IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Monica and Sascha design their Spacemen.

We just began a new unit for Writer’s Workshop: Writer’s Write for an Audience. In talking about an audience reading back our books, our class started a discussion on using space in between our words when we write. We looked at two examples of Mrs. Argus’ writing. The first was “all mashed together” (as Messi said) and it looked “sloppy” (said Aidan). We looked at the second example of writing, which the class concluded was “much better” because there was space between words, or as we call it, finger space, and you “didn’t have to read it all fast” (Hutton) . I told the kids they would have an additional tool to help them leave finger space instead of just a finger- THE SPACEMAN! The spaceman is a little man (or woman) drawn onto a craft stick. This person encourages you to leave space by being inserted between words in your writing. The spaceman can be used again and again in any book and is a friendly reminder to write for your audience!

Sascha uses her spaceman to write.

Monica and Ruth try partner reading for the first time today during Reader's Workshop.

Tags: creativity, writing

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