Writing for Readers

Happy Monday!

I'm not so sure those two words should be used together...but you know what they say "Fake it 'til you Make it". 

Really, though, don't you just love it when your guest teacher gushes about your class?  Between a sick boy and a gimpy hubby I was out three days last week.  So it was a happy Monday...I spent lunch with my guest teacher {She was subbing in another classroom} and she just went on and on and on about how they just know what to do and do it...they really are a sweet bunch of kiddos who have come a L O N G way!!!!

We wrapped up our Calkin's unit: Writing for Readers.  It's one of my favorites.  Read more about it {HERE}.  The kids have been working hard to peer edit their pieces.  I'm amazed at how well they worked together, how they really took to heart "take care of your partner's feelings" when you help them out. I heard a lot of "I really liked how you made your 'a' but it needs to be uppercase".  So cute. 

If you're familiar with Calkins, after you "fancy up" a writing piece you have a celebration.  I'm a sucker for any kind of celebration - click {HERE} to read about some of our reading and writing celebrations.

Tomorrow we're going to celebrate our writing by having a "Sharing Circle".  This is the perfect time of year to celebrate this way because most, if not close to all, of the writing has been written with the reader in mind, so they should be pretty "easy" to read.

The way the Sharing Circle works is we all sit in a circle on our carpet.  We start holding onto our own story - when I say "switch" the kids all pass their stories to the left, right, left, right left.  Yeah, at first it's a discombobulated mess but they get the hang of it.  You read the story and if you finish before it's time to switch you look at the pictures or you read it again.  We do this several times, for as long as we can without getting the wiggles too badly.

Once we finish up we all say a big HIP, HIP, HOORAY!!!!!

And using this...

It doesn't look big here - but it's huge...SO fun!!!!  They haven't seen it yet, so they'll get a big chuckle when I pull it out of my closet!

...they each get called up one at a time to receive one of these:

And one of these {Pick up a copy for yourself by clicking on the picture - there's black and white and color...whatever tickles your fancy}...

Clipart: Scrappin' Doodles - I found the poem somewhere on the internet and can't remember where -if it's yours, let me know so I can give credit where credit's due!

Time to get back to The Bachelor....