On Demand Writing Prompt

The On Demand writing prompt that I gave the students last Friday was a hit. The students were super receptive to this writing task (which was surprising because I had never done anything like this with my first graders before). I talked through the fact that they would be writing an informational text and we discussed the different type topics that would fall under that category. It was easiest with them to explain it as "write about what you are an expert at" because it was the very first informational writing piece we have done all school year. 

During the time while the students were writing I played soft music that did not have words (It was a Paddington Bear soundtrack....it is amazing for creating just enough background noise to keep them from talking) and I gave them writing "offices". These writing offices are an amazing resource that I have to use while the kids are writing. They are two file folders that are laminated together to create a cubical like office. On the office there is a portable word wall, writing checklist, blends and digraph charts, etc. (I will post a picture once we return to school). During the 45 minutes that the students wrote I provided very minimal assistance to them because I wanted to see exactly what they could complete independently. 

After the time was up I collected the writing pieces. The kids did an AWESOME job of showing what they are an expert about. Obviously the pieces weren't perfect because they were almost like a pretest to what they know about informational writing. There are a couple of students who I struggled to read their writing because of spelling, or because their thoughts are jumbled once on the paper. These are students who will likely benefit from the voice recording apps on the Ipad. This will allow us to break their thought process up into two steps. One step will be orally telling their story/writing piece and the second step will be actually writing it. I will compare writing pieces (like the on demand) to compare their writing before and after using the voice recording app. 

I hope in my coming blog to provide you with pictures of the writing offices, pictures of student artifacts from the on-demand and telling you about the voice recording apps that I will be utilizing. 

Hope everyone is staying warm during this crazy winter!!!