The majority of third grade children are passionate about writing and becoming "published" authors. They understand that writing often takes many drafts to achieve the final product. They need binders to help in the organization as well as a format to show them throughout the year their progress.
My group of 22 students are culturally diverse and come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
The majority of students in our school come from lower to middle class families that work hard to provide their children with basic necessities in school. Very few of our students families qualify for any assistance, but generally have very little left over and struggle to make ends meet. As their teacher, I am unable to ask them for "extras" when I know what a struggle it is for many of them. My students work diligently at achieving their personal best and their families are always supportive.
My Project
My students are prolific and passionate writers! We are currently sharing our 4 classroom thesauruses during writing and while they are helpful they are not age appropriate for third graders. The thesauruses I have selected will accommodate the needs of the largest part of my class - 6 of the books are targeted towards children with developing dictionary/thesaurus abilities and 6 are for more advanced writers. I would like to be able to organize their writing into binders so each child could maintain ALL of their writing pieces, including graphic organizers and rough drafts. They would be able to look back over time and reflect on their progress and growth as writers.
Many of my 22 children have true talent in writing and all of them enjoy what I consider to be a life-long passion for writing.
They actually enjoy writing with pencil and paper, which is something I hope to nurture. It is often not easy for children at this age to write , edit and revise and still work towards completed pieces. Having binders for them to maintain their work will give them the encouragement needed for an 8 year old to persevere towards achieving their goals.
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