Classroom Makeover: Writing

I saved our writing pictures for last because writing is one of my favorite things to teach. Our writing center is an important part of writing workshop. We publish projects once a month, so students need access to "fancy" paper, stencils, and fun scissors. I've organized a variety of writing paper by theme in our mailboxes. The buckets on top have writing ideas and story starters. Draft paper, thesauruses, sticky notes, etc. are stored in the tall organizer.






Just like reading, we also have a writing reference board. I made writing genre posters with suggested types of writing projects for each genre. I use these for reference during mini-lessons and students use them for free writing time to get new ideas. We also spend a lot of time working on writing creative beginnings (or leads) for our projects. Bundled versions of my writing posters are on my freebie page for your personal classroom use. You can get a free copy of the lead posters from Beth Newingham.

Finally, I already shared my superb writing mini-lessons with you, but here they are again in case you missed them. These posters help my students remember the variety of ways they can stretch out and slow down their writing. You can grab a free copy of my posters for your personal classroom use here.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour through our classroom and picked up some tips and new resources along the way. I know I haven't shared our math items, but that's because I'm completely redoing how I teach math. More on that to come, promise!