Writer's notebook

A pile of writer's notebooks was waiting for me on the inbox tray.

I put them on a desk, got my little speech bubble post-it-notes and a pen, and started reading what the students had written.

In the writing workshop mini-lesson I shared how writers make lists to collect ideas for their future writing. Since this week we are focusing on using our own life as a source for topics, the task was to make a list of people who matter in our lives. 

Children included also pets, and some continued their lists with other possible topics.

The writer's notebook is safe place to collect ideas and experiment with language. The safety to take risks without the fear of judgement is the reason I don't correct the writing in these notebooks. I respond to the writing with little notes. I may comment on their choice of topics, or choice of words, or what their writing makes me think or feel.

For example, today I wrote to many of them that they have great collections of topics to start writing about, and that I look forward to reading.

When I finished checking the motebooks, I put them on an outbox tray. The students can now take their journals home. It is very important to bring journals back to school every day, because we try to write daily.