KG2 Writing

Illustration Study and Launching Writers Workshop

Unit Sketch

This is our first writing unit of KG2. Students learn to create detailed illustrations using shapes that include illustrations elements such as movement, feelings, and perspective. Students are introduced to using speech and thought bubbles to enhance their writing. Students develop skills to work with a writing partner to improve their own writing.

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that...

Producing clear ideas as a writer involves selecting appropriate style and structure for an audience and is strengthened through revision and technology.
Comprehension is enhanced through a collaborative process of sharing and evaluating ideas.
Presentation of knowledge and ideas is enhanced through appropriate organization and style for an audience via the use of visual displays, technology, and the appropriate use of language.

Skills:

Students will be able to...

listen to ideas their teachers and peers have about their writing.
add details that will help the reader understand their writing.
listen to comments of others and share their own ideas.
follow agreed upon rules for discussion.

Where do authors get ideas?

Unit Sketch

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that...

Effective communication of ideas when speaking or writing relies on the appropriate use of the conventions of language.

Skills:

Students will be able to...

use question words correctly when writing or speaking.
write the letter or letters for consonant and vowel sounds.
spell words by matching sounds to letters.

Authors as Mentors

Unit Sketch

Students are exposed to a variety of texts by specific authors. They learn to identify author strategies and style. When engaging in writing conferences, students are asked: What have your tried in your writing that you have learned from [author]?

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that...

Writing should be purposely focused, detailed, organized and sequenced in a way that clearly communicates the ideas to the reader.
Effective communication of ideas when speaking or writing relies on the appropriate use of the conventions of language.

Skills:

Students will be able to...

tell a story about something that happened.
tell what happened first, next, and last.
capitalize the first word in a sentence.
capitalize the pronoun I in a sentence.
recognize the common sounds made by letters.
write the letter or letters for consonant and vowel sounds.
spell words by matching sounds to letters.

Small Moments

Unit Sketch

Growing as Small Moment Writers begins with immersing students in text that illustrates the type of writing we hope students will emulate. These exemplar texts should teach students that small moments are focused, true stories that have specific details and are written in a sequential order. During this immersion phase, students will be generating and collecting story ideas for their own writing.

Students will use what they have learned about planning their writing to help them create small moment stories. Through rehearsing and drafting, students will begin to zoom into one tiny moment and stretch the small moment across many pages. They will recall and record their reactions to small moments and name their feelings. They begin to include lots of interesting details. They will learn that writers can tell their story again and again; each time putting in more dialogue via speech bubbles, actions, thoughts, and/or feelings. This will help make a piece more like a story and less like a summary.

Students will examine the readability of their small moment stories. Emphasis will be placed on writing sentences that match their pictures, writing known words quickly, writing new words based on known words, hearing and recording sounds in sequence, and using spacing between words.

The unit ends with the students fine tuning, publishing, and sharing their best small moment stories. A celebration of student growth and recognition of their growing knowledge for writing culminates this unit.

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that...

Writing should be purposely focused, detailed, organized and sequenced in a way that clearly communicates the ideas to the reader.
Effective research presents an answer to a question demonstrates understanding of the inquiry, and properly cites information from multiple sources.
Effective communication of ideas when speaking or writing relies on the appropriate use of the conventions of language.

Skills:

Students will be able to...

tell a story about something that happened.
tell what happened first, next, and last.
can answer questions using information recalled or gathered
use common nouns and verbs correctly when writing or speaking.
share ideas and respond to questions using complete sentences.
capitalize the first word in a sentence.
capitalize the pronoun I in a sentence.

How To Books

Unit Sketch

In this unit, Kindergarten students now become teachers using writing to teach others. Specifically, they write to teach others how to do something. This type of procedural writing relates to all they do across the day. Students begin seeing How-To texts everywhere: game board directions, recipes, and inside Lego boxes. The world is full procedural writing and kindergarten students can learn by studying them.

Procedural writing requires writers to write explicitly, clearly, and sequentially to teach others how to accomplish a task. Procedural writers need to anticipate what their audience will need to know. To write a How-to book, a kindergarten student recalls a procedure, starting at the beginning and proceeding in a step-by-step and precise manner to the end.

There are four main parts to this unit. The first part is the launch of the unit and it encourages writing or reading lots and lots of little procedural books. The second part of the unit emphasizes the importance of writing in such a way that readers can read the writing. The third part of the unit turns to lifting the level of student writing to create more elaborate and clear text with the deeper use of mentor text. Finally, the unit ends with students revising their text more extensively to prepare for publication.

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that...

Writing should be purposely focussed, detailed, organized and sequenced in a way that clearly communicates the ideas to the reader.
Producing clear ideas as a writer involves selecting appropriate style and structure for an audience and is strengthened through revision and technology.
Comprehension is enhanced through a collaborative process of sharing and evaluating ideas.
Effective communication of ideas when speaking or writing relies on the appropriate use of the conventions of language.

Skills:

Students will be able to...

select a topic and information to share
work with a teacher and others to learn about digital tools that produce and publish writing.
identify key information presented in different formats
ask questions bout key details of information presented multiple ways
answer questions about key details of information presented in multiple ways
ask for clarification if they don't understand something
ask and answer questions that help me get information of make something clear
print uppercase and lowercase letters
use common prepositions correctly when writing or speaking

Reflection and Opinion Writing

Unit Sketch

In this unit we teach children how to channel their natural abilities of persuasion into letters designed to state an opinion about a book they know. Letter writing begins with the students believing they have something to share with someone and also that people are interested in hearing other points of view. We begin by telling children that what they have to say is important and that their words make a difference.

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that...

Writing should be purposely focused, detailed, organized, and sequenced in a way that clearly communicates the ideas to the reader.
Effective research presents an answer to a question, demonstrates understanding of the inquiry and properly cites information from multiple sources.
Comprehension is enhanced through a collaborative process of sharing and evaluation ideas.
Presentation of knowledge and ideas is enhanced through appropriate organization and style for an audience vie the use of visual displays technology, and the appropriate use of language.
Effective communication of ideas when speaking or writing relies on the appropriate use fo the conventions of language.

Skills:

Students will be able to...

research a topic with others.
work with others to write about a researched topic.
listen to the comments of others and share my own ideas.
speak in a voice that others can hear and understand.
share my thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly when I speak.
make the correct plural noun when writing or speaking by adding -s or -es.

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