Writing Notebooks
~ Elisa Waingort

I started using writing notebooks with my grade 2´s this year and the way I´ve reconciled using a writing notebook myself is by writing in it everytime I give them an assignment. For example, if I want them to use the list strategy for favorite words, I´ll also make a list of favorite words. If I ask them to write about their names, then I also will write about my name. I sometimes share what I write. I haven´t gone much beyond that but I base this on something I heard Katie Wood Ray say at a workshop of hers I attended: whatever you ask the kids to write on you also need to do at least once. I love this uninterrupted 5 - 10 minutes of writing several times a week. I can really see the potential in my own writing not to mention what I see my students doing. I can use some of the pieces in my writing notebook to teach specific mini lessons in the future.

I got this idea from the book Notebook Knowhow, by Aimee Buckner.