This Week in Intervention: Writing Conventions Cards

February 28, 2015

Happy weekend!! This was a busy, busy week for me and I am thankful for some time to relax.

One of the many reasons why this week was so crazy was because I presented for SDE on Monday at the Illinois 1st grade conference!

That’s me! I make dopey faces while I present. Thanks to Reagan from Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits for the photo! Reagan and I chatted for a bit during lunch and it was nice to see a friendly face in the audience. Because, you know, I was a teeeeeny bit nervous!!

Anyway, the topic of the presentation was how to teach first graders to revise and edit their writing. I chose this as my topic because getting my kids to actually make significant changes to their writing has not always been something that’s easy for me to pull off. It’s tough to get them to move beyond just adding in a period or two!

During the presentation, we talked about using rubrics, peer revising/editing conferences, interactive flip books, and some other fun strategies to help kids learn to revise and edit. One of my favorite strategies I shared was something I call “Conventions Cards.” Here’s an image of my slide on this topic:

This is such a simple and quick strategy, and it can really make a difference in your students’ writing! While the kiddos are working independently, walk around the room and quickly scan their writing for correct use of conventions. If you notice, for example, that one child is doing a great job using capital letters, place the “Cool Capitals” card on her desk, give her a little pat on the back, and then keep on walkin’.

This is a simple way to acknowledge students’ good work without having to sit down and have a full-out writing conference. AND we all know that first graders are nosy, right?! The students siting near the child will definitely take notice, and they might even start fixing up their own writing, too.

Want to download these cards to use in your classroom? Just click on the image below.