Teacher Talk: Writing Camp

So… now we are nearing the final days of our 4^th Grade Writing Camp and as sad as we (and the kids) are to see it come to an end, it’s so exciting to see all that they learned… in just 4 days!!!

Today was an exhilarating day of writing camp! The campers became true authors… of a personal narrative story! As we know- there is NO telling what products would be created without them SEEING what it is that they are expected to accomplish, so the process was very structured: I modeled vivid storytelling and then showed them what my story would look like through using illustrations. (P.S. If you can never think of a “good” story to tell… pets make great stories! 34 children now know how sneaky my cat, Rumble, was!)

Then I used each picture to capture the moment using words (just a few sentences of the main idea). After each section was written, I read it aloud and made sure it 1- made sense and 2- told a pretty good summary of my small moment. When my short paragraphs checked out okay, it was time to do what every incoming 4^th grader loves to do- REVISE AND EDIT!!! What a way to feel all grown up!

We all know revising and editing is a tricky skill so my revising was primarily linked to the parts of speech- how could I enhance a sentence by giving it more detail and creating a mental image? The children helped me revise and edit my story (What better practice for preparing them to do it on their own in just a few more minutes?!?). Soon, it was time to put my writing into its final stage and publish!

After I modeled the task, students began their personal narrative writing process!

Check out their hard work!