Christina Slavin

Kindergarten
Taught: March 1, 2016
Formal Writing Lesson: Skills to Utilize during Kid Writing
1.1. Integration of Learning Outcomes
-The students will sound out words to help them spell by using their alphabet strips and snap
cubes as a resource.
-The students will utilize appropriate spacing, capitalization, and punctuation in their writing
pieces.
1.2.Standards
- CC.1.4.K.F: Demonstrate a grade-appropriate command of the conventions of standard
English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
o Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I
o Spell simple words phonetically
- CC.1.4.K.C: With prompting and support, generate ideas and details to convey
information that relates to the chosen topic
1.3.Anticipatory Set
Explain to students that being a writer is a process that is ever-growing.
Display pictures of the students resources on the interactive white board.
Give a clue about each resource, then have a volunteer come up and circle that resource
for the class.
For example, you could say, I am looking for the tool that helps us sound out our
letters. A student could come up to the interactive white board and circle the alphabet
strip.
State the following: Today, we will take the time to remind ourselves of how to be
awesome writers and to remind ourselves to use the tools we have around us to help us
become the best writers that we can be. By the end of this lesson, I hope that you space
out your words using your fingers, capitalize your letters at the beginning of each
sentence, end your sentences with a period, and sound out your words the best you can!
1.4.Procedures
Before
1. Hold up one finger and ask students how we can use our finger as a tool during writing
time.
2. Hold up the alphabet strip and ask the students how we can use that as a tool to help us
write.
3. Hold up the ring of sight words and ask students how we can use that as a tool to help us
write.
4. Hold up an example of one of the writing helpers. Explain to the students that they can
always use them to help them spell words.

5. Introduce the snap cubes as a new tool. Explain to the students that we will use the snap
cubes to help us remember that we need to find a beginning sound, middle sound, and
ending sound for most of our words.
During.
1. Open up the easel pad to a blank piece of easel paper.
2. Today, we will be writing about what our favorite activity is to do after school. Begin the
interactive writing activity by stating aloud what you want to write: I like to play
basketball. I like to run with the ball.
a. Write the word I on the easel. Remind students to always use an uppercase
letter at the beginning of their sentence(s).
b. Use fingers to model spacing in between words. Continue to use finger spaces in
between the rest of the words for the succeeding steps.
c. State that we need to write the word like next. Hold up the sight word ring. Ask
the students how I can use it to find out how to spell the word like.
d. Call on a student to sound out to. Point out that we hear two sounds in to.
Show two snap cubes to represent those sounds.
e. Write the words play and basketball with the students as they help me sound out
the words.
f. Ask the students to spell I like. Point out that we already wrote it so we can use
that to help us spell it again.
g. Explain to the students that you need help with spelling run. Think aloud using
the snap cubes as a resource. I know that I need to spell the word run and I need to
find a beginning sound, middle sound, and ending sound.
h. Point out that with and the are sight words.
i. Show three snap cubes to represent ball.
o Place the period at the end of the sentence and express the importance of using
punctuation.
After
1. Display the checklist that the students will be using on the interactive white board.
2. Explain the checklist and how the students can use it to check their writing.
3. Send students back to their seat to write about their favorite activity they do after school.
4. State the following: I am looking for you to write about what your favorite activity is to
do after school is and why. The checklist is up at the front of the classroom to remind you
what you should be including in your writing. Also, remember the resources that we have
in our classroom that you can use.
5. Send students back to their seats by table color and hand out their paper for them to write
on.
1.5.Differentiation
This lesson is designed for all types of learners. There are a variety of resources available to
all of the students. If needed, students will be given snap cubes if they want to tap out the
sounds of their words with the cubes. The students will be reminded that they want to look
for a beginning sound, middle sound, and ending sound. Students will be reminded that they
should use their fingers when spacing their words. The resource paper will be displayed on
the interactive white board for them to see while they are writing. The checklist will also be
placed on the easel to remind the students of all of the resources needed.

AM
I(Anxiety): When he raises his hand to participate, call on him to increase his confidence
with the writing activity. When students are sent off to write on their own, be sure to walk
over with him to talk one on one first to ensure he knows what he will write about.
R(Hearing): I will be sure to project my voice loudly while I am presenting the lesson. I will
also be sure to call on him in order to know that he is comprehending the lesson.
1.6.Closure
Read the checklist aloud to the class while they begin writing.
Display resources on Interactive White Board for students to view as they continue to
write.
Walk around and interact with students while holding the checklist. Ask them to show
you how they used finger spacing, punctuation, etc.
Call on some students to share their writing and pictures with the class.
Ask them to look at their writing and make sure they would give themselves a smiley
face.
Ask the students what they liked about using the checklist.
State the following, Today, we have learned a lot on how to be effective writers. We
will constantly be growing as writers and using our resources in the classroom to help us.
When you write tomorrow in your journals, I want you to use the same ideas we talked
about today to help you write.
1.7.Formative/Summative Assessment
I will be formatively assessing students throughout the lesson through the use of thumbs up/
thumbs down, and by calling on students to respond to questions. I will also be formatively
assessing students when I walk around the classroom as they are completing their postassessment. I will observe what the students are writing and ask certain students how they
used spacing, punctuation, words, etc. in their writing. A pre-assessment was given to the
students to grade their writing pieces using the checklist below. They were asked to write
about their favorite food. I want to know how Tracy and the class writes in their journals
without explicit instruction or reminding them of their resources before they write. I will use
the checklist as the summative assessment for the post-assessment as well. The students will
be a given a prompt to write about their favorite activity to do after school. I will use the
checklist to assess the students writing. I will assess the students based upon their spacing,
their use of punctuation, their sounding out of words, and their capitalization. The kid
friendly version of this chart will be in poster form hung up in the classroom.
Checklist
There are finger spaces in
between the students
words.

