Subject:  Writing

Grade Level:  Kindergarten

Recommended Timeframe or Quarter:  Beginning of Quarter 1

Instructional Unit Title:  Telling Our Stories

Approximate Duration (# Days): 15-20 days

Enduring Understandings

Reading, writing, speaking, and listening allow us to communicate what we know and understand about the world around us.

Strategies in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing are necessary to access and understand a variety of materials.

Essential Questions

• Why is it important to be able to read, write, draw, speak, and listen proficiently? 
• How does sharing what we know and listening to other people help us?
• Why are the sounds and letters in words so important?
• Why do we need to understand and communicate with print?

Highest Frequency Standards:
Reading and Writing Standards

Standard 2:  Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.

In Kindergarten this looks like: 

• generating topics and developing ideas for a variety of writing and speaking purposes
• organizing their speaking and writing
• choosing vocabulary that communicates their messages clearly and precisely.

Standard 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

Standard 6:  Students read and recognize literature as a record of the human experience.

Other Essential Questions and Standards Addressed

• How have I grown and changed over time?
• How are we alike?    
• How are we different? 
• How am I unique? 
• How am I special?

History Standards

Standard 1:  Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships.

Benchmark A:  Students now the general chronological order of events and people in history
Standard 3:  Students understand that societies are diverse and change over time.
Benchmark B:  Students understand the history of social organization in various societies.

Overview:

This unit was designed to take what you come to school able to do—converse and tell stories.  The lessons that follow will help you to change your spoken words into pictures and written words.  The initial lessons will produce little written work, but the time and energy taken to develop the skill of storytelling will pay off later in the quality and quantity of your writing.

Note to Teachers:  Please take a moment to review the lessons titles and objectives.  There certainly is some flexibility in the order that you do the lessons.  Use them according to your needs.  Also the book, Talking, Drawing, Writing Lessons for Our Youngest Writers by Martha Horn & Mary Ellen Giacobbe would be a great resource.  It gives you lots of insight and perspective on the lessons presented, as well as ideas for supplementing the lessons included below.  Also I’ve included a lot of different tools and resources for you to use at your discretion.  I have included them for your convenience, but they are not a necessity.

Content of Kindergarten Writing Unit

“Telling Our Stories”

Lesson 1-3  Making Connections

Lesson 4 & 5 Student Connect and Tell

Lesson 6 & 7 Using Materials and Writing Our Names

Lesson 8 Learning to Draw People

Lesson 9 People—Exemplar Review and More Practice

Lesson 10  A Good Picture?

Lesson 11  Drawing the Whole Picture

Lesson 12 & 13 Drawing and Writing Book

Lesson  14 Details and Editing

Lesson 15 Sharing/Evaluation

Lesson 1-3

Title:  Making Connections

·         Teacher models the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

            Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea

            Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator RWlllC1:  Listen to others writing/speaking and share       

            their own ideas through writing/speaking.

·         Materials Needed:  "My Hands" by Cheryl Willis Hudson (Treasures Reading Series—Macmillian McGraw-Hill Reading Series--Smart Start Week 2, Day 1)

Hook:  Authors are people who write about something that they know.  What do you know?  Could you tell a story?

Lesson:  Today your teacher will read you a story.  The person who writes a story is called the author.  The author of a story tells us about something they know about.   Today you need to listen to the story to figure out what the author of this book knows about.  Hint:  What was the story about?

Your teacher will read you a story called “My Hands”.  After the story is over, your teacher will ask you what the story was about.  If you are having a hard time figuring this out, she may ask you what you remember from the story.  To help you she may review the title and walk through the pictures again.  The teacher will then tell you that since the author wrote about hands, she must know a lot about hands, because that is what author’s do—write about what they know.

Now listen to your teacher as she tells you a story of her own.  “As I was reading “My Hands” I found myself thinking that I can do all of those things with my hands too.  I bet the author really likes to use her hands.  I also like to use my hands, but you know what part of my body I like to use even more?  My feet!  Feet let me do so many fun things.  Feet can run.  They can kick.  My favorite thing to do with my feet is play soccer.  They are also ticklish.  Feet help me to climb ladders. But most importantly my feet take me to all the places I want to go.”  Do you like feet?  What body part might you tell about if you were writing a story?

Teacher note:  If you have students who might be sensitive about their feet or legs due to a disability, chose some other body part or maybe tell a different story about what you can do with your hands.

Closure:  So what did the author of the book “My Hands” know about?  What did I tell my story about?  So what did I know about?

