Mrs. McGowan's Class 
Writing Resources

a About Writers' Workshop:

Mrs. McGowan's Writers' Workshop
This gives a simple description of my classroom workshop.

Inside Writing Communities Gr. 3-5
A video workshop for grades 3–5 teachers; 8 half-hour workshop video programs, 8 half-hour classroom video programs, workshop guide, and Web site.

Lucy Calkins - Units of Study
Written by Lucy Calkins & Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

Reading and Writing Workshop
This page will give you an in depth look at a morning in Jennifer Meyers' classroom, including Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop, Authors' Chair, and Word Study.

Setting Norms: Rituals and Routines to Support the Workshop Approach Jennifer Meyers is a 2nd grade teacher profiled in Inside Teaching - a living archive of practice (a project of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching).

Writers' Workshop
These pages (from teachersfirst.com)  introduce Writer's Workshop implementations for K-3 and upper elementary students.

Mrs. Meachem's Writing Mini Lessons
This is a terrific site filled with many helpful ideas.

Beth Newingham's 3rd Grade Writers' Workshop
What does Writers' Workshop look like? Beth gives a detailed explanation of their workshop with many pictures.  Excellent!

Mandy Gregory's Writing Workshop
Mandy has been using a writers' workshop approach for several years.  Don't miss this site!

Touchstone

Touchstone Books/Mentor Texts:

Touchstone Books
List of books and student work samples from Marci McGowan

 
Bibliography of Suggested Mentor and Touchstone Texts
From Virginia Lockwood Zisa  (better for older kids)
 
 
 
Mentor Texts... Chapter 1
Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 by Lynne R. Dorfman & Rose Cappelli.

Using Picture Books to Teach Narrative and Six Trait Writing
Sandra Berry and others offer a bibliography of picture books separated into individual lists according to writing traits. Annotations for curriculum connections and character traits are included. Unique, useful resource for teachers using literature to teach writing.

Resources for Writing Mini-Lessons
List of book titles to use in mini-lessons

WritingFix Picture Books and the 6 Traits
They offer free interactive lessons based on picture books.

Beyond Sharing the Book: Using Picture Books as Mentor Texts To Engage Students in Effective Reading and Writing 
Book titles aligned with traits

More Mini Lessons
When I Was Young in the Mountains, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, Where the Wild Things Are are used in mini-lessons.

 

b 6 + 1 Traits:

6 Trait Writing
Overview with simple explanations and lesson plans

Official 6 + 1 Trait Writing Site

Six Traits Writing
Be sure to check out the links.

Writing Samples - 6 + 1 Trait Writing
Student writing sample papers are organized by trait, score, and grade level.  Don't miss this one.

OWL (Online Writing Lab) for Elementary Students
 Excellent explanations, graphic organizers, and more.

Mini-lesson of the Month
From the Northern Nevada Writing Project reflecting its continued efforts to support teachers who are using the Writers' Workshop format as a way to encourage authentic and choice-based writing in their classrooms

Six Traits Lesson Plans
Some outstanding lessons

Six Traits Writing Assessment
Not just about assessment

InterActive Six Trait Writing Process
Very interesting site - provides explanations, examples, and you can set up a free account to track your class work

Mini Lessons for Six Traits
Lessons for each trait, mostly for grades 1-3

Six Traits Posters
Free printable posters

B  Blogs (ed. note:  Looking for more. Please send email)

Deb Renner Smith
Deb is a literacy consultant and author. She posts reading and writing lessons frequently.  Check out all the other resources on her Blogroll. 

Two Writing Teachers
Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz are experienced writing teachers.  All about education, writing, writers notebooks, etc.  It's a big blog, so be patient while it loads.

x  Other Resources:

Developmental Stages of Writing
Descriptions, photo samples of various writing stages

The Write Source Site
Student writing examples and grade level writing topics; ways to publish your students’ work online

Writing A-Z
Core  writing lessons grouped by genre and text type, mini-lessons targeting key writing skills, writing tools for organizing and improving writing.

Four Square Writing Method for Grades 1-3
This step-by-step approach is built around a simple graphic organizer that first shows students how to collect ideas and then helps them use those ideas to create clear and polished prose (Teaching & Learning Company)

RhymeZone Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus

Grandpa Tucker's Writing Poetry Pages
This is a great source for lists of rhyming words/word families

Stapleless Book
This neat site is from ReadWriteThink; make an 8-page mini-book online.   It really works!

Hamburger Idea - scroll down to writing section to see a good description of Hamburger Model

Story Frame Writing

Proteacher - The Writing Process

First Grade Personal Narrative Rubric
 

d From Marci  McGowan's Class:

How to Write A Book Review

Writing Similes in  1st Grade

We Love Fall:   Introduction to the Writing Process

Write A Story Using Writing Process Steps

How to Write Acrostic Poems

Student Showcase 

A Writing Rubric for First Grade

e

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© 2004 M. McGowan - All rights reserved.
Updated August
2008

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