Our Writing Process in Grade 4

In Grade 4 we have just come to the end of their first writing unit, 'Launching the Writers' Workshop', following Lucy Calkins' Writers' Workshop model.  To begin our writing journey as 4th graders, we discussed what kinds of things writers write and the purposes of writing. We discussed how writers use tools like Writers Notebooks to help them jot down their ideas for stories. We set up our Writers Notebooks and personalised them. We then did a couple of brainstorming activities (see below) to help us get ideas for memorable topics to write personal narratives about. 

We shared a couple of published personal narratives, including Mr Entwhistle, by Jean Little, and I shared a couple I had written. After brainstorming the students picked one memorable event and wrote about it. 

Then repeated this for several stories and were asked to choose one story they would like to work on with an aim to publishing as an iBook. To help us organise our story and aid us in telling our story, we identified the 4 key point of the story. On a folded booklet we then drew a quick sketch of each of these 4 points. 

The students then used these booklets to tell each other their stories. In doing this they were orally working out the first draft of their story. I modelled the difference between summarising their story, "I went to the beach. We ate ice-cream." and telling a story," Mum, it's so hot," I groaned as I mopped even more sweat from my brow. We had gone on a day trip to the beach, just the three of us, mum, my brother Fred and me."

After they had told their story several times and received feedback on it, the students wrote long and hard getting their first written draft down. To help organise the story into paragraphs, one piece of A4 was used for each diagram they drew so they would have a clear, beginning, middle and end. 

Once they had finished the first draft it was time for editing and revising. 

The students used coloured pens to edit their work. they were encouraged to underline any words they were unsure they had spelt correctly and see if they could come up with alternative spellings. Students were also given writing partners who helped confer with them and helped give suggestions on how to edit and revise their stories.

Mini lessons were taught on how to include dialogue, how to punctuate speech correctly, use of apostrophes and showing not telling. 

Here is an example of how one student revised her work:

Once they had finished their first draft the students typed up their stories in Google Docs. 

 Using Google Docs allows the teacher and other classmates to highlight text and comment on the story and give constructive feedback. 

The revision history feature also means that the student and teacher can go back and clearly see what revisions and edits have been made and when.

Once they had finished editing and revising the students drew illustrations for their books. These were then photographed and emailed to them. They then copied and pasted their story and inserted their photos into iBooks Author to make a very professional looking and quick to make iBook.  

We then shared our stories on iPads with a Grade 3 class and shared the iBooks with our parents.