Summer Writing Freebie!

Hello all! 

I hope you are having a great start to your school year.  I am loving my new (and returning) kiddos.  I wanted to share with you my first writing project of the school year.  My goal was going to get these projects up before Open House.  Well I am sad to report, we didn't get them up (they were done a day late).  Never the less, the kids did an amazing job and I am proudly showcasing their work today. 

Since I am an instructional special education we had to provide many modifications and accommodations.  This organizer is a similiar to Four Square writing. 

Brainstorming is a difficult concept for my students, so we begin with discussing and then drawing our ideas.  We use this art to start page.  It has the main idea sentence already written for my students.  (As my students get more independent they will come up with their own main idea sentence).  After we discuss the main idea and what our paper is about, we follow each box and read the drawing prompt.  Then I give each student a few minutes to draw a picture in response to the writing prompt.  This process can take anywhere from 20-30 minutes for my students. 

Some of my students have fine motor difficulty, so after they draw their pictures I will add labels to their pictures so they remember what they drew when we get to the "art to draft" copy.

The next day we will complete the "art to draft" copy.  This is where the students take their pictures and turn them into sentences.  (Sorry I didn't get a picture of this).  After students have created sentences, I will help them to correct their mistakes.  For my students who are not ready to construct sentences on their own, they dictate what they want to a teacher.  The teacher writes their ideas down in a clear sentence. 

Finally, students will take their "art to draft" papers and copy them onto a piece of writing paper.  This is the students final copy.  After they have completed their writing, if they used neat handwriting, correct spacing (well the best they can), and punctuation they get to copy of their writing with a sharpie marker. 

For my students who are not ready to transfer their writing from the "art to draft" organizer to their paper, and adult will do it for them.  They will then trace over the adults writing with a sharpie marker.  This makes the writing legible, but still in the students handwriting. 

The final writing gets mounted onto paper and clipart added to it.  Then we display them in the classroom or on student lockers. 

The kids were very excited about their first writing of 2nd/3rd grade. You can get this writing pack for free in our TPT store.  Please leave me some feedback and let me know if you find it helpful.  I have lots more writing organizers for special education students (or regular education K or 1st) that I can share. 

Happy Writing!