Mini Lessons for Introducing Writer's Workshop

Here are 5 mini lessons we like to teach during our Writer's Workshop Introduction to help our kiddos build good writing habits. Read on to grab some ideas and FREE resources you can use in your classroom as you introduce Writer's Workshop!

As we do our mini lessons, we post them to our Objective Wall.

These Learn to Write books by Rozanne Lanczak Williams are amazing for Writer's Workshop mini lessons! We start with My Picture Story. You can find it here on Amazon! (affiliate link) At the beginning of writing in First Grade, we use the paper show; picture top and writing bottom. We encourage kiddos to focus a lot on their picture. At this time, it is a strength for them to draw a really nice, detailed picture. Also, it can aid in writing later as a kiddo will have a good amount to write about if their picture is detailed.

The book shows how bunny draws a detailed picture step by step. This is a day's mini lesson. We read the book and the kiddos spend their work time drawing a detailed picture. We DO NOT have kiddos do any writing this day.

We come back to our pictures the next day and add words to match. We recall the book with Bunny and focus on the story at the end. We point out to see how the words in the story match the picture Bunny drew.

We like to use this mini book, Monkey in the Story Tree, as a way to have the kiddos practice order and sequence. You can grab it here on Amazon! (affiliate link) As we continue to build detailed pictures and writing, we use this journal to record each day during our Writer's Workshop time. The books shown are a great support to the lesson!

We like how Monkey's story unfolds and you can see four events in order.

We love to use this set from Live Love Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten! We go through each convention and practice.

This sheet helps to support work with conventions as well. We keep with a simple sentence and focus on the capital, spaces, and punctuation.

Once we've gotten to this point in our Writer's Workshop introduction, we like to hand out our Handy Helper folders to the kiddos. We pack it with LOTS of goodies to help them when they are writing independently!

Check out this blog post to see how we assemble our Handy Helper Folders and grab FREE downloadable templates to make your own!

This book, Cat Can't Write, is great for helping kiddos think about how to generate ideas for writing! You can grab it here on Amazon! (affiliate link) After we read Cat's story, kiddos complete the bubble thought sheets with some ideas they could use from their lives for writing pieces.

We staple these brainstorm sheets in their writing folders so they can go back to look at them.

FINALLY we are ready to share our hard work! Whether it is just a quick check in with their writing partners or a Writing Celebration when kiddos share a finished, edited piece, we use this poster to help set guidelines for kind, fair sharing and collaboration times.