What is Kid Writing?
Kid Writing is a method for teaching young writers. Students write about a self-selected topic and draw a picture to match in their journals daily. We conference/meet with students on their assigned day of the week. For example, Monday kids conference on Mondays; Tuesday kids conference on Tuesdays, etc. During the conference, we talk about their writing and write under their words in pencil using adult/correct writing. The purpose of underwriting is for modeling and helping students compare their kid writing to adult writing. Children share their writing with the class on their day of the week. They choose a few classmates who want to ask a question or tell something they liked/noticed. For the mini-lesson, I select a volunteer child’s journal entry to share on the SMART Board. Using one color, I write the child’s words exactly as they are written. We notice/talk about what makes the child a good writer (beginning capital letters, correct ending punctuation, spaces between words, etc.
