How I plan to start Writing Workshop in the first few weeks:

School starts tomorrow and I have been reading so many resources to get ideas and insight as to how I think I can implement writing workshop (WW) in my classroom. The best book I have found so far that I think is great for a beginning is Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide by Fletcher and Portalupi. It breaks down Writing Workshop into manageable chunks so that a teacher can implement them.
The main components of WW are:
1. minilesson
2. Time for students to write about whatever they want ( not necessarily the mini lesson)
3. Share time. This also is a time for students to get feedback on their piece and for the author to ask for advice about a part he/she is struggling with.

How I plan to start:
I plan to have a read aloud almost every day. I am going to start with picture books, poems and other pieces I want to share.
I am also going to do what I call a Warm It Up, in which the students will respond to the text read aloud, to a picture, to music, to a blank comic etc... This is not a writing activity in which students must respond to the prompt. This is a place where students will write to possibly come up with ideas for future writing, or to play with different types of writing and ideas.
Students will then share what they have written. In the beginning, they may just be sharing in a line or word as we go around the room ( called a quaker share). I will do this and pair it with some getting to know you activities for the first week or so. I want to show student's that writing is important in my room and we are going to spend time on this.

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