Teaching writing to young students presents unique challenges, such as aiding in writing planning, organizing resources, providing suitable writing tools, accommodating diverse abilities, and ensuring the publishing process is accessible for young learners.

To address these hurdles, I've crafted an efficient and straightforward method: homemade booklets. These self-assembled, staple-bound booklets gather all the materials students require for a writing project into a single, orderly system, including graphic organizers, draft pages, anchor charts, revision aids, and editing checklists.

This strategy supports the writing process from initial ideas to final publication, keeps all resources centralized, caters to various learning needs, and encourages young authors to create work they are excited to present.

In this article, I will detail my approach: planning your booklet's content, tailoring it to your students' diverse needs, and distributing it to your students. I will use the Realistic Fiction Writing unit I've taught to first and second graders as an example.

Begin with reverse planning

Determine the key competencies and benchmarks you want your students to achieve by the unit's end. In my Realistic Fiction unit, I concentrate on the narrative fiction structure, character development through life lessons, and narratives enriched with transition words. These objectives guide my selection of graphic organizers, anchor charts, and writing supports for the booklet.

Rachel Scheer

After a lesson on story structure using a story arc, students use the booklet's planning pages to map out their narratives. They are guided in planning the Beginning (main character and desires, setting), Middle—Problem (obstacles to desires), and Ending—Solution (resolution of desires) by utilizing a story arc graphic organizer. This alignment ensures students have the necessary tools at every stage.

Rachel Scheer

When students are ready to draft, I follow the same procedure. I teach a lesson on narrative writing with transition words and point out the transition word anchor chart in their booklet's drafting section. On the "Beginning" drafting page, writers can select from a list of transition words and phrases, such as "One day," "First," "It all started with," etc., and incorporate their choice into their draft.

Gather materials

Collect resources that align with your unit's goals, such as graphic organizers, anchor charts, writing paper, and editing checklists. Utilize materials from your school's curriculum or other reliable sources, and customize them if they do not fully address your students' needs.

For instance, to teach character change through a narrative, I created a graphic organizer for young writers to plan a "life lesson" and a list of common life lessons for realistic fiction—truth-telling, contentment, the importance of loved ones, perseverance, etc.

Differentiate for a variety of learners

Customize booklets to fit the diverse needs in your classroom. The beauty of DIY booklets is the ability to adjust the content or structure to meet each writer's individual needs, abilities, and learning styles, while maintaining the unit's overarching objectives. Here are some examples:

Advanced learners might receive a more complex story arc (planning for rising/falling action, additional conflicts, secondary characters, etc.).

Students with dysgraphia might benefit from extra spelling and handwriting support in their booklets.

Emerging writers may require larger picture boxes for prewriting activities.

Differentiating booklets is particularly beneficial for split-grade classes, ensuring all students are appropriately challenged and supported. The booklets have the same cover, but interior pages may differ to accommodate individual needs, fostering a sense of inclusion.

Assemble and publish the booklets

Organize your resources into a coherent booklet. A standard booklet includes:

A cover/title page

Planning and brainstorming pages

Drafting pages

Revision tools (e.g., anchor charts, checklists)

Editing checklists

An optional rubric at the end

Rachel Scheer

To create the booklet, print double-sided pages and staple them along the long edge for a book-like opening.

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