sweetest lil story!?!

If you would like to see more on our "Tooth-rific Writing" click the either picture to read that post.

Here are a couple of resource books that I am constantly referring to-excellent writing resources!

Donna over at Kinderglynn has also made some super-cute writing strategies posters that I will be using this year-I just love Pete the Cat! I think he's gonna be showing up in our classroom quite often!

Click the pic to check out these great posters!

 ...I think a student who is motivated & enthuastic about writing will most certainly become a SUPERB WRITER! So, what do I think makes a Superb Writer?....Happy writing friends!