December 2 - 6

I can create written messages that align with a variety of purposes and audiences by:

• focusing and limiting the number of details in a sentence
• organizing sentences in a logical sequence
• editing  written work for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar
• incorporating images to enhance messages

We are busy authors, editors, and illustrators during writer's workshop! I asked the students to help me write the blog for you to give you a sense of what writing looks like in grade 2. Here's what they said: 

What are our steps in writer’s workshop? 

• We make up a story, information, how to do something, or an experience (Maggie)
• We have to make sure our sentences make sense. We read our writing and if it doesn’t make sense, we erase it and try again. (Everly)
• We read through our writing and see if it is all spelled right then we go conference with the teacher. We also look for capital letters and periods. (Owen)
• We talk about our work with Mrs. Gordon and she tells us what to edit. If it is done, Mrs. Gordon will publish it after school. (Andrew)
• -Publishing means we get a book and it is the same thing as our writing except it’s typed. When we have a book published, we get a certain colour for the cover and there are pages we need to illustrate. (Theo)
• Illustrations are the pictures. We draw the pictures. (Addie)
• We have to draw what the story is about. (George)
• After our writing is on the shelf, we start new writing. (Owen)

What do we write about?

• We can write stories, experiences, or information. I choose what I can write about. I have written about a trip about when I went to Mexico and a story about winter. (Jack)

How do you know what you are doing well and what you need to improve?

• I know that my writing is going well because it will make sense to the reader. (Maggie)
• We made a self-assessment. We mark dots on the line where we think our work is. (Quinn)
• The tree means we mastered it. The seed means you need a little bit of help from your teacher. (Addie)
• I can look at my writing goals to see what I’m really good at and what I am working on. (Theodore)
• You sit with Mrs. Gordon and you conference and we talk about what we need to work on and what your goals are and your sheet is in your folder. You get to sign your initials on it. (Owen)
• You know you are doing well in your writing when you encourage yourself. (William)

Depending on our goals for each writing task, students can use different parts of the self-assessment to evaluate their own work. 

Tell us about author’s chair:

• Author’s chair is when you share your writing with the whole class and some people will say what you need to work on and some people say what you are really good at.  (Myles)