How can I help my youngest students become writers?

How can I establish a routine for writing in my classroom?

Why is making books developmentally appropriate?

In Lisa Cleaveland’s classroom, writing workshop is a time every day when her students make books. Katie Wood Ray guides you through the first days in Lisa’s classroom, offering ideas, information,... more

Even if your writing workshop hums with the sound of productive work most days, with time carved out for sharing and reflecting, how do you know whether your students are really learning from their writing experiences, or if they’re just going through the motions of writing? What if you could teach your students to reflect—in a powerful, deliberate way—throughout the writing... more

In writing workshop, the minilesson allows teachers to connect a lesson—often one that is mandated by a set of standards, a district curriculum, or a grade-level unit plan—to the specific objectives you have, as well as to the cultural knowledge and experiences of your students. Lisa Eickholdt and Patricia Vitale-Reilly explain the four-part structure of minilessons and... more

Workshop teachers struggle with time—building in two teaching sessions, one for reading and another for writing.  There is just too much to do, too many transitions, and very little integration of reading and writing.  To compound the frustration, we find that our students don’t have nearly enough time to read and write independently.

Enter... more