This article describes how one such teacher, Shirley Thacker, developed and implemented a successful writing program in her first grade classroom, which is known as Thackerville. Shirley describes how she motivated a classroom of first-graders to use the writing process in a workshop format and how this approach affected the children's perceptions…

McCarry, a first grade teacher, formed a voluntary writing group, Writers' Lunch Club, that met the developmental and individual needs of children and inspired enthusiasm and writing success. In the article, she explains the guidelines, compares the club's writing strategies with those in the classroom, and lists tips and benefits.

A prominent writer and researcher studied a 1st grade writing workshop to understand why the students had such insight into the craft of writing. Videotape footage revealed the importance of authenticity as an aspect of expert teaching, particularly as it relates to authentic questions, authentic studies, and authentic work. Authentic…

Presents three teachers' experience with a journal-writing workshop that was successfully implemented in a first-grade classroom, in which the children became an enthusiastic and effective community of writers. Discusses several advantages of a journal-writing workshop. (SG)

Writer's Workshop is a program that teaches children the conventions of writing. Students not only learn proper grammar and punctuation; they also come to learn and value the importance of drafting, revising, and editing their pieces of writing. Writer's Workshop is a process that needs to be consistent. It is composed of three parts. The first…

Describes how a first grade teacher runs a "writer's workshop" based on the process approach to writing. Discusses how children develop their ideas for stories, share their writing with their peers, and decide whether or not to "publish" their writing. Notes that the students are enthusiastic about participating in the workshop. (RS)

Discusses how two first grade teachers collaborated to create a poetry unit as part of their reading/writing workshop. Presents sample minilessons and poems written by students. (PRA)

In this article, the author focuses on first grade readers and writers who revisit their work and describes what first-graders do when they revisit their writing about science and literature and review collections of their work. The first-graders discussed here are in Elaine O'Connor's classroom at Clark Elementary School in Charlottesville. In a…

Drawn from a year-long study in a combined first- and second-grade classroom, this article presents an interpretive portrait of two young students engaged in spontaneous talk while writing. We analyze their conversations to explore the subject positions these student writers assumed, those they assigned each other, and the related functions they…

Discusses development and implementation of a writing workshop that combined prekindergarteners' language development with first graders' writing experiences. (BB)

Describes the author's year as a volunteer in the writing workshop in her son's first-grade classroom. Discusses her experiences and reflects on the growth she saw in children as readers and writers. (SR)