Assessment:  Informal formative assessment based on student’s ability to connect with text.  Could they tell what the story was about?  Could they answer the question “What body part might you tell about if you were writing the story?”

Extension:  Another possible activity you could do to check for understanding and help students build connections is have each student complete the sentence, “My hands can_________.” or “My feet can ___________.”  Attached you will find activity sheets to go with this lesson.  They include pictures of hands or feet depending on the sentence.  After students have completed their sentence with your help, they can go back and color their hands or feet the correct color (give them skin toned crayons or pencils to complete this task).  These pages could then be bound together to make a class book.

Lessons 2 and 3 should be a repeat of this process but with different books.  You can do it with other books in the Treasures series, but it can be easily done with any read aloud.  Before moving on to the next lessons, you want to have modeled story telling at least 3 separate times.  Of course the more you model it, the better. 

Teacher note:  Obviously this lesson is going to be a lot of modeling.  The purpose of this lesson isn’t to have students tell you a story, but rather for you to take opportunities to weave story telling into your day.  Help students see that stories are a part of our lives.  I have attached a list of the stories and books that go with the Treasures (Macmillan McGraw-Hill) reading curriculum and also listed some possible connecting points that you could make to your own life and thereby tell a story.  These are simply suggestions and give you some guidance if you are unfamiliar with this process.  In general I think teachers do this very. Of course you can take other stories that you use for read alouds and follow the general design of the lesson. Modeling how to figure out what the author knows about and also drawing your own connections with the text should be modeled several times (at least 3 or 4 times) before embarking on Lesson 4 where students starts to tell their own stories.

Lesson 4 & 5

Title:  Student Connect and Tell

·         Teacher and students will practice the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators: Teacher models the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

            Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator RWlllC1:  Listen to others writing/speaking and share               their own ideas through writing/speaking.

·         Materials Needed:  Book: Whose Baby Am I? (Macmillan McGraw-Hill, Treasures Unit 1, Week 1) OR another book  that it would be easy for student to connect with.

Hook: Today we are going to read a story.  Remember a story is written by an author.  Authors write about things that they know about.  After I read the story today, we will figure out what the author knew about, you will have a chance to tell a story about something that you know.

Lesson:  The story that we are reading today is Whose Baby Am I?  by John Butler   Listen carefully as your teacher reads the story.  See if you can figure out what the author knows about.  When you teacher is finished, she will ask, “So what did the author know about?” or “What was the story about?”  Work together to figure out what the story was about and therefore what the author knew about.  The author in this story knew about_____________.  Your teacher then tells you her own story:  “When I was little I lived on a farm.  Every so often one of our cats would have kittens.  She would always hide them to keep them safe.  We would have to spy on her to figure out where she had hidden them.  When we found them, we would play and play with them.  They were so soft and cute.  Sometimes they would play and wrestle with each other and sometimes they would chase a string.  Baby kittens are so much fun.”  Now it’s your turn to tell a story.  Your teacher will break you into small groups.  Everyone will get a chance to tell their story.

Teacher Note:  Student sharing can happen in a couple different ways.  You can go around the circle and give each student a chance to share.  The disadvantage of this is a lot of sitting still and listening time.  You could do it this way but maybe break it up into different part of the day.  Small groups are probably your best option.  While you meet and listen to a group of students have the other students working on quiet activities that encourage fine motor control and development like play dough, cutting, puzzles, coloring, etc.  That way they will need little help from you and probably be quite focused.  Another way to run the small groups would be to ask support personnel from you building or parents to come in for 20-30 minutes and listen to stories.  This isn’t support that you will need all quarter, but it might be a good way for students to get to know other teachers or “helpers” in the building.  The most important pieces of this storytelling time are that children are being listened to attentively by an adult and that students are getting to listen to each others stories.  Some students will come to school telling stories, others will really need to be encouraged and prompted at the beginning.  A sample student response might only be a sentence or two long OR it might be a word or two that you have to help them expand upon or model putting in a sentence.  Sometimes your student might not be able to come up with anything connected to the story or the topic your are talking about so you might have to just comment on something they told you earlier, something they are wearing, or ask them something about their day so far.

Closure:  Remind students that today they did what authors do—they told about something they know about.  Did they enjoy it?  How did it make them feel to share?  Did they enjoy listening to each other’s stories?

Assessment: Was the student able to come up with their own idea?  Did the student speak in complete sentences?  Did the student’s story make sense?  

Remediation:  Some students may have a difficult time speaking in complete sentences.  This is something that will improve with time, practice and modeling.  You may need to spend more time speaking and working with these students.  Having them bring pictures from home or taking pictures in class and having them tell what is going on in that picture would be a great way of practicing.

Lesson 5 is a repeat of Lesson 4, but with a different book.  Again the primary objective is to give students a chance to tell their stories.  Some children may require more practice than just two times, that is up to the teacher’s discretion.

Teacher Note:  By answering the assessment questions you will quickly be able to determine who is ready to move on in their writing and which students will need extra practice and help putting their stories together.  There is a Storytelling Checklist that you can use to monitor student progress in storytelling.

Lesson 6 & 7

Title:  Using Materials and Writing Our Names

·         Students will practice the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators in this lesson:

         Standard 2, Benchmark A & B

·         Materials Needed:  Pencils and crayons, name sheets (Put the student’s name 5 times on each sheet—one for each student and one for the teacher.  You can create these at www.softschools.com/handwriting/practice).

Hook:  Why are names important?

Teacher Note:  Prior to doing this activity you will want to have taken some time talking about using the materials on their tables or desks.  Talk not only about how to use the materials, but also remember to discuss how to talk to each other and communicate our needs to each other.  I review parts of this at the beginning of this lesson, but the primary objective is to practice writing their names.

Lesson:  Today we are going to talk about and practice using the things that are at your tables to write our names.  At each table we have crayons and pencils.  Whenever you use these things you need to make sure you return them to where you found them.  Why is it important to put things back where you found them?  What should you do if you can’t reach something that you need?  What if someone is using something that you want to use?  How should you hold a crayon?  A pencil?  As the teacher asks these questions students will give their answers and listen to each other.   After some discussion, it is time to move on to practicing how we use pencils and crayons, as well as how we work together with other people at our tables.  The teacher will explain that it is now time for students to practice using pencils and crayons.  You and your classmates will each get a special piece of paper with your name on it five times.  You will need to listen carefully to the directions that your teacher gives you.  First your teacher will tell you to get a red crayon and point to the first word at the top of your paper.  Once everyone is pointing to the correct place the teacher will tell them they are going to trace this first word with a red crayon. (The teacher will model this with her own name, starting at the top of each letter using her own practice sheet.)  Once you have finished tracing your name, you should put your crayon away and place your folded hands on the table while you wait for others to finish.  The teacher explains that when your hands are folded where she can see them, she is able to tell when you and your classmates are ready to move on.   The teacher will repeat this process with the rest of the words (names) using blue, yellow, and black.  On the very last line, your teacher will tell you to use a pencil to write/trace your name.  (Lesson 7 is to repeat this activity but use the colors brown, green, orange, and pink.)

Closure:  What word did we practice writing today?  Why is it important for us to know this word?  Did we practice anything else today?

Assessment:  The teacher will observe students basic literacy skills in regards to page orientation, where the beginning of a word is, how they hold a pencil/crayon, hand used, letter formation, and writing dexterity.  There is a Basic Skills Overview spread sheet for you to use to record what you observe. 

Teacher Note:  This practice name sheet would be a good sheet to make several copies of or laminate for repeated practice.  Once students understand the expectation, it could be used as a center when other students are meeting with you to tell their stories.

Extension:  Share with students how all of their names start with a big letter, we call it a capital letter.  All of the other letters are smaller and called lowercase letters.

Lesson 8

Title:  Learning to Draw People

·         Teacher and students will practice the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

      Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator RWllB7:  Produce a rough draft

·         Materials Needed:  Student drawing paper (folded in half), large piece of chart paper or construction paper for teacher to model, pencils, mirrors (some small ones would be good, but having a full length one would also be beneficial)

Hook:  If you couldn’t talk, would you still be able to tell a story?  How?

Lesson:  Do you think pictures are an important part of a story?  Why?  There are two very important things that every good picture in a book must have—characters (who is in the story) and setting (where the story happens).  Today we are going to practice drawing people.  First your teacher will give you a piece of paper that is folded in half.  She asks you not to open the paper up, but just draw on the paper as it was given to you.  You have 2 minutes to draw a person on the paper.  During this time the teacher is walking around watching you and other students draw their people.  She is asking students to tell her about their person and encouraging early finishers to remember how to show that they are finished (hands folded on their paper with supplies put away).  Once the two minutes are up, the teacher will ask you to put your pencil away and nicely fold your hands on top of your paper so that she knows you are ready to move on.  She starts by making a few comments about some of the good things that she saw in various students drawing.  Next your teacher asks you to listen and watch as she draws a person. She explains that she is going to use a variety of shapes to draw a person.  When she is finished everyone will get a chance to try and make a person like hers.

