November's Three Picked Pins

It's time to link up with my favorite Pick 3 Pins Linky. This month I highlight writers' workshop.

I've used the resource ideas from all three of these pins in the last month of school. I bet you've covered these concepts, too, but reviewing with a new anchor chart is always a good idea, so I put them in this post to use in November. Click on the images so you can pin or go to the sites.

My first pick comes from my friend Carolyn at Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.

Labeling is such a good first step to get kindergarten kids writing with letters. I made an anchor chart like this one with my kiddos to demonstrate labeling.

The second anchor chart I made with the kids was this one.

Hearing the sounds in words is HUGE in kindergarten. We simply cannot practice it enough. This is just one of several ideas I used.  Thanks to Chart Chums for the idea. If you don't have Marjorie and Kristine's book, I suggest you check it out at their blog.

Third for me is this little baby... which is certainly not a baby idea.

Each year I sort of clench my teeth, grin, and get to it. I don't know why the whole partner thing makes me cringe, because once partners are underway it all goes fine. I just need to get over it as a teacher and trust the system- which for my district is the Lucy Calkins' Units of Study. This particular anchor chart highlights a good way to begin with partners, as no writing is involved. Instead the focus is on oral storytelling which is the true first step to writing. This anchor helps the kiddos a lot.  It comes from Nancy at First Grade Wow. I think Nancy gets the distinction of most generous blogger on the web because she has tremendous freebies. Absolutely check her out by clicking on the picture above.

This month I'm adding a bonus fourth pin because I am happy to have found it again just now... you really do need to puruse your own Pin Boards occasionally– eyeroll. I will use this in upcoming days as we focus more on telling the story well. No, my kinders will not be able to write like this, but having this example to use, either printed out or just for me to share orally at this point in the year, will help me teach details. I want to pin it here so I remember it in the next week or two. It comes from Hooty's Homeroom.

The whole pin includes a fourth level in the example.

Eventually when we circle back around to narrative writing in the later part of the year some of my kiddos will be able to use this four star rubric to give a boost to their own writing.

Well, those are my pins for the month. I hope you'll stop by my Pinterest Board by clicking below. I love Pinterest and use it quite a bit. I learn a lot from what others pin, so if you follow me, I'll follow you. Happy Pinning!

Head on back to the Linky Party and find more great ideas. Thanks for stopping by!

An InLinkz Link-up