How do we Assess Primary Writing?
What Research Says About Primary Writing Writing instruction begins on the first day of kindergarten. We don t need to wait until children know all their letters, know all their sound-to-symbol relationships, know how to spell all the words they want to use. We don't wait until children can read. Young children are writers as soon as they draw or put a symbol on paper and tell us what it says. We call them writers and treat them as writers from that moment on! Teaching the Youngest Writers by Marcia Freeman
Best Practices for Teaching Writing 1. Create an inviting classroom. 2. Establish Writing Workshop routines that meet everyday. 3. Teach Writer s Craft Techniques using the What writers DO Writing Process and students developmental writing needs. What writers KNOW 4. Provide opportunities for authentic writing. 5. Provide diverse reading materials modeling the importance of craft and ideas. (Mentor Texts).
Best Practices 6. Make teacher and peer response an integral part of writing instruction, intermittently throughout the writing process. 7. Use many techniques for responding including student /teacher conferences, peer conferences and author s chair. 8. Students should revise after responses/conferencing HOWEVER
The Best of the Best Conduct effective writing mini-lessons on a targeted craft or skill by structuring it so that students may: Observe Discuss Simulate
Writer s Craft are the skills and techniques that writers know and use to make their writing clear and interesting. Craft Skills for Characteristics of genres
Organizing Skills Prewriting Listing Planning Using Graphic Organizers Sketching Beginning Techniques Question Ending Techniques Feeling
Composing & Literary Skills Composing Strong verbs Descriptive Attributes Composing & Expanding Sentences Specificity oword Choice Nouns & Verbs Prepositions Literary Comparisons Onomatopoeia Alliteration Sentence variation When in the writing process do these skills come into play?
Alphabetic Principle, Print Concepts & Conventions Skills Alphabetic Principle Print Concepts Conventions Letter-Sound Correspondence Spelling Approximations Use finger spacing Directionality Text Wrapping When in the writing process do these skills come into play? Print upper & lower case letters Write letter/s for consonant & short vowel sounds Spelling High- Frequency Words End Punctuation Capitalize 1 st word in a sentence I Names Plural regular nouns
Let s Get This Party Started! Things to consider: 1. Pacing Guide! 2. We want to make the writing personal for the students. If they write about themselves they will be more engaged! 3. Is there anything we did in our reading that is related to a target skill/s? 4. What is the End Target? A class book about What We Like to Do (an opinion with supported by a sensory detail) or An individual book, What I Like to Do with several pages.
Read Things I Like by A Browne List/Share what you like to do Choosing a topic Show your Things I Like to do Choose one to write about Adding sensory detail to explain why Illustrate & label picture sentence composing I like to because. Think about what CLASS likes To Do List/Talk Students sketch 2 or 3 things they like to do Show your Things We Like to do Choose one to write about Students choose a topic form their sketches Label Students complete a Chart for their topic Illustrate & label picture together with students Students draw and label Composing with students I like to because. Students compose I like to because. Share personal sketches why they chose that particular activity Share chart Share the labeled picture and explain Share picture and sentence with the class
Listen To This!
THINGS THE BOY LIKES TO DO! riding my bike playing with toys dressing up climbing trees kicking a ball hiding acrobatics. building sandcastles wading in the sea making a cake watching tv going to birthday parties being with my friends having a bath hearing a bedtime story dreaming THINGS I LIKE shoes bake cookies Shop for go to movies play giggle TO DO! Jacob
Thing We Like To Do play soccer jump rope play with trucks swim play dolls make a sandwich play football play games play school
THINK of 3 things you like to do. SHARE with the person next to you. When you go back to you seat, DRAW them on your paper. Make sure you draw enough for you to remember about your favorite things to do. Things I like Ex.,
I like
Students use this to draw a picture of themselves doing what they like to do. Encourage details, action and color.
I lik to pla soker beks I kik goz! I like to because.
How can the students work be published! Class Book- What We Like to DO! An Individual Book- Things Taylor Likes to Do! (the student writes about each thing on the list) A Bulletin Board entitled: Things Kindergarteners Like To Do Teaching writing is not difficult- YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT!