Growing Writers
A writing curriculum for K-2 that will reduce your stress level and make teaching writing a joy!
Are you being handed writing lessons that your students are not ready for?
Do you feel frustrated by the lack of basic skills your students have?
Are you confused about how to teach writing?
Do you skip teaching writing because it seems too hard?
It’s not your lack of ability… it’s the curriculum!
Most mainstream curriculum has been generated quickly, for profit, and is written for the “average” student. The learning needs of students who move slower or faster are not taken into account.
Growing Writers developed over many years in response to the needs of real kids. Each lesson was revised and refined until it worked for all students, not just a few.
“One of my kindergartners said to me, ‘Tell that teacher who made these writing books, she did a good job!’”
-Jon S., Tumwater, WA
With Growing Writers, you will…
Growing Writers gives step-by-step, explicit instruction in each skill that young writers need.
It will walk you through each lesson so that you learn how to teach writing as your students get the skills they need.
Most curriculum has vague, general learning objectives for a week or a unit. Or, even worse, no specific learning objectives, only end of year standards the lesson is based on.
With Growing Writers, each lesson has specific objectives that are clear and make sense. The order in which skills are introduced is respectful of how children learn and reduces cognitive overload.
“The teacher’s guide is very easy to follow. I don’t have to look at it too far ahead of time and, realistically, sometimes that’s necessary. It’s written in a teacher’s voice and it feels very natural to read. Sometimes it even feels comforting.”
-Jessica H., first grade, Tumwater WA.
Do you have a huge range in skill level in your class? Of course you do!
Most classrooms have children whose abilities are either a year or two behind and a year or two above grade level. This is one of the main reasons that teachers must spend their spare time modifying or altering lessons or planning small group instruction. Most curriculum is written for the average student, which is 30-40% of your class.
Growing Writers has a unique design called the “expandable lesson”. Each lesson has a basic skills component and a creative challenge. Everyone does both, but your experienced writers will spend less time on the basic skills section, and novice writers will take longer to complete the basic skills assignment. When students are truly getting their learning needs met, everyone is engaged.
If you are tired of seeing some kids end the school year with very little progress in writing…
If writing time is chaotic in your room and kids are off-task…
If some of your students are bored or frustrated with writing…
If you want to be sure your students are prepared for the academic challenges ahead…
then Growing Writers is for you!
I spent 20 years researching and developing this program so that you wouldn’t have to put in the work of figuring out how to teach writing.
“I have used the Growing Writers program for 3 years in my first grade classroom. I like that it meets the needs of the highest and lowest writers in my room. I feel good that each lesson has clear learning objectives which correlate to ELA standards for writing. The booklets are easy to share with parents. Teaching Growing Writers is the part of my day that I look forward to the most! I am sure many of my students would agree!"
-Jeni E., Olympia, WA.
Each grade level includes:
Teachers Guide
Workbook masters so you can print workbooks for your class
BONUS! Free training videos for Growing Writers!
Understand the why and how behind Growing Writers in more depth.
See writing samples from real kids and get practical tips on good teaching practices.
The twelve videos are an average of 12-13 minutes each in length.
“I am beyond thrilled with the progress my first graders are making since I implemented your Growing Writers curriculum. My students are enjoying writing and feel successful with the structure the lessons provide. Every student is expressing themselves in writing and gaining confidence each week. In a recent PLC meeting, a teacher colleague commented about the sentence variety that my students are using in their writing.
The lessons are simple and just make sense. Thank you for creating a curriculum that develops confidence and brings enjoyment to young writers! My students were engaged from the first lesson. Teaching writing is a joy.”
-Amy D., Spotsylvania, VA
Studies show that students who are behind academically in third grade rarely catch up, and this will affect their entire school experience, and what their options are after high school. With the right tools in hand, you can be a teacher who helps to close the achievement gap.
You can stop trying what “might” work, and just do what DOES work to keep your entire class on track for writing success. As a K-2 teacher, a child’s school success rests on the foundation you provide.
Growing Writers will help you:
✔️ Reclaim your sanity around writing instruction.
✔️ See how easy writing time can be when all students’ needs are met.
✔️ Easily assess where students are with writing skills.
✔️ Share progress with families in the form of student workbooks (which also become keepsakes!).
✔️ Teach all your students without searching the internet for alternate work for some.
In 1999, writing time in my kindergarten room was a disaster.
I was following the advice of the experts which was to have my students draw pictures and label them.
Okay, so here’s what that would look like in my room:
Six kids with hands up because they don’t know the letters for the sounds they need, two kids fighting over crayons, one under the table crying because he couldn’t draw, two calling to me about the kid under the table, four drawing and loudly talking, and five on task with drawing and labeling.
Handwriting wasn’t sticking either. At the end of the year, I still had plenty of students making letters all kinds of strange ways even after weekly Rainbow Writing lessons. What to do?
I had to seriously ask myself how much learning was actually going on, and the answer was “not much”.
At first, I just started to develop more focused and explicit handwriting lessons. When I saw the great results I was getting from this type of instruction, I started adding other elements to the lessons.
Over the next 20 years, I put in thousands of hours designing lessons, teaching them, throwing out many things that didn’t work, and tweaking lessons until they went smoothly, for kindergarten (7 year process), first grade (7 years), and second grade (6 years).
I did all this because it made teaching writing so much fun, and I wanted it to be that way for every teacher.
FAQs
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Growing Writers is purposely designed not to cover every day of the school year, because teachers often have other writing activities that are required or that we love to do. However, it is best to frontload the school year by using Growing Writers exclusively 3-5 times per week, which is about half to three quarters of the school year. The basic skills that students have after completing the program will make a huge difference in their success with other writing projects.
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Absolutely! Growing Writers can be used with students up to age 10 with no sense of anything “baby-ish”. The workbooks are simple and without any language implying an age level. It is perfect for small group instruction.
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One of the wonderful things about Growing Writers is that the lessons are fun, so even if there is some review for your child, they will still get enjoyment from it. It is better to err on the side of easier than harder, since the program is about mastery and confidence, and cognitive overload (too much new information at once) can actually slow down progress.
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Materials are shipped within 48 hours of your order and are shipped media mail. Media mail delivers in about 3-7 days, depending on how far away you live from Washington State.
If you have a large bulk order, please contact me.
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Yes, you can order a packet of new masters on the Order page.
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I’m getting there! This will be an option, but there are a few details to work out, so for now - thanks for being patient.
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Invest in peace of mind and satisfaction!
While your fellow teachers are scrambling for writing lessons on a Sunday afternoon, you can relax with your family, knowing your Growing Writers teacher’s guide is sitting open on your desk at school, all ready for the next perfect writing time!
While other teachers are fretting over their students’ ability to write, you can take joy in seeing constant progress, even from the lowest writers!
When you see the statistics of failure in reading and writing, you can know that you have taken the right steps to close the achievement gap. Remember, writing and reading go hand in hand, and by boosting writing skills you are helping reading scores also.