Writing Workshop: Small Moments
We have just finished our first writing unit. During this unit of
study, we launched the workshop by establishing classroom
routines. Students wrote several small moment stories. A small
moment is a true story which focuses on an event that takes place
in a short amount of time. For example, a student might write
about the time he opened a birthday present, rather than writing
about the whole birthday party. Students learned to:
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Construct simple and complete sentences
Capitalize and Punctuate simple sentences
Use a graphic organizer to plan and sequence their story
Add transitions words to add cohesiveness to their writing
During our next writing unit, writers will continue to write small
moment stories with a focus on:
 Brainstorming ideas for writing
 Zooming in on a moment to make it smaller
 Using capital letters and end punctuation in more complex
sentences
 Writing in their best handwriting
 Making attempts at conventional spelling
 Add talking, thinking, and feeling to their writing
Writing Workshop: Writing for Readers
As we began this writing unit, we put an emphasis writing so
people can read and understand our work. Students continued to
draft small moment stories. We focused on the importance of
rereading our pieces to make them better. Students learned to:
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Use capital letters and end punctuation
Write in their best handwriting
Make attempts at conventional spelling
Use classroom resources as a tool for spelling (word wall,
Quick Word book, dictionary)
During our next unit, students will learn to write Small Moment
Trouble Stories with suspense and make several attempts to
solve their “trouble”.
Writing Workshop: Trouble Stories
Students continued to write small moment stories with an
emphasis on “troubles”. An example of a second grade trouble
might be losing a favorite stuffed animal, getting into an
argument with a sibling, or being lost in the mall. Students
learned to:
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Brainstorm “troubles”
Draft across the pages of a booklet
Elaborate on the attempts to solve the trouble
End the story with a solution to the trouble
Add dialogue at the important parts of the story
Our next writing unit will connect to our colonial Williamsburg
unit in Social Studies.
Writing Workshop: Idea Based Writing about Williamsburg
Students learned to:
Writing Workshop: All About Books
Students wrote nonfiction books about topics in which they are
“experts”. An example of a second grade “expert topic” would be
taking care of dogs, soccer, or a vacation place. Students learned
to:
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Brainstorm “expert topics” and subtopics
Write information pages
Illustrate with diagrams/labels and pictures with captions
Include key words, glossary, table of contents, about the
author pages, and other “specialty” pages
Writers continued to expand their knowledge of spelling,
grammar, and mechanics.
Students will learn to write several types of poetry and learn to
look at the world through the eyes of a poet.
Writing Workshop: Poetry
Writers learned to write several types of poetry. They wrote
ordinary object poems, imagery poems, small moment poems, and
feelings poems. Poets learned to:
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Make comparisons in their writing
Use interesting words
Have surprise endings
Use graphic organizers to draft their poems
Play with capitalization and punctuation CREATIVELY
We will revisit nonfiction writing during our Sea Creature unit.
Students will research in reading workshop and use their notes to
write a report on a sea creature.
Writing Workshop: Sea Creatures
In this unit of study, writers researched and took notes on a sea
creature. In their report they focused on writing about
description, habitat, enemies, food, and other interesting facts.
They learned to:
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Research and organize their notes and information
Filter out important information using nonfiction texts
Put information in their own words
Keep paragraphs focused on a main idea
Write topic sentences
Use conventions of spelling and grammar
Our final writing unit will focus on planning their independent
writing projects for the summer.