The Writer’s Coffeehouse is one of my favorites! It is a special celebration that brings in students and family members to build community and celebrate learning. Years ago, I used to select an evening after school then invite parents, grandparents, cousins, uncles, and basically whomever was near and dear to my students into the school to celebrate literacy. The students were obviously also in attendance and had active roles throughout the evening. Although my Writer’s Coffeehouse was always done with my homeroom class, I fervently believe it would make a great school-wide or grade-level parent night too!
Fast-forward. It’s 2016, and I took a slightly different approach than I have in the past. Since we just spent the last month administering state tests, I decided to spend some time reviewing text structures, as well as poetry, prose, and drama. The kids were eating our explorations up with a spoon, so I decided to toss in our Writer’s Coffeehouse as a culminating project. I liked that it would build upon the three texts while also giving me an opportunity to assess their speaking and listening skills. So, the preparations began.
I LOVE all things vintage, so the coffeehouse vibe is right up my alley. I brought in a few canisters from my cupboards at home, and I placed them on our small group table. The great thing about this theme is we all have things from home that we can bring in and bring home without breaking the bank. Not a fan of vintage decor? No worries! Make this your own. Bring in stuff that you have, that you love, and that doesn’t cost a small fortune for that ONE time a year that you teach this lesson!
You can see our classroom chalkboard was cheerfully decorated by students. They created abstract flowers out of coffee filters. I bought one pack from Dollar Tree, and the kids went to work! Is this the most phenomenal decor you’ve ever seen?! Probably not. Did the kids enjoy it? Absolutely. Did it add a little something extra to our special day? You bet’cha, and I loved that they didn’t monopolize instructional time in any way, shape, or form because we have been SO SHORT on extra time lately with the testing schedules, particularly because I teach two grade levels. It just goes to show that, even on the wildest weeks, you CAN pull off special projects with your kids if you make it a priority.
I’ve said it over and over again over the years. I LOVE SIMPLICITY. Teaching is so complex, multifaceted, and demanding at times. Often, really. So, that said, as much as I love a good theme, I just don’t always have the time to totally transform my room from top to bottom. To keep it simple, I created a few cute watercolor posters as a nod to coffeehouses and their witty slogans and signs. I literally just slapped them up on my anchor charts bulletin board. Nothing fancy, but it did the trick! If you had the time to go all out, they would definitely add a little somethin’-somethin’, but even if you keep it simple like I did, your students will LOVE them like mine did. You would have thought I put a sliding barn door in my classroom with a giant chalkboard menu and a stage. They kept saying, “Wow. It really does feel like a coffeehouse in here.” A little effort can go a LONG way with kids.
I just moved some things around my classroom a bit to set up a focal point in front of our SmartBoard. Students had the option of sitting on the stool or standing. Again, this was really simple, but the few decor pieces I had purchased from TJ Maxx really elevated our classroom. Even though they are always present in my room, seeing them in a new arrangement, strategically placed together to create a certain mood WORKED.
To add a little extra flair, I did a Google Image search of coffeehouses. I found one that fit my style and meshed with my classroom style, then I enlarged it and displayed it on the SmartBoard behind my students. That was a cute and FREE element that kicked things up another notch.
I had purchased these lights from Target a few years back, and I decided to place them behind the display table with two vases and faux flowers from the Dollar Tree, and two large white mugs (also from Dollar Tree) that I filled with crayons for a slight artsy feel.
I probably should have taken this photograph at the beginning of the day before the Coffeehouse ensued because it’s a little disheveled, but here’s how I set up the desks. They were pushed back toward the back of the room to allow for as much space up front as possible. They were organized into groups of two and four to approximate the feel of a cafe.
The only other thing I did to set things up was display a few more posters around our classroom to give it that eclectic collected feeling. Set-up was fairly quick and easy.
Oh my word! My students were amazing! You know how sometimes you get to the end of the year, and you give your students a task, and your students just completely run with something and show you a side to them that you’ve just never seen before? This was one of those times. My kiddos delivered. Over, and over, and over again. This is exactly why I am such a big advocate of student choice and teachers functioning as facilitators of learning. When kids have a voice, when they are passionate, when they are motivated, this perfect storm blows through, and it literally knocks your socks off. I never impose too many restrictions on the kids as far as what kind of a product they need to produce or what topic they need to write about. I’ve found that when students know they are writing for a purpose and they write about something that matters to them, it’s a beautiful thing. They exceed every expectation that you could possibly have for them. Students are invited to write poetry, reader’s theater scripts, songs, essays, biographies, personal narratives, fictional pieces, informational texts, etc. By March or April, the students have had experience writing and reading a variety of genres, so they are very prepared for this freedom. Many students perform with other students, many perform solo, and many students perform more than one text. There were poems (quatrains, cinquains, haikus, free-verse, biographical, concrete, couplets, and acrostics), songs, essays, reports, plays, narratives, and opinion-based texts present this year. It was everything I was hoping it would be, and then some.
Are you interested in seeing some examples of what they brought to the table? Here’s a tiny sampling. I seriously wish I could share all of them. I love the variety of approaches, and I love the armadillos that lined my board as a student read a report about them.
So there you have it! Our Writer’s Coffeehouse was an absolute hit…and a hoot! If you’d like to try something like this with your own class, click the image below to check out my Writer’s Coffeehouse Starter Kit. I promise, your kids will thank you for it, and you’ll have a fun, authentic way to assess speaking and listening skills in the process. Win-win!
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