Writer's Eyes for Students

Each of my students has a writing folder. The folders are the heavy-duty plastic kind with three prongs. Inside there is a sheet protector with their heart map. My kiddos loved this. (I got the idea from Mrs. Carroll over at The First Grade Parade. You can check out her awesome heart maps here.) Then I redid Debbie Candau's Writer's Eyes. (Click here to see her version and here to see mine. Side note--I absolutely love her polka dot border. If I ever get tired of the bee theme, I am so doing polka dots.) My kids love this too. But... they weren't really applying it to their own writing as I had hoped. So, I made this cute copy to put in a sheet protector in their writing folder along with their heart map.

{click here to get a copy}

I gave each student a paper clip to slip over the Writer's Eyes paper in their folder. They put the paperclip on Writer's Eye 1 and check their paper for that rule (capital letters at the beginning of sentences). Next they draw an eye in the top left corner of their paper and put the number one after it. Then they slide the paperclip down to 2, check their paper for "finger spaces", and put a 2 in the corner of their paper by the eye. This continues until they are done checking for all nine of the Writer's Eyes rules. Once they finish, they are able to turn their paper in. I can quickly see who has (supposedly) checked their writing. My class has been SO excited to do this and they think the paperclip slide on the paper is the coolest thing ever! I've tried a LOT of different ways to get my students over the years to check their writing before turning it in and I have to say, so far, this is a keeper in my book. And then, drum roll please, I let them keep the paperclip on their paper in their writing folder for next time. The kids cheered! Can you believe it? By the way, I bought the large, colored clips from the Dollar Tree. The kids have asked everyday if we are using our Writer's Eyes for checking today. Love it!