Writer's Notebook

All 6th graders will be expected to keep a writer's notebook this year.

We will use our writer's notebooks to
1.  Practice writing => We will write in our notebooks everyday!
2. Learn about writing => We will take notes in our writer's notebooks.
3.  Record ideas => We will look back through our notebooks often and chose entries we would like to turn into full writing pieces.

I tell the students that writing is like playing football or doing gymnastics, or anything else for that matter, if we want to get better we have to practice!  Right now we are learning strategies for our writer's notebook, strategies that will help us practice writing.  These strategies help your child look at his/her own life and world in a way that seeks out stories, poems, and ideas.  Unlike a prompt, a strategy can be used again and again in different contexts with different results. 

The following strategies can be used by your child when they are writing in their notebook.

1. History of a Name

2. Writing from a List

3. Questioning/Wondering

4. Writing off Literature

5. Observations

6. Writing from a Word

7.  Rereading and Highlighting

8.  Lifting a Line

We have not covered all these strategies yet, but we're working on it.  Within the next couple of weeks your child will have been introduced to each of these strategies.  They should be recording examples of each of these strategies in their writer's notebook.  After students have practiced each strategy at least once on their own they will be set free to chose their own strategy and what they would like to write about.  At that time we will talk about notebook expectations and grading requirements.  Look for information about notebook expectations and grading requirements to come home in the next couple of weeks.