At the kindergarten level, Writers' Workshop begins with oral story telling, and then drawing. Horn & Giacobbe's book, Talking, Drawing, Writing Lessons for Our Youngest Writers, served as a good resource for teachers. Throughout the year, teachers provide mini-lessons and model elements of writing. Focusing on oral story telling first, helps young writers learn the skills to provide information in an organized manner, in order (beginning, middle, end), with enough details for an audience to understand. Talking about their stories develops 'thinking strategies' which are an essential precursor for putting ideas on paper. Kindergartners then begin to draw stories in their own special drawing pad. The mini-lessons expand to include adding words and sentences to tell the story.
As you can see from these photos, students are fully engaged during the writing block. Many describe 'Writers Workshop' as their favorite part of the day because they love the creative process. Teachers' have found the lessons are easily differentiated, enabling students to move at their own individual pace. As you can see from these pages, taken from three students' drawing pads, there can be quite a range of skills among kindergartners.
 |