A colleague in my K- 5 school asked for a few ideas about making writer’s workshop fun and engaging.  I love those questions because it allows me to be creative and gather ideas.  Here are a few ideas to get started… (If you have more please add them!)

• Be passionate- write in front of the students and let them see you write and talk out loud about your process, about spelling, …
• Draw pictures to go with the writing
• Write stories to go with the pictures
• Make comic books
• Re-write comic books (the one you just made or one that was professionally made) into story format with dialogue and description
• Let students write what they want- lists, stories, opinions, how-to, all I know about…, non-fiction or fiction, poems, … play with words
• Find a real audience- another classroom, the hallway, a classroom in another school or another city, country, a blog, …
• Design/ diagram something invented and explain how it works
• Read/ tell the beginning of a story and have the students continue/ finish it
• Act out a story and then have the students write the script
• Write a script and then have the students act it out, or with puppets, or as a podcast or …
• Writing prompts
• Connect writing closely with reading or science or social studies
• Shared writing
• Do you have a class mascot (stuffed animal, live animal, …)?  Write the stories of the mascot- where from, past adventures, include pictures,
• Class blog on kidblog.org
• Add podcasts of students reading their writing on your page of the school’s website
• Check out blog posts such as: http://tunstalltimes.blogspot.com/2014/08/engaging-writing-activities.html
• Stick with the standards but let your mind wander and your creativity soar