Beginning to Publish!

Today many students got their personal narrative drafts back from our adult volunteer editors. Our adult editors make any last minute editing and revising changes to student writing that didn't get fixed in the students' writing process. The adults also put any circled words in students' Quick Word books. Students know that when they circle a word in their writing, an adult will help them spell it later, not by just writing it correctly for them on their draft but instead, putting the correct spelling in a resource like their Quick Word book. I want students to learn to use their resources to spell rather than just have someone always write it correctly for them without students having to do any work.

You'll notice in the draft below that this student circled the word 'donets' because she wasn't sure how to spell it. The adult wrote Q.W. next to her circled word to signal to this student that she can find the correct spelling for 'doughnuts' in her Quick Word book. When this student went to her 'D' section of her Quick Word book, she found her word spelled correctly. We don't put ALL misspelled words in students' Quick Word books, just those that students circle. The rest of the misspelled words we fix for them right in their draft.

We then discussed that good writers have a clever title that hooks a reader's interest in the story rather than give the whole story away! Students quickly revised their titles to make them a little more clever and not too revealing. We also discussed the importance of indenting, and how to publish a draft on looseleaf paper. After my modeling, students began publishing their own stories.

 Tomorrow we will create an anchor chart to add to our Writer's Workshop wall to anchor what we know about publishing!

 Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Pizza Log
2. Math - 10 mins. facts, 6.2/6.3 (Line Graphs), Ch. 5 test slip
3. Spelling - Test Friday
BOOK ORDERS - Due Thursday!