The teacher proceeds to explain that when she makes a person, she uses a bunch of ovals and circles.  She begins by drawing a circle at the top of the page.   Next she draws a bigger oval shape touching the bottom of the first circle.  At this point she asks the children to guess what parts of the body she has drawn so far.  Once it is clear that she has drawn the head and torso, she asks “What is missing?”  Next she adds the arms and legs.  She points out that when you look at your arm it has two parts, not just one.  So she uses two small, thin ovals to make each arm (upper and lower arm)  Then she points out that when you look at your leg it also has two parts, not just one, so she makes another two thin ovals to make each leg (upper and lower leg).    Finally the teacher draws a line that touches the bottom of the person’s feet.  She asks students why they think she did that.  After they give her their ideas, she goes on to explain that she calls it a ground line and it gives the person somewhere to stand.  People don’t float around, they walk around, and when you walk around your feet have to be touching something.  When your teacher is finished with this, she asks you to flip your paper back over because now it is your turn to try.  Your teacher starts with a new piece of paper and piece by piece you both draw a person.  When you are finished, your teacher will ask, “What kind of details could we add?”  At this time you might add ears, eyes, nose, a mouth, hair, hands, feet, and maybe clothes.

Closure: Now look at the person you drew before and the one we drew together.  Which one do you like better?  Why?

Follow Up and Assessment:  The teacher will post her picture somewhere in the classroom where it can be seen.  Later that day or the next day the teacher will refer back to her picture and ask students to help her label the picture. 

Extensions: 1. As the teacher draws and/or labels the different parts of the body the students touch or move that part of themselves.  2.  After reading a story, have students draw a character from the story.  It will be a glimpse of their comprehension, great practice drawing, and you could ask further questions to gain further perspective on their understanding.  This also would be a great beginning step towards students connecting their writing to the text.

Teacher Notes:  You may decide that you would rather do lesson 5 first.  I chose to put lesson 4 first in order to get a baseline of where students are in their writing skills upon arriving in Kindergarten.  While students are drawing their people, this might be a good time to get out the Basic Skills checklist from lessons 6 & 7 and make some more notes.  You can take this lesson as far as you want to.  The primary reason for this lesson was to give students the knowledge and tools to draw people that look real.  We have all had people drawn in our classrooms that are simply a head with arms and legs coming out of it or their parts were so disoriented we had a hard time figuring out which end was up.  Of course there is always more that you can do with this in terms of teaching students how to draw people in motion, from the side, adding details like kinds of hair, glasses, clothes, etc.  How much time and effort you decide to put into this is completely up to you.  Also when assessing, it is your call if stick people with all their parts are proficient or not.  Finally, the last extension activity is great practice drawing people, but also it connects with the social studies standard associated with family and it encourages attention to detail.  This might be another good center activity during story telling time or at the listening center..

Lesson 9

Title:  People—Exemplar Review and More Practice

·         Teacher and students will practice the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

      Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator RWllB7:  Produce a rough draft

·         Materials Needed:  Pre-made student sketch books (cut 6 pieces of 8 ½ x 11 paper in half and put a construction paper cover on it), copies of Drawing Good People Scoring Sheet, pencils, crayons, mirrors, (some small ones would be good, but having a full length one would also be beneficial), copies of 4 different people exemplars ( I have included a variety of choices, I would suggest presenting just the black and white ones first to focus on getting all the body parts, before using the color ones, but this of course is up to your discretion.)

Hook:  Display student examples before beginning lesson.  The teacher tells students to think about what is good about these pictures and what was forgotten or needs to be fixed.

Lesson:  Yesterday we talked about and practiced making people.  Today we are going to look at some people that other kindergarteners have drawn and talk about them.  One of the ways that we learn is that we look at other peoples work.  We talk about what they did well and what they need to work on.  In front of you there are 4 pictures of people that kindergarteners have drawn from another class.  Before I talk about the pictures I want you to decide which picture you like the best and put your sticky note on it.  The teacher calls students 2 or 3 at a time to come up and put their sticky note above or below their favorite picture.    Now the teacher looks at where most of the sticky notes are and then puts that picture first.  All the remaining pictures are put in order from the most sticky notes to the least.  Next the teacher asks the students to tell what they liked about the first picture most.  After students have shared their ideas, the teacher presents the Drawing a Good Person Score Sheet.  Together the teacher and students talk about the good parts and the things that the illustrator forgot or needs to do a little better for each picture.  Before moving on to the next picture, they fill out a scoring sheet for each paper. 

