Minilessons

__**Mini Lesson Basics**__ __**Mini Lesson Challenges**__
 * 5-10 minutes long
 * multi-level
 * precedes independent writing time
 * explicit instruction
 * assessment based
 * focus on procedures and organisation (routines), strategies and processes, skills, craft and techniques
 * composed of four major parts: Connection (teacher puts today's work in the context of children's ongoing work as writers and explicitly names what they'll be learning about today); Teach (explicit teaching of one important concept that will make their writing better, often drawing upon own writing, children's literature or student's writing); Active Engagement (students talk to a partner or examine their own writing for evidence of the concept); Link (encouraging students to try out the strategy in their writing that day or to add it to their toolkit of strategies)
 * handling student participation
 * keeping minilessons brief
 * teaching with clarity and purpose
 * maintaining student engagement

__**Examples of Mini Lesson Topics**__

Mini Lesson Planning Sheet

A huge number of fabulous mini-lessons and units of work []

Links to a whole year of minilesson units for a Grade One class []

Ideas for mini-lessons to launch Writers Workshop []

How to get started with Writers Workshop and mini-lessons to go with them []

Another very useful resource full of mini-lessons for Writers Workshop []

Ideas on how to assess student writing to gain ideas for possible mini-lessons []

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__**Anchor Charts**__
 * should have a single focus
 * co-constructed with the students
 * have an organised appearance
 * match the learners' developmental level
 * support ongoing learning
 * should remain on display after the mini-lesson so that students can continue to refer to them

'Anchor charts are like footprints left by the learning journey we have undertaken with our students'.

__**Some examples of anchor charts**__

[] Has some good photos of anchor charts used in a Kindergarten classroom

[] Also has a range of anchor chart photos