Wonderful Free Writing Resource for Young Writers

I was so excited to come across the Young Writer’s Survival Kit by Melissa Forney. It has been an amazing resource for our writing workshop.

UPDATE: Sorry to say, the resource below (Young Writer’s Survival Kit) is no longer available.  You might want to check out our Writing Resource Packet. It is currently free.

At times when it’s writing time, I haven’t thought of a writing mini-lesson for the day. If I pick up this little booklet, I can flip through and I’m sure to find a good, quick writing lesson.

These are fabulous writing tips for kids!

Again, the resource above is no longer available, but you might be interested in our Writing Resource Packet instead:

Today for writing workshop, I didn’t have a mini-lesson in mind so I flipped through the Young Writer’s Survival Kit booklet and we talked about similes (see the collage above).  As you can see, there was a long list of ‘as’ and ‘like’ examples. I had the kids read through and choose several to share with us that they thought were funny or interesting. Then they pulled out their writing journal and created similes of their own (3 of each).  I said that they were welcome (but not required) to use similes in their story/writing for the day.

DD came up with some good examples and then used several similes in her story.

• as cold as an ice cube;
• as crunchy as a cracker;
• as soft as a rabbit;
• She flies like a ladybug.
• He’s like a lion.
• She is like a rainbow in the sky.

Do you want to learn more about starting your own Homeschool Writing Workshop? Here are some related posts:

• Creating a Homeschool Writing Workshop – Post #1 — How/Why we needed a change in our writing program
• Creating a Homeschool Writing Workshop – Post #2: Creating a Writing Workshop Area and Materials to Have on Hand
• Creating a Writing Workshop Post #3: This post is about Mini-Lessons during writing time, mentor texts and includes reviews of 8 or 9 writing books that you might find helpful.
• Writing Resource Pack: This is a post about the 30-page pack I made for our writing workshop. Reference pages on the 6 +1 Wri ting Traits, Mini-Lessons, the types of writing, creating a powerful beginning, techniques for ending a story/paper, and so forth. (These writing resources are free to download.)

• Writing Workshop: Dr. Seuss Style: The kids and I had fun writing in the style of Dr. Seuss!
• Biography Research Paper Resource Pack

• Practical Pointers for Working with a Reluctant Writer (or any Writer)

• Writing Activity to Spark Kids’ Imagination!
• 40 Journal Writing Prompts (Free Printable)
• Animal Portfolio Project: writing, art and geography activities that go with any animals… With many activities to choose from. Writing activities include both fiction and non-fiction suggestions such as
  • • Write a speech or a letter to the president on why your animal needs protection in the wild.
  •  Menu: Create a humorous menu at a restaurant where your animals would like to eat.
•  WWII Portfolio Project

• Writing Workshop Rules! Why the Writing Workshop continues to work so well in our homeschool.

Mini-Lessons to Use in a Writing Workshop (in any order):

• Writing Workshop Mini-Lesson: Rules for Writing and the Story Writing Process — Have your kids read the Plot Chicken? We started our Writing Workshop this year off with this book. What a great buk, buk!!  In fact, I liked it so much that I created a chicken writing rules printable to go along with the book!

• What makes a good book or story?
• Make your story come alive with details and description.
• Creating Interesting Characters
• Story Openings: Set the mood or feeling of your story
• Gathering story ideas from your own life
• Alliteration and more
• Adding Details Exercise Don’t miss this one, the kids LOVED this activity!!
• Writing Workshop: Conflict in Literature (Man vs. Man, Man vs. Self, etc)
• Writing Workshop Discussion Questions
• Writing Workshop Mini-Lesson: Rules for Writing and the Story Writing Process
• Writing Scary Stories
• Writing: Literacy Depth and Complexity Icons and More

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