Writer's Toolbox

 
 

Creating a Writer’s Toolbox

I have been searching for something to help my son to not be intimated by writing. (Hopefully, I could get him to fall in love with it too!) I was becoming a bit overwhelmed with the emotional episodes every time he was asked to express an idea on paper. He has wonderful ideas but his creative abilities freeze when he is required to write them.

First, I ordered Write with Ease (WWE) Level 1 workbook for my son and it’s one of the best decisions I have made as a homeschool mom. It helped me to see the level of writing he was capable of completing. (As a former English Language Arts Teacher, I think I was expecting a bit too much from him at this stage.) This was a God-send and it has changed how we BOTH view writing!                                               

 Second, an answered prayer came in as I checked my email to see a guest post by The Measured Mom on This Reading Mama’s blog entitled “How to Motivate Your Child to Write.” (Click HERE to link to the exact post.)

I, of course, created a writer’s toolkit a bit differently than The Measured Mom did. I needed to custom fit it for my son’s interests and abilities, but nonetheless the concept is the same and I appreciate her getting me started! He is very much into Superheroes at this time, so I wanted to create something with this theme.

Here is what I included in my son’s writer’s toolkit:

• 1 Writing Notebook/Binder—this has his WWE lessons along with some helpers which include:

                                “I’m a Writing Super Hero!” Binder Cover, free

                                “Do You Have a Writer’s Eye?”, free (Sorry, I do not know who created this.)

                                “Stretch a Sentence”, $1 (From a TPT store that I cannot find right now.)

                                “Editing Marks”, free

                                “Writing Rubric”, free (this is to assist me in his progression as a writer)

 

 

• 1 “Superhero” notebook (A Wild Notes notebook with black pages, they have white too!)
• 1 Spelling Dictionary, free (from This Measured Mom)
• 1 Summer Writing Journal, free (We will switch per season—search TPT or Pinterest)
• 1 Punctuation Song flip book, free (These are really posters that I scaled down, laminated, and placed on an o-ring for quick and easy reference.)
• 1 pack of mechanical pencils
• 1 pack of blank “Superhero” thank you cards (I purchased mine from Target.)
• 1 pack of “Superhero” colored pencils (RoseArt 3-in-1)
• 1 pack of “Super Heroic” crayons (from Crayola but sold at Target only) 
• 1 pack of colored sticky notes

      

                                                                                                                                                         

 

I placed all of these goodies in a large shoebox that my son will decorate. However, The Measured Mom recommends purchasing a 12x12 craft box. (What can I say, I am one frugal mama!) I am thankful to The Measured Mom for this post. I know exactly how to teach high schoolers how to write, after all, I have done that for years; but I am quickly learning the “process” is a bit different for elementary students.  I believe she may have started a movement in writing! Will you join me in motivating your students/children to write?

Complete Writer’s Toolkit

Disclaimer: I appreciate all the hard work that goes into printables that I do not have to create. I make it a point to give credit to each person that I site in my posts; however some of these printables does not have the name of the creator or the document was unavailable when I tried to “re-find” the information for posting purposes. If you read this blog and recognize your printable, please let me know so I can give you proper credit. In this case, I do not know the creator/source of the “Writer’s Eyes” or “Stretch a Sentence.”

printables.