The PreK-2 Writing Classroom: Growing Confident Writers

Full of useful, hands-on examples, descriptions, and activities, this new book will inspire any primary grade teacher.  Based on both research and practice, the authors share their classroom experiences in an easily-replicable fashion.  The first step is engagement.  Chapters describe how to encourage children to draw, talk, and create communities of interested classmates as initial steps in the writing process.  When the students are ready to “finesse their work,” they can move on to experimenting with spaces, using spelling strategies, and understanding the purposes of periods.  The final section details how to keep young writers engaged, using an evaluation-instruction loop, providing time to share with the class, and honoring the children’s complete lives.  The book’s team of writers includes Jane Hansen, a University of Virginia professor; Jenesse Evertson, one of the co-owners of bbgb Tales for Kids bookstore in Richmond, VA; and Dorothy Suskind, fifth grade teacher at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, VA—Lucinda Whitehurst.  (Adult; Scholastic, 2010)