Continuing Word Work in 2014

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 I found myself opening notes on my iPhone constantly the past week as I tried to take a little break. I would jot down a thought or a new idea as I watched holiday movies.  How many times have I watched Elf and never thought about a writer's notebook until this year? Watching Walter struggle for ideas for the next BIG book and finally his partners pulled out their notebook full of ideas. The conversation continued about the importance of word choice in describing broccoli as the main character in their next BIG story. I was thinking that would be a perfect clip to share in our writing circle the first full week.

I have been thinking about how to continue to build enthusiasm for word work. Most of my students have started word notebooks first trimester, and I want their thinking about words to continue to grow. But I need them to transfer the word word collecting into word work writing. I rearranged my word work area before holiday break. My goal is to continue to make word work an integral part of our classroom but more interactive. I am going to use the dry erase board for students to collect but more importantly add words to it from their JR books.  Collecting words, copying sentences from their books and encouraging an interactive place for word work.

My other focus will continue to be "playing with words."  Yesterday, I went to my favorite bookstore, Fundamentals, and purchased 3 new word games. I automatically started thinking it would be fun the first week back to play a new word game during the first 10 minutes of word study.  My students haven't been playing the word games (pictured above) very much, and i think we will spend some time exploring the old and new games. Just perhaps they might become popular during indoor recess in the upcoming months.