Kindergarten is a year of so many firsts! For many, it is the first time they have ever stepped into a school. For others, it is the first time they have ever been a structured environment--a place full of rules and procedures. It may also be the first time that these kids have played with children other than family. On top of all the "social" firsts they must face, many of them will be facing academic challenges for the first time in their 4, 5, or 6 years of life. In kindergarten, they will be expected to learn to read, write, and manipulate numbers and quantities.
In a nutshell, kindergarten is hard.
When I first began teaching, my biggest struggle in the classroom was how do I effectively teach writing to students who have never written before? How do I move them from drawing lines and circles to writing sentences by the end of the year. Teaching writing seemed like such a daunting task. It took a few years of trying things out and researching it to death (totally my personality...research, research, research) that brought me to this place.
Before you ever begin teaching writing, you have to make sure to teach your students that there is power in the written word. Whenever I get a note from another teacher, I make sure to read it in a place where all of the students can see me. I also leave notes on the kids tables frequently during the year. I got these mini dry erase stickers at target, and I put one next to each student's name tag. I find the longer you leave notes for them (this helps create a love for reading, too), the more they desperately want to write you back.
 |
| These are what my name tags look like at the BEGINNING of the year. Don't worry...like any kindergarten class these name tags are barely surviving at this point in the year. |
I also help develop that love for writing by placing blank books in my writing center starting on the FIRST day of school. That's right, you heard me right! Yes, it will be filled with pictures at the beginning, but if you dote all over a finished book, you will have lots of friends that will also want to make books. I always have the students share their finished product in front of the class, and then they place their book in the library for others to read. As the year progresses, they will start experimenting with writing in the books. Never correct their writing when they are writing books. This helps them to develop an experimental and risk-taking attitude toward writing. You will have plenty of time to correct grammar, capitalization, and punctuation mistakes during your formal writing time. This time is for them to develop a love for writing, and that is CRUCIAL to setting up an environment that is conducive to teaching writing.
So, now that I have set my environment up to be conducive to good writing experiences, where do I begin?
I have a time set aside for writing each day. I usually teach it the for 30 minutes right after we finish our morning work. Go ahead and find a 30 minute block of time that you will teach writing each day. This is the timeline I will use for writing instruction:
Step 1: The Teacher Holds the Pen
I start the writing process by doing a morning message each morning during our formal writing period. Typically, the sight words we are learning will be the driving force behind what our sentence will be each day.
In the picture below, the word "am" was a sight word for the week. So the sentence I wrote was, "Am I a green _________?" As I write, I go back and read each word (this teaches the students to go back and re-read their work to make sure it makes sense). The students will also re-read the sentence with me. I write the ENTIRE sentence in front of them. I don't write anything before hand because I want them to see the entire process. When we get to the blank, I ask the students to help me come up with a word that would complete the sentence. We try to sound it out together. After we complete the sentence, we circle all of our sight words, we underline the capital letters (and talk about why these letters are capitalized), and we circle the punctuation marks. We may also count the syllables each each word and write the number under each word. After we have finished, I ask a student to come up to illustrate the sentence. This teaches them that there should be a connection between the written word and illustrations!
 |
| The four boxes with checks stand for: 1. Did I start my sentence with a capital letter? 2. Did I end my sentence with a punctuation mark? 3. Did I use spaces between my words? 4. Does my sentence make sense? |
After the chosen student has illustrated our writing, I will hang it up. This is where we later connect the writing back during center rotations. My students rotate through 5 centers each day during guided reading. Below, you will see a picture of my writing center.
During the first 6 weeks of school, this is an art center. They practice cutting, drawing, and writing. After the first 6 weeks, I hang the morning message on a clothesline in the window. Here, you can see that the students are copying the morning message sentence into their journals. They also draw a picture to go with their writing.
Step 2: The Teacher Shares the Pen
Next, we move on to sharing the pen with the students. I was introduced to interactive writing by a colleague of mine (shout out to Cindi Ellison), and I have such a heart for it in the writing continuum! Below, you will see what the finished product looks like.
I begin by having the students come up with a sentence. I usually tell them that the sentence needs to have a certain number of words, and it needs to contain a sight word (or a word that will help them practice the letter they are studying that week...for example, if they were studying "c," you may tell them the sentence needs to have the word "cat"). After they come up with a sentence, we will count the number of words in the sentence, and then we will chant it around the room (so that they will remember the sentence). With a pencil, I draw a line on the paper (as their handwriting progresses, you can move to the primary lined paper). I have an easel with a magnetic whiteboard, so I use the magnetic clips to hold up the paper on the easel. This way, the other students can watch. Then I ask for volunteers to come up to write the words. I help guide them through this part. I may prompt them to look at our word wall, or I may help them sound words out. I always have them write with a black marker so that we can see their writing. If they mess up, I use white post it tape and cover up their mistake.
