Writing Workshop is held three times per week in my classroom for about an hour. This is the time when children write and develop stories following the writing process. Our finished stories are typed on the computer or on an Alpha Smart keyboard. These small little keyboards are wonderful to have in the classroom. This allows the child to type at their desk and download into any word processing program at a later time. Each Alpha Smart keyboard will hold up to eight different files. During one of my Writing Workshops, six children can be publishing at the same time.

Materials:

Macintosh Computer, Alpha Smart keyboard,ClarisWorks/AppleWorks, ClarisWorks for Kids

Procedures:

Child reviews their journal for story ideas.

They begin to write a story.

The child meets with the teacher.

The child revises his or her story.

The student checks with teacher.

Illustrates their story.

Presents story to the class.

They publish their story on the Mac or Alpha Smart. ( I always have one parent in the room with me during Writing Workshop. This parent assists the children with their writing, but mainly helps the children on the computer.)