Heart Maps

The most effective way to let students know you care about them as writers is to allow them to write about what they know a lot about, what is important to them. Typically in grades 2-up students compile a list of what they know a lot about, what is important to them in what is referred to as "Writing Territories." For our youngest writers, "territories" may be too complex for them to wrap their brains around.
Here is a really great example of how Miss Sarah and Miss Beth honored their Kindergarten writers by assisting them in creating "Heart Maps". These maps are what the students know a lot about, what is important to them. The process entailed the teachers sitting with their individual students to discuss what they know a lot about, what is important to them and then the teachers searched on-line for the images, copied, and pasted them onto the heart.
These maps are kept in the student's writing notebooks as a point of reference when choosing writing topics.
Please contact your literacy coach to learn more about Miss Sarah and Miss Beth's process.