What Makes Good Writing?

As we get ready for portfolio conferences, the children in our classroom have been reflecting on some of their learning in reading, writing, math and our inquiry projects. Today our focus was on writing. I asked the kids the question, "What Makes Good Writing?" Here is what they said:
Tristan - Start with the date.
Cameron - Neat, small printing.
Peyton & Madeline - Use periods, exclamation marks, commas, and question marks in the right places.
Cole - Write the details.
Taylor - Write on the lines.
Jonathon & Lindsay - It makes sense.
Jolene - Uppercase letters at the beginning of a sentence
Kendall & Sydney R - Finger spaces!
Rhianna - Do the title.
Kaspir - No scribbling, use letters.
Sydney R - Try to sound out the words.
Kendall - Don't use bad words.
Jadyn - Read it over.
Peyton - Then we looked at the Writing Continuum and compared our writing to the samples. We used our TWAS to match the writing on the writing continuum.

Here are some more things that help to make our writing even better:
Ashley - Make all the words uppercase in a title
Aliegha & Jolene - The picture has to go with the writing. They have to match.
Aliegha - Add feelings to your writing.

A note about report cards...

Today I am sitting in a very quiet classroom working on student report cards. I must say that our classroom is a whole lot less exciting (and a whole lot more lonely) without the 25 little people that usually share this space with me.... I am looking forward to tomorrow when we're all together again. :)

Report card writing is not my favourite part of being a teacher. I always seem to struggle to find just the right words to describe what I know about my students. It is a difficult task to put into just a few words, everything that a child has had success with, is working on, and needs a little extra help with. It's just a small snapshot of what I know about each child at this moment in time. Tomorrow, or in a week, or in a month, that snapshot will look different... that child will grow a little more, and know a little more, and have new challenges to face.

As I look at the list of names in front of me I can't help but feel proud of the children in my classroom. Every day I ask children to be kind, to be a good friend, to help and take care of each other, and to try their very best always. On top of all of that they are learning to read, write, figure out math problems, explore science topics, and learn about the world outside of our classroom. It seems like an awful lot to ask of a group of 5, 6 and 7 year olds... but they meet the challenge every single day. Every one of the kids in my classroom tries their very best, wants to learn new things, and rises to any challenge I present to them. I think everyone in this classroom deserves just one mark on their report card... an 'A' for AWESOME!

See you tomorrow,
Mrs. Malkoske :)