Monday Mornings are always full of energy when you’re a teacher.  The kids come in and they are SO excited to tell their friends (and their teacher) about their adventures from the weekend.  I absolutely LOVE hearing about the hikes, bike rides, family game nights, cookies kids have made with their parents, family outings, and sporting events.   

 

On Monday, we always take time to share these special times at our morning meeting.  This sharing time is not just about speaking to a group or show and tell.  I focus our conversations about our weekend adventures around living like a writer. 

 

I share with my students that I’m a writer.  No, I’m not a paid writer and I don’t write for a living, but I still write.  I show the kids my pathetic attempts at scrapbooks and show them how I write our family stories down so that we can always remember our times together.  I also talk to them about my blogs and how I write so I can let my friends know what I’m up to.  We discuss how the experiences we have over our weekends can influence our writing lives on Monday Mornings.

 

 

I make sure kids know that experiences worth writing about don’t need to be huge trips to Disneyland!  They can be about flying a kite, finding a butterfly in your garden, picking berries, building sand castles, seeing a rainbow, or making cookies.  One of the boys in my first grade classroom always talks about going fishing with his dad.  You can tell he looks forward to these times on the water and it’s evident in his writing. 

 

I would like to encourage you to talk with your child about simple experiences they have had.  Finding a snail on a walk to school in the morning can make a terrific story!  Encourage your child to file that idea away and pull it back out during Writer’s Workshop or when they are writing at home!

 

What experience has your child had this weekend?

Happy writing!