Enhance writing in the elementary classroom with this writing center for K-2. As an individual who thoroughly loves to write, I struggled when students seemed to dislike writing. As educators, we know that the first thing we must ‘teach’, is to instill a lifelong love of learning. Writing requires a lot of skills: letters, letter sounds, letter sounds make words, words have meaning…those barely scratch the surface! Then there are the physical aspects of writing: fine motor skills, spatial sense, and so much more!
Then, finally, it all has to make sense while being creative! Whew! There is no wonder young writers can become quickly frustrated. Creating a ‘safe’ and engaging space for this complex process is key to making writing ‘fun’ for young writers. This Primary Writing Center will help create that engaging space to make writing more enjoyable for your young learners! For more tips on how to improve student writing, check out How to Improve Student Writing Blog Post.
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Providing Students a Choice
The key component in teaching a love for Writing is ‘choice’. A choice of:
Writing topics -First, providing students the freedom to choose the subject matter for which they will write about makes a world of difference! All kids love to ‘share’, so give them this opportunity to share anything they like. If little Susie is frequently telling you about her puppy, Sam, remind her at writing time to ‘share’ about Sam in her writing.
Tools – Next, let them choose the tool they will write with. I frequently collect a wide variety of ‘interesting’ writing tools for this center. Placing this variety of tools in the writing center lightens the perceived burden of writing, adding a fun factor for our budding authors. I also use them as a reward in my classroom. Check out my post on Free and Inexpensive Rewards to see how I use a variety of writing tools as a student reward.
Format – Finally, provide them the freedom to choose, the format in which they will present their writing. They could choose from many options such as writing a story, a book, a poem, a list, a letter, a recipe, or even a postcard. Below are colored examples that are provided in the writing center for students to refer to when writing.
Writing Station Resources
Next, to enhance the writing experience for young writers, provide them with a variety of resources that will make the process easier for them. Again writing requires the use of a large number of subskills to be successful. Provide students with resources that pertain to these sub-skills so that their main focus can be on the enjoyment of the overall process, not the subskills required. This all-in-one Primary Writing Center has all of the writing resources, in one convenient place. It will provide your budding writings with tons of choices that will encourage a love for writing!
One of the best things about this writing center is that it includes everything you need! It is also so versatile! Above you can see how my writers refer to resources in the center. Below, are more images of all the components included and how they can be adapted to any classroom.
Here you can place an option for your students to practice while at the center. I chose sight words for one of their required writing activities along with a sight word list. This handy writing form for sight words is included with this writing center package.
These handy reference posters are also included!
Monthly Vocabulary Posters for Writing Centers
Monthly vocabulary posters, along with monthly writing prompt forms are also included in this writing center for primary grades. I usually hang an example for students to reference as well.
The monthly vocabulary comes in multiple forms. There is an all-in-one sheet and two long sheets that can be hung as they are, or cut and placed on rings for convenience. All twelve months are included.
Variety of Printable Writing Pages
A wide variety of monthly writing prompts are included. There are a couple for each month to provide students with several options.
This center includes a huge variety of other writing templates for budding ‘authors’ to express their writing creativity! The templates come with solid and or dotted lines as well.
Samples for each of the included writing forms are included, just print and place them in the center for students to refer to when writing. I put my samples in plastic page protectors on a book ring.
Space Saving Tips for your Writing Center
Did I mention versatile? This writing center has several options so that you can adapt it to any space. First, you can easily attach all the components to a bulletin board, wall, or other space you have reserved for your writing center.
Wall Option
Project Board Option
The printables for this writing center will easily fit upon a regular-sized project board that can be easily moved when necessary. Keep reading below for smaller more portable options included! Due to the limited space in my room, I use a combination of these options. The project board itself can be folded up and slid away when not in use, and then quickly retrieved and opened when we are ready to utilize the center. (whole board image)
Most of the components are ‘fixed’ permanently to the board. Though I have made a teacher life-altering discovery ‘double-sided adhesive tape rollers‘!
If you have not had the pleasure of using these, I highly recommend them! They are so much better than tape or glue! No-fuss, no muss! Just run the roller over the area you plan to ‘attach’ and done! No more wasted time tearing tape or waiting for messy glue to dry! It is far more reliable than a lot of glue as well! They are a game-changer when you are creating things for your classroom.
I used the tape roller to attach all the pages to the board you see in the image below, including the border! It holds very well! Not everything is permanent, I used stikki clips areas I plan to change out frequently.
I set up this cart on wheels to house the writing materials. I can easily pull this out, along with the project board to place in the general area my students will be working on their writing.
Portable Individual Writing Center Reference Folder
If you just do not have the space for an ‘entire writing center’ set up or need that extra space for other activities for a few weeks, this third Portable Writing Center option is perfect!
Individual Writing Center Folder
Another great option included in this writing center for primary kids is a personal writing folder with references attached to the back. This very handy option provides students with a place to store unfinished writing as well as reference attached directly to the folder!
Inside the writing folder, I label one side ‘To Do’ and the other ‘Done’ to help students keep their writing assignments organized.
The back of the folder has all the reference resources for students to conveniently refer to as needed. They are identical to the ones that would be on the wall so if you are using both, they are already familiar with the resources. This makes transitioning to the folder easy!
I hope this writing center helps you to continue to encourage a love of writing in your classroom!
