What I love to teach: WRITING!


Today is the last day of the Blog Hoppin' Back to School Linky and the topic is:

What do you love to teach?



I love to teach writing but it can be super tricky in the beginning of the year.

Most of my JK's come in without being able to write their name and the whole class usually needs A LOT of support.  Today I'm going to share one thing I do so that I'm not running around like a chicken with it's head cut off during writing time!

NAME TRACING:

Last year I spent 30 minutes on writing.  

We spent:

5 minutes reading the prompt and think-pair-sharing
20 minutes writing
5 minutes sharing

So you might have guessed that some of the students wouldn't be close to
writing for 20 minutes, especially at the beginning of the year.
This was especially true for the students who could yet write their name.
So during writing time, their first job was to do their name tracing practice.


Students trace their name on the front and try their best to print their name on the back.  We use washable markers.  When they are done a teacher looks it over and if it is good we give them a wet rag to wipe it off.

Once they returned their cleaned name printing sheets they are given their journal and they draw a picture in their journal (adding labels if possible).

I don't have any pictures of the name tracing practice pages that I used last year so I made a freebie!

Click on the cover below to download it!


It is editable so you can add your student's name.
Be sure to download and install these 3 fonts by clicking on the font names below before you download the freebie so the traceable font shows up properly!


I laminate these and the students use a washable marker to practice their names.

After me or my ECE checks their work they get a wet cloth from us and they get to erase it and return the sheet.

Favourite Writing Resources:

Crystal from Kreative in Kinder has great blog posts on Writer's Workshop!
It is a MUST read!

Here is a link to the post about labeling and writer's workshop.
If you click on the "writer's workshop" tag at the bottom of her post
you can read all of her writer's workshop posts!


   

I am super excited about using Cara's Work on Writing Bundle this year!
I was an editor for her Back to School Edition and I was immediately hooked!
It is intended for first grade but there are lots of kinder friendly options.
And it's going to be like Christmas every month as a new pack will be added every month as the year goes on!  Click on the images above to check out the Year Long Bundle!

What are your favourite resources for Kindergarten writing?

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