Closure:  The teacher asks you which score/face they would like to get on their paper.  How can you make sure they get that?

Assessment:  Your teacher will give you a sketchbook.  She will tell you to draw one person from your family on the first page.  She will fill out the scoring sheet for that person.

Extension:  1. After students have completed the picture of their person, give them time to show a friend.  The friend should do what we had done in class:  tell what is good about the picture and then tell one thing that could be done to make it better.  2.  Students can continue to draw people from their families in their sketchbook.  Encourage them to draw only one person per page.  Once a few people have been drawn, have them chose one that they want you to fill out a score sheet on. 3.  Repeat this activity again at a different time using different student examples.

Teacher Note:  I have always struggled with how to encourage students to give each other feedback.  I never want anyone’s feelings to get hurt, but I also have seen the tremendous impact student conferencing can have on student work.  There is also the piece that I simply don’t have enough time to conference with everyone as much as they want and need.  So my aim is to incorporate and encourage this dialogue between myself and students and student to student from the very beginning.  My hope was that by giving anonymous student examples you could model and students could practice giving other students feedback.  Also by giving students time once or twice a week to share their work with the whole class, another student, or myself, they will become more comfortable with this dialogue instead of fearful or anxious about it. 

Lesson 10

Title:  A Good Picture?

·         The teacher will guide students in exploring the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator

RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea          

RWllB7:  Produce a rough draft

      Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator RWlllC2:  Begin to identify traits of good writing/speaking

·         Materials Needed: Copies (preferably color copies) of 3 sample pictures to discuss (picture exemplars—I would suggest choosing one picture that is very messy, one that uses very little of the paper, and one that would be considered good), drawing paper.

Hook:  Display the sample pictures that you will be discussing during this lesson so that students are able to see them before you begin the lesson.

Lesson:  “When we were learning to draw people I mentioned that every good picture needed two things:  characters and a setting or place where the character is.  When we put these two things together they tell a story.  How good the story is, depends on how much the picture tells us.  Let’s take a look at a few pictures and see what kinds of stories they tell us.”  The teacher proceeds to look at the pictures with the students, encouraging them to make some guesses about the stories that the pictures are telling.  After several minutes of discussion the teacher gives students the chance to vote for their favorite picture.  Everyone is given a sticky note and asked to put it above their favorite picture.  After everyone has voted, the teacher looks at the picture that has the most sticky notes and ask students who voted for that picture to explain why they thought it was the best.  As students are sharing the teacher is recording their observations on chart paper.  She is putting the good things on the side of the paper with a smiley face and the things that need improvement on the side of the paper that has a sad face.  When you and your classmates are done sharing, the teacher might add some things that she noticed about the pictures that she liked.   Finally, you and your classmates get a chance to draw their own pictures.

Closure:  After the student have had time to work on their pictures.  Quickly review the good things that they noticed in the pictures they looked at earlier.  Now have them tell a partner something they like about their picture.

Assessment:  Students pictures, as well as their feedback to each other will serve as a means of informally measuring student understanding of what makes a good picture.

Teacher Note:  I realize that it is pretty early in the year to pair the kids and expect them to share something constructive.  What I’m mostly interested in, is the dialogue and that it is happening in a safe way.  I have attached a Good Picture Rubric (student copy and classroom copy) that you can use to conference with students.  You may want to create your own that more accurately reflects your students’ responses to the pictures they looked at in the lesson.  Again I know conferencing is difficult, so I would suggest displaying the lists they created earlier of what makes a good picture and what is not a good.  There is also another idea for giving writing feedback at this website: http://bard.huensd.k12.ca.us/html/writingrubrics.html

Lesson 11

Title:  Drawing the Whole Picture

·         The teacher will guide students in exploring the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator

RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea

RWllB7:  Produce a rough drafft

Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator RWlllC2:  Begin to identify traits of good writing/speaking

·         Materials Needed: drawing paper, pencils, copies of the pictures below to be able to share with students, large chart or drawing paper for teacher

Hook:  Display the pictures “good” and “bad” pictures from yesterdays lesson.  On the “good” picture put a big, very visible star and on the “bad” picture put a sad face.  Also post the chart paper with the list of observations from the day before.

