Sunday, September 2, 2012

The Daily Edit--Make Your Morning Work Meaningful!

So this is an idea I actually got from my own second grade teacher.  And no, she didn't tell me about it recently.  I actually remember this from second grade!  As a part of our morning work, there would either be a passage written on the blackboard or on chart paper.  This was "The Daily Edit."  In the passage, there would be different mistakes that each student needed to individually find and fix at his or her seat.  The passage was usually short enough, and the difficulty got increasingly harder as the year went on.  At first it covered simple things like capitalization, using periods, and the recognition of spelling in sight words, but it proceeded to cover other things that we covered in class.  It actually made morning work meaningful because it allowed students to apply their knowledge of structure in an analytical way.  This also helps with students' own writing skills because they have the practice in editing that can tranlate to self-editing.  It is also great for classroom management and structure, because students will know exactly what to do when they come in the classroom!

Here is an example of what a Daily Edit would look like.  This particular example asks students to use their knowledge of the structure of a letter, as well as some spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors. 

Please feel free to give feedback or let me know of some of your morning work strategies!