The Writing Minilessons Book
The Writing Minilessons Book provides brief, focused, explicit lessons that help children understand and apply the characteristics of effective writing and nurture their ability to write with purpose, imagination, and voice.
Foster joyful writing with minilessons that spark creativity, imagination, and learning.
What are Writing Minilessons?
The interactive writing and writing minilessons in this book serve as a guide to a meaningful, systematic approach to literacy learning. When you surround children with literacy activities and print, provide them with time to write, encourage their efforts with enthusiasm, and gently guide them, you create the right conditions for kindergarteners to grow into confident, engaged writers. Put interactive writing lessons and writing minilessons into action and make learning visible for every child, every day.
Writing Minilessons are available for grades PreK-6.
Who is it for?
The Writing Minilessons Book is for the classroom teacher who wants to expand and refine children’s reading and writing powers in grades PreK–6. This context is implemented in a whole-group setting. Teachers engage children in inquiry that leads the discovery and understanding of a general principle.
What is inside?
The Writing Minilessons Book includes minilessons in six types. In grades PreK through 1, Interactive Writing lessons are also included, allowing teachers to share the pen with students to collaboratively compose a piece of writing together as a class.
To help children connect ideas and develop deep knowledge and broad application of principles, related writing minilessons are grouped under “umbrella” concepts. An umbrella is a group of lessons, all of which are directed at different aspects of the same big idea, and one umbrella can serve as the focus across several days.
How is it implemented?
The Writing Minilessons Book is implemented during whole-group instruction. During a minilesson, the teacher presents specific, explicit instruction to help children become confident, engaged writers. In addition to Interactive Writing lessons (for grades K-1), the Writing Minilessons are organized into types such as:
- Management
- Telling Stories
- Making Books
- Drawing
- Exploring Early Writing
- Writing Process
The Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Interactive Read-Aloud and Shared Reading books serve as mentor texts and as examples for generalizing the principle. This context also pairs well with The Reading Minilessons Book. Children practice and apply the principle during independent reading.