They also have a "spaceman" Velcroed to the easel that they use to maintain good spacing between their words. I also give one to each student. You can click on the picture to take you to the Really Good Stuff website!
As the students are coming up to the easel to write, the other students are on the carpet writing the sentence on their whiteboards. This helps ALL the students to practice their writing, not just the students who are coming up to the easel.
Just like with the morning message, after we are finished with interactive writing, in the writing center, they copy the interactive writing sentence in their journal.
Step 3: Journal Prompts with Sentence Frames
Now, we move on to journal prompts with sentence frames. By this time, they are ready to start writing down their own thoughts, but they may have a difficult time figuring out how to start. Their writing still needs some direction. In December, I have an elf that comes to our classroom. I know that there are plenty of teachers that do not like to have an elf in their classroom, and I totally get it. However, I have found that they get so excited about writing about where their elf is, that I just go with it.
 |
| Who wouldn't want to write about this gal? |
I use this elf journal from Cara Carroll from The First Grade Parade.
During December, I will dictate a sentence that they must write in their journals. For instance, the entry that went with the pigeon picture was "The elf let the pigeon drive the bus." I did not spell any words for them. They went through and sounded out the words for themselves. They were only required to write the dictated sentence, but they were free to write more. I then went around and put a sticker on their page for each sentence they were able to write (wow...that was a HUGE motivator).
In the writing center, I start guided writing. I give them a sentence stem that they must finish in their own words and then illustrate. For example, I might write on the paper hung up at the window "I like _______________ because ____________." They have to complete the sentence in their journals.
In January, I purchased primary lined journals for each student. I purchased these from Amazon. I have monthly journal prompt packets in my store that I use for my journal prompts. I will post the links at the end.
Each prompt has a sentence frame included with it. Students at this point are ready to start writing their own thoughts, but they often get caught up in how to start their writing. We want to give them just enough help that they are not struggling too much. We want struggle, but not so much that they start drowning.
This is an example of a journal prompt for February. I put these prompts up on my interactive white board during their formal writing time. Right after we finish our morning work, we all gather on the carpet to talk about our writing prompt for the day. I read the prompt, and then I model on the interactive white board how to write the sentence. You can never have too much modeling. When I have finished modeling writing the sentence, I have the students go back to their seats to start drawing. During the first five minutes they ONLY draw and label. This gives them the time they need to formulate their ideas. I also strongly encourage them to label their pictures so that they will have done half the work of writing their prompt.
After that five minutes is up, I have them put their crayons away. As a class, we go over what good writers do.
Then, I let them begin. As they are writing, I move around the room to give them more individualized mini lessons. I do not do whole group mini lessons. I like to do it this way so that you can speak to each student and differentiate your instruction. They must write the ENTIRE time. This is an example of a students writing with the journal prompt.
 |
| The sentence frame for this writing was "I like to eat _________." |
This student is a pretty strong writer. She had a tendency to repeat the same sentence stem over and over again. That would be perfectly acceptable with other students, but because I know how strong of a writer she can be, I talked to her about varying her sentences to make her writing more interesting. You will notice at the end of her writing she started varying her sentences. That was her mini lesson for the day.
After our writing time is over, I have a few volunteers read their journal writing each day.
In the writing center, we are continuing with guided writing.
Step 4: Journal Prompts without Sentence Frames
This writing looks very similar to the previous step except that there is no sentence frame available with the prompt. This is the last step in the release model. This is where you give them a prompt (or sometimes it may be a free write day), and they have to do all the writing themselves. Here is an example of a prompt in April:
In the writing center, I like to either draw a picture or cut out pictures from magazines to have them write about. It makes for some very funny stories!
After I see that they have become more confident writers, I will start addressing spelling patterns. In our district the only spelling pattern kindergarteners learn is CVCe. The rest of their writing ins inventive spelling.
Have your students share their writing as much as possible! When they see the power that their writing holds, they will never want to stop writing!
What else can I do to foster their love for writing (and in turn get better writers)?
After we come in from recess each day, I turn the lights off, play some soft music, and I let them get paper or use their dry erase boards to do whatever they want. This is the time that I became most surprised by as a teacher. They spend most of that time writing on their whiteboards because they were excited to try out what they learned. They love coming to show me what they have written, and I love that they love to write!
 |
| He was so excited about writing his very first sentence! His mom and dad are Minnesota Vikings fans, and he asked me to send this picture to them! |
If you would like to purchase the available journal prompts from my TPT store, just follow the links!
March Journal and Prompts
April Journal and Prompts
May Journal and Prompts
June Journal and Prompts
P.S. The journals that I refer to in the writing center are just lined paper stapled together with the month written on the front of it! Nothing too fancy!
I really do love to teach writing! I hope you enjoy this post! Don't forget to comment below!
