End of Year Writing Reflections

 
I can't believe the end of the year is so close!  We love to give students time to reflect on their writing growth by keeping their writing throughout the year and giving students time to notice their changes as a writer.
It's so easy!

First, we keep all writing throughout the year.  We feel it's important to keep parents informed on student work, so we send home copies of scored with rubrics each month.  We also believe in giving students an authentic audience so we mail copies or digital work to organizations as often as possible.  However, all the originals stay in a bucket in the corner of our classroom.

Last week, we passed this back to students.  They loved looking at their writing from August and September.  It was so fun to see them laughing about how much they've grown.  Students completed this quick reflection sheest (available for you to use!)

The came the best part.  We gave each student a pizza box, a clean pizza box.  Little Ceasar's donated them with just a phone call.  No questions asked!

Kids got to decorrate their pizza box as their portfolio and all of their writing (even the extra large pieces) fit nicely inside.  Parents and kids loved this and it was so easy!

What great ways do you help students reflect on their growth throughout the year?