Lesson: The teacher begins by reviewing the list that was created yesterday of what makes a good picture and what makes a bad picture.  Today we are going to learn how to draw a person or people in a place.  The place where a story takes place is called the setting. To start, every picture needs to start with a ground line or a place for people and things to stand on.    If we didn’t have a ground line it would look like things were just floating through the air.  It would make our picture hard to understand.  The ground line should be close to be bottom.  Watch as your teacher draws a line towards the bottom of her paper.  Now it is your turn to try.  Make a ground line, while your teacher walks around and quickly checks to see that everyone has made a line on the bottom half of their paper.   Next she tells you that today we are going to draw a picture of ourselves at the playground.   She proceeds to draw a picture of herself and some friends at the playground. As she draws she talks about what she likes to do with her friends at the playground, like run, jump, climb, swing, and play ball.  Then she draws some of the things she sees at the playground like the swings, slides, balls, and jump ropes.  Finally, she puts her pencil down and tells you it is your turn.   She is going to give you about 10 to 15 minutes to draw.  She also shares that this should be a quiet time and that no one is allowed to get out of their chair.  She tells you that she will be walking around and checking on your progress during this time. Ten minutes pass and she tells you that you have 2 more minutes to finish up for today.  When time is up the teacher tells you that now you will have a chance to walk around and see everyone’s picture.    The only rule is that you are quiet, walking, and not touching anything during this time.  The timer will go off after a minute.  This is your signal that it is time to return to the carpet.

Closure:  The teacher asks, “Who thinks they drew a “good” picture or one that would get a star?  The teacher chooses two or three students to share why they think they should get a star.

Assessment:  Informal formative assessment based on student explanations of why they should get a star and student performance in the drawing of their pictures.  You may also choose to use the Good Picture Rubric.

Extension:  You can always do more drawing.  While drawing shapes is very developmental, it’s never too early to start practicing.  Here are some further resources to help students in their drawing:

Drawing Lessons with Shapes/Shape Practice

http://www.kindergarten-lessons.com/kindergarten_drawing.html  

http://www.akidsheart.com/threer/lvl1/mixshape.htm

Kid Pix—computer option for using shapes to make pictures

Mat Man Writing curriculum

Lesson 12

Title:  The Drawing & Writing Book

·         The teacher will guide students in exploring the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator

RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea

RWllB7:  Produce a rough draft

Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator RWlllC2:  Begin to identify traits of good writing/speaking

·         Materials Needed:  Bound notebooks with drawing or white construction paper pages (15-20 pages)—one for each student. (From a management stand point, it might be best to make sets of books with different color covers.   For example, if you have a class of 20 students, make 5 books with red covers, 5 with yellow covers, 5 with blue covers, and 5 with green covers.  There is a lot of ways this can be helpful for organizing and helping students better identify their own books.  Also it might be helpful to give students a writing partner.  Teacher bound notebook made out of larger white construction paper for modeling.

Lesson:  Today your teacher begins by remembering some of the stories you and some of your classmates have told her in recent days and weeks.  (For example she might say, “Since the first day of kindergarten, you’ve been telling stories.  I remember when Arianna told us about getting her new puppy and how he cried all night.  She also told us that she had named him Bowser and he loved to chew on her hand, but it didn’t hurt.  Rylan had told us about how he went to the park and his dad was teaching him how to play baseball.  His mom would try to pitch the ball, but she wasn’t very good.  He had hit it a couple times.  He also was getting good at catching the ball. etc.)  She explains that using words to tell your story is one way to tell a story, but we’ve also been practicing drawing pictures, which is another way to tell a story.  Your teacher then shows you a large notebook that has her name written on the front.  She explains that this is her Drawing and Writing Book and that you can tell that by looking at the name written on the front.  She opens the notebook and shows you that there are several blank pages for her to draw and tell her story.  She also points out that there is a clip at the bottom of the page.  She tells you that this lets her know what page she is working on.   Next she reminds you of the story that she told you about one of her first days of school.  She tells you that she is going to write about that story, but before she starts to draw she has to decide what part of the story she is going to tell with her picture, since that story had a lot of parts.  She begins to remember all the parts, raising a finger for each of the different parts.  First, I got ready for school by putting on all my new clothes.  Second, I got on the bus with my new school bag that had a picture of Curious George on it.  Third, I remember being very quiet on the ride to school, because I didn’t know anyone.  Fourth, I remember when I got to school I found my hook with my name on it and hung my stuff up.  Finally, I remember seeing a girl with really pretty long hair in my classroom and wondering if she would be my friend.  Hmm . . . which part should I write about?  I think I’ll write about the part when I was getting on the bus with my new school bag.  Okay, lets see, how do I want my book to go.  The teacher moves the book around, talking about which way would best fit the things she is planning on including in her picture, like the bus, the big tree that was at her bus stop, and herself.  She decides to do it the long way or horizontally, instead of the tall way or vertically.  Next the teacher takes a moment to create her picture in her head before she begins to sketch out the scene.  As she sketches she explains what she is drawing and why or how she is going to draw it.  She does this for about six or seven minutes, again thinking aloud as she draws.  Finally, she stops and tells you that she is done for today.  She does have more that she wants to add, but that she is going to leave it for today and will work on it again tomorrow.

