Writer's Workshop: Revision

Today in writer's workshop we started looking at what it means to revise our first draft. We read the book Hello Ocean, which is a great story that uses the five senses to describe a trip to the beach.  We talked about the ways in which the author added detail to help keep the reader interested in their work.

In writer's workshop in our classroom, during the revision stage, students get to use special blue pens. This makes revising and adding details exciting to them, but it also helps me as the teacher to see what their thought process was. Using a different color makes it clear to me what they wrote as a first draft, then how they changed their thinking and added details. We talked about different ways to revise, and I showed the class how to use an asterisk to insert information that might not fit in the space they have left.  Below is a great example of a revision to the first page of a book:

We still need to work on getting that asterisk in the right spot, but the thought is definitely there! I didn't give the kids enough credit, they set about revising their work and had so many great details to add. I thought it was going to be much more difficult to get those revisions out of them. They impress me more and more each day!