Just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing...

Do you remember Dory from Finding Nemo?  Who can forget the lovable absent minded fish who told Nemo to "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming".  Well she popped into my head last week because I've noticed that the majority of my students stop writing when they get stuck and wait for me to come see them.  There are many resources at their fingertips that I want them to use: the Word Wall, their Word Book, their "How Do You Spell?" sheet, and magnetic letters...but they don't try and then keep writing.  I joked with them that we needed to be like Dory but instead of 'swimming', we should add 'writing'.  They thought it was funny, but it stuck with them and I heard them saying it later in the week.  So I created a little magnet sign that I'll put up on the whiteboard during writing time.