Finally, she pulls out a smaller stack of notebooks that have student names on them.  She tells you that these are your Drawing and Writing Notebooks.  They are the same as hers but smaller.  Now it is your turn to draw a part of one of your stories.  She tells you to close your eyes.  She is going to give you some think time to decide what story you want to tell, and then to picture the part of the story you are going to draw.  Once think time is over she gives each student their drawing book and tells them to go back to their seat.  Now she asks if everyone has an idea of what story they are going to write/draw about.  She picks a student and has them share their idea.  She may have to help them focus their writing by asking very specific questions.   Next have them show which way they are going to draw on their paper, the long way or the tall way.  Finally, have them point to where they might put different things on their paper.   Before they begin, they need to tell someone at their table what part of a story they are going to draw.  Give them about 30 seconds each to do this.  Then let them begin.  While students are creating their stories, the teacher is walking around and asking each student what story they are telling and which part of the story they are drawing.  She writes a few words on the bottom or top of the picture they are making to help her remember what they are drawing for future reference.  Your teacher gives you about 10 minutes to draw, before she asks you to put your materials away and close your book.

Closure:  What are some things we did today to help us write a good story or draw a good picture?  What was your favorite part of our storytelling time today?

Assessment:  Look back at the list of things that make a good picture?  Did you do those things?

Teacher Note:  First remember this is a process.  Early kindergarten writing is often very frustrating for you and them.  It is often very tempting to over teach at the beginning, but remember you are working with a very limited attention span and motor skills that maybe need a lot of practice.  I know that it’s a lot to ask students at this age to share and listen to another little person, but the earlier we begin this dialogue the more natural, less threatening, and productive it will become with each try.  The idea for limiting the time students have to write in their books, you are increasing the likelihood that they will have things to add, change, or enhance the next day.  It’s important to make these early writing experiences as familiar to students as possible.  Make sure they are drawing about something that they know about---that they’ve told a story about.  They are much more likely to feel successful with writing.  Often students that end up with very messy, unorganized pictures don’t have a clear idea of the specific part they are communicating from the story.  It might help to have them touch the paper and show you with their hand first what they are going to draw on different parts of the paper before they actually do it.  Developmental issues can hinder their writing also, but that often results in less writing, instead of too much.

The Drawing and Writing Book helps to keep student work organized.  It is also a great way for you and students to see the progress they have made.

Lesson 13

Title:  Filling in the Details/Editing

·         The teacher will guide students in exploring the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator

RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea

RWllB7:  Produce a rough drafT

RWllB9:  Revise rough draft for conventions, ideas,    organization, word choice, sentence fluency

Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator

RWlllC2:  Begin to identify traits of good writing/speaking

·         Materials Needed:  Teacher and student Writing and Drawing Books, colored pencils

Hook:  Your teacher is working on the same picture she started yesterday.  Why?

Lesson:  As you come to the rug, your teacher is working on her picture from yesterday.  She is thinking aloud as she adds some details, remembering that her bus should be on a black top road, she takes a black pencil and colors in the space below the bus.  She also recalls that there was a mailbox by the big tree at her bus stop.  Oh, and she didn’t finish coloring in the tree trunk.  She continues to talk as she finishes these things and maybe adds a few other details.  Then she stops and just looks at her picture.  She asks you if you remember what she was drawing a picture of.  Does her picture match the part of her story she was drawing?  Next the teacher takes one of the student Writing and Drawing books and opens it to the page they wrote on yesterday.  She asks the student if they remember what story they were telling.  With the teacher’s help, the student recalls the story and shares the part they illustrated.  Once it has been determined what story the student was telling, the teacher asks about the things that are already in the picture.  Then she goes on to ask what other things she might see in this place or who else was there, etc.?  Next she asks the student to point to where in the picture they might add these things.  With a word of encouragement, the teacher sends that student back to their desk and chooses another student Writing and Drawing book and repeats this process.

After two students have shared and talked about their next step, the teacher tells the rest of the students that as they look at their drawing from yesterday, they need to think about what else they need to add or change in their picture so that readers will understand it better.

