Writing in Kindergarten Prairie Central CUSD 8 Teachers’ Institute February 15, 2008 Mrs. Donna Folwell

In the Beginning Demonstration - The concept of print and conventions needed in writing are a large focus for much of the writing in Kindergarten. We write class stories, thank-you notes, lists, and construct the Morning Message in front of the class. Many of us use predictable charts, songs, poems, and Morning Message to demonstrate sentence structure.

Morning Message Teacher is scribe. Teacher models sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation, etc. Evolves into an interactive writing activity. Student fills in the blanks in the message. Other activities using the writing to demonstrate concepts of print, etc. Cunningham, P.M. & Hall, D.P. (2003). Reading, Writing, and Phonics for Kindergarten (rev. ed.). Greensboro, NC: Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc.

Morning Message

Predictable Charts Establishes a structured experience to ensure success for each student. Contributes to the development of prior knowledge base. Develops high-frequency word vocabulary through repetition. Hall, D.P. & Williams, E. (2000). The Teacher's Guide to Building Blocks. Greensboro, NC: Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc.

Predictable Charts

Journals Writing and math journals 3-5 times weekly Implemented during whole group and center times “Free-write” and prompts given Assessed authentically Majority-concepts and conventions based

Journal Example

Another Journal Example

Other Writing Activities… Name writing journals - Monthly (assess progression of legibility/formation). Morning notebooks - Practice notebooks used to develop writing environment (letters, high- frequency words, word families, and simple sentences). Evolve into “free-write” journals. Sentence strips - Often used from the predictable charts (cut apart and student arranges in order). Songs and poems - We write out frequently used poems and songs. Students visualize the words and phrases as they sing and recite. Writing the room - Students gain vocabulary and word awareness with this activity.

Book Making Creating books is a way that many Kindergarten students become familiar with print concepts and the conventions of text. Blank books are available at choice time for students to create independently. Themed books are created in various situations (letters, high-frequency words, word families and other discipline specific lessons). Class books are made from predictable charts.

Writer’s Workshop Introduce a concept and follow up with an individual conference after they’ve ‘journaled’ in writing center. Continues to be more ‘mechanics’ driven for the majority of students. A few are ready to create imaginatively on their own at this stage (March). Focus is not on the writing process (pre-write, rough draft, edit, publish).

Kindergarten Writing Rubric Writing StageContent Understanding of Print Conventions of Print Spelling Fluent Writer Uses detailed writings and drawings outlining events of the story Uses details that build upon each other throughout the writing. Consistently uses spaces between words. Writes recognizable sentences. Print is written left-to-right on the page. Uses uppercase and lowercase letters appropriately most of the time. Uses some punctuation. Period placement is consistent. Correctly spells some high-frequency words. Each speech sound is represented in words. Emergent Writer Draws pictures that match story. Begins to show a beginning, middle, end to story. Uses details in the story. Uses spaces between words most of the time. Print is written left-to-right on the page. Uses uppercase and lowercase letters inconsistently. Randomly uses periods, sometimes as ending punctuation. Uses beginning and ending consonant sounds. Uses some consonant sounds found in the middle of words. Uses some vowel sounds. Uses approximations in spelling. Early Writer Draws pictures with little detail to represent thoughts. Begins to label pictures with words. Uses spaces between words inconsistently. Writing is random, found all over the place. Some copied words beginning to appear. Uses uppercase letters. Randomly uses punctuation. Uses one letter to represent a word, usually a consonant. Prewriter Draws to convey meaning. Dictation writing does not always match drawing. Uses strings of letters. Writing is random, found all over the page. Scribbles. Inconsistent letter formation. Punctuation is not used. Writes own name. Writes letters, but with no sound-to-letter correspondence. Leuenberger, C.J. (2003). The New Kindergarten; Teaching Reading, Writing & More. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

Online Resources NCTE – Elementary WritingNCTE Writing Activities – Kindergarten Writing ActivitiesWriting Activities Writing Resources – Several templates for writingWriting Resources Kindergarten Corner – ISBEKindergarten Corner Elementary Writing – Many different resourcesElementary Writing