Forrest Elementary Journal

Forrest Elementary in Philadelphia, PA has graciously agreed to share their year-long experience with Being a Writer. Here they are making their successes, struggles, and celebrations public for the rest of us to learn from and ask questions of them. Please leave them comments and questions about their journey!

Beach Battle: One Student's Terrific Descriptive Fiction: Melissa Broiles, Fourth Grade, Spring 2012
1 year 4 weeks ago
from Melissa Broiles
My fourth grade class's writing is making beautiful progress! They have really embraced fiction, and have gotten really good at being descriptive. I am so proud of them! One piece in particular, written by a boy named Adam, amazes me every time I read it. He skillfully incorporated figurative language, as well as other content we learned about... (2)
Monitoring Writing Progress: Forrest Elementary Continues to Make Strides with the Being a Writer Program
1 year 16 weeks ago
from Patrick Graham
When we last checked in with Forrest Elementary, the school had completed a couple of months of Being a Writer instruction in every grade from kindergarten through sixth. The writing instruction has progressed even better than we had hoped!  First grade teacher Christine Dreele is finding that her students are able to come up with more...
Students Coming Up with More Detail: Christine Von Dreele, First Grade, Late Fall
1 year 22 weeks ago
from Christie Von Dreele
I have been doing the Being a Writer program for about three months now and wow, the writing I have seen has been amazing. The children seem to be coming up with more details in their stories than previous years. I feel that has to do with with the stories I read (provided by BAW), sharing time with partners, writing ideas down on slates, and... (1)
Authors' Reception
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Sharon Mora
This third grade class was the first room to host an Authors' Reception in late November. Feedback from parents was amazing and as a result many more rooms are hosting receptions to showcase student work. Forrest Elementary held an Authors' Reception this fall to celebrate student writers and showcase their work. This takes the idea of the... (1)
Learning that Writing is Communication: Karen McCormick, Kindergarten, Late Fall 2011
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Karen McCormick
This year, kindergarten has begun piloting the Being a Writer program in our classrooms. When I began teaching kindergarten three years ago, I found writing difficult to engage my students in. There was little-to-no curriculum before and the ideas I came up with were somewhat repetitive. This year, our students are much more engaged in...
Students Learning to Self-assess: Karen Osmun, Fifth Grade, Late Fall 2011
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Karen Osmun
My fifth graders recently completed “The Writing Process” section of the Being a Writer program. They enjoyed the steps we followed daily to reach the goal of their published book. The students were excited about working with their partners to discuss each other’s writing. They each took pride in truly trying to give... (1)
Fitting Being a Writer into an Existing Literacy Block: Melissa Broiles, Fourth Grade, Late Fall 2011
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Melissa Broiles
My class is thoroughly enjoying the Being a Writer writing program. We are currently working on the Personal Narrative unit. The children are very motivated to write, and some of them are even taking it upon themselves to write at home, even though I haven't asked them to do so. They come to school and are very excited to share their work... (1)
How My Students are Progressing: Kate Morris, Sixth Grade, Late Fall 2011
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Kathleen Morris
My students are continuing to make progress with their writing. Now I am focusing on not only the ideas (content) that they have written, but also the conventions domain of the Pennsylvania rubric. As many of us do, we read what we think we wrote. I had taken notice when students originally came to me for a mini conference that they often...
Kids Talk about their Own Writing Progress: Kathy Solimeo, Third Grade, Late Fall 2011
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Kathy Solimeo
Our class read the book Fortunately and then created our own book modeled after it. This book was read in Being a Writer Unit 1, Week 4, "Getting Ideas from Pattern Books." The students were to listen to and discuss a text that uses patterns. In this case it was the repeated words "Fortunately, Unfortunately". My... (1)
Writing Like an Author: Robin Leddington, Third Grade, Late Fall 2011
1 year 23 weeks ago
from Robin Leddington
I can honestly say that teaching writing was my least favorite time of the day. Over my 17-year teaching career, I have never found a program or technique that inspired my students to think like writers and produce such talent. A major advantage to the Being a Writer program was having the ability to use great literature to model what the...