Closure:  The teacher asks the students who shared their work at the beginning to share what they have changed or added.  AND/OR The teacher chooses two different students to share what they added or changed and why.

Assessment: Does your picture match the story you are trying to tell?  How could you make sure that a reader would understand your story?

Lesson 14 

Title:  What We’ve Learned

·         The teacher will guide students in exploring the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

        Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator

  RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea

  RWllB7:  Produce a rough draft

  Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator

  RWlllC2:  Begin to identify traits of good writing/speaking

·         Materials Needed: Teacher and student Writing and Drawing Books, colored pencil, 3 copies of the Writing Rubric—Beginning of Kindergarten, highlighter

Lesson:  Today we are going to review what we’ve learned about writing so far and see how we are doing.  This paper shows some of the most important things we’ve learned about so far (The teacher displays a copy of the Writing Rubric).  She reads the words on the left hand side of the rubric.  Then she tells them that these are the things she will be looking at very carefully to decide what we have learned to do well, and what we need to practice more.  Who thinks they are finished with their first picture?  The teacher picks two students who have raised their hands.  She has them get their Drawing and Writing books and then turn to their first picture.   The teacher begins by looking at the first item on the rubric—Name.   Together they look at how the student wrote their name.  She may even have the student write their name at this time to best assess how they are performing the task.  The teacher reads what it takes to get a smiley face, a straight face, and then a sad face.  She then looks at the student’s name and thinks aloud about how the student wrote their name and what kind of face it should get.  The teacher (or student) then colors in appropriate box.  The teacher repeats this process with the other student in regards to their name.  The teacher then moves onto looking at the picture and repeats the process.  Finally, the students each tell the story that goes with their picture and then they determine the face they get for communicating an idea.  The teacher then adds up the students score and determines an overall score for each student’s work.  Once this is finished she briefly celebrates all the smiley faces, and then focuses on one of the sad or straight faces and talks about how that could become a smiley face.

Closure:  The teacher asks the students to recall something that both students did well, then one thing that both students need to work on.  Do any of them think they might need to work on that same thing?

Assessment:  The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with the assessment criteria and format.  Student understanding of the concepts and rubric can be determined by their responses and choices as they go through the rubric with the class.

Extension:  This lesson can and probably should be repeated several times.  It might be good to plan to do it at least one or two times a week to emphasize the important points.  Each time you do it and use it students will become that much more efficient and it will go quite quickly.

Lesson 15

Title:  Practice, Practice, Practice

·         The teacher will guide students in exploring the following standards, benchmarks, and indicators:

Standard 2, Benchmark B, District Indicator RWllB2:  Speak and/or draw to a given prompt or idea

            Standard 3, Benchmark C, District Indicator RWlllC1:  Listen to others writing/speaking and share their own ideas through writing/speaking.

·         Materials Needed: Teacher and student Writing and Drawing Books, colored pencils, Writing Rubric—Beginning of Kindergarten

Lesson:  We’ve talked about what good writing looks like.  We’ve looked at the rubric the teacher will be using to decide how we are doing.  Now what we need to do is practice.  Every time we practice we should do our very best.  Some things you will do well and other things will take more work.  We are going to work on drawing another picture today.  Today I want you to think of something you like to do after school.  The teacher gives students about 30 seconds just to think.  Then she asks students if they have a picture in their head.  She asks a couple students to share their story.  She might ask some questions to draw out more details.  After a couple students have shared, she will ask students to turn to a partner and share what they like to do after school.  Next, she briefly reviews the writing rubric which she has displayed for students to see at all times.  Finally she hands out their Writing and Drawing books and has them return to their seats to get started on their pictures.  They will have between 7 and 10 minutes to work.

Teacher Note:  You may want to do this in small group style again.   This time around you may be noticing groups of students who have similar struggles so it might help to pull them together.  Remember however that mixed ability groups offers tremendous benefits also, so it’s important to make groups flexible.  I chose to present this lesson with a pair-share format because I know the reality of doing small groups all the time is difficult.  Maybe you can do a mixed format where some students pair share and others meet and work in a small group.  Most importantly students need the opportunity to practice with guidance and clear targets in what is best practice. What format best suits your class room and style is up to you.

This lesson is meant to take a couple days.  The format is meant to follow lessons 12 and 13 where students work on their picture one day and then return to it the next day.  Remember that a crucial piece of this is modeling and looking at and discussing a few students work.

Closure:  The teacher asks, “What are some of the important things that make our writing good?

Assessment:  Some of this lesson’s assessment is embedded in the closure section.   However the big assessment is to fill out the writing rubric for each student's finished picture.