1 Point
The student used finger
spaces in between their
words.

0 points
The students did not use
finger spaces in between
their words.

The students ended their

sentences with a
punctuation mark.
The students found the
beginning, middle, and
end sound in appropriate
words.
The students began each
sentence with an
uppercase letter.

1 Point
The students ended all of
their sentences with a
punctuation mark.
1 point
The students used the snap
cubes and an alphabet strip
to find at least three sounds
for words that apply.
1 Point
The students began each
sentence with an uppercase
letter.

0 Points
The students did not end all
of their sentences with a
punctuation mark.
0
The students only found
beginning and ending
sounds in words.
0 points
The student did not begin
each sentence with an
uppercase letter.

1.8.Materials/Equipment
Poster of Checklist
48 copies of blank writing paper with spot for illustrations
Alphabet Strip
Sight Word ring
Snap Cubes
Resources projected on Interactive White Board
Copies of Grading Checklist
Easel Paper
Crayon
Pencils
Interactive White Board/Active Inspire
1.9.Technology
Technology will be used to display the students resources on the interactive white board. It will
engage the students during the anticipatory set by allowing them to view their resources on the
interactive white board and call out the names of each. During the anticipatory set, volunteers are
able to come up to the board and circle certain resources based upon the clues that I give them.
The students will use the program, Active Inspire, to circle the resource on the document. It
engages the students and gets them involved in determining the tools we have available for us as
writers in the classroom. The resources that are displayed on a word document will also be
projected on the Interactive White Board as the students are writing. It reminds them of all of the
resources they have available for them to use. I also utilized technology when creating my
poster. Pennell has a machine in which you can turn a document into a large poster. It allowed
me to display the poster/checklist to the whole group so they could all see and interact with it to
evaluate their work.
2.0. Reflection on Planning
I spent a lot of time writing this lesson because I feel that I had a lot of information to
incorporate. I knew that I wanted Tracy to work on her spacing, but I knew the whole class
would benefit from other writing techniques as well. I also was trying to incorporate what I
learned in my research, but I realize that I could not fit everything in. I decided to incorporate

interactive writing and create a model sentence because the visual and auditory learners will
benefit from that instruction. The objectives of my lesson are for students to continue to find at
least three sounds in their words, include appropriate spacing, appropriate capitalization, and
appropriate punctuation. It is based upon the Common Core standards of utilizing appropriate
grade-level conventions. I used the same checklist that I will be using for my post-assessment
data to grade the pre-assessment work samples.
After analyzing the pre-assessment data, a little under half of the class did not
appropriately space their words, I knew that I wanted that to be a major focus in my lesson,
therefore, I planned to talk about spacing when I model my writing at the easel. All of the
students struggle with different aspects of writing, so I am hoping to reach the needs of all of the
learners when I touch base upon all the things we need to be focusing on in our writing. Tracy
received a 3 out of 4 on her pre-assessment results. She lost a point because she did not utilize
punctuation. Her spacing was well during the pre-assessment, but that is not always consistent.
Looking at the entire class, three students received a 0 out of 4 for their writing pieces. There
were varied strengths in students writing, but only two students out of the whole class received a
4 out of 4 on their pre-assessment writing piece. The subgroup that I will be analyzing will be the
girls in the class. Looking at the pre-assessment scores from all eight girls in the class, most of
the students got points taken away due to their misuse of spacing, and not including punctuation
at the end of their sentence. I look forward to seeing how the sub-group improves after the
writing lesson is taught.
The Pre-assessment data helped me guide my instruction because it allowed me to see the
areas that students struggle with. Since it was varied of who remembered to include the four
aspects in their writing, I decided to focus on all aspects that the standard mentioned, as well as
spacing. I need to be sure that I allow a certain amount of time for drawing, and then move the
students onto writing so they have enough time to complete the prompt. I know that Tracy enjoys
working with letters, so I decided to incorporate practice of sounding out words. My objectives
serve the needs of the class because it focuses on the areas of writing that students all lost points
for. I think with the visual support of the resources, the checklist, and the explicit modeling, the
students will increase their results in the post-assessment and respond well to this lesson. My
goal is to continue to provide explicit modeling during writing and to continue to engage the
students through the use of technology.
2.1. Reflection on Instruction
I spent a lot of time researching appropriate articles that discussed effective writing
activities for Kindergarten students. I wanted to ensure that I created an appropriate lesson for my
student, as well as create a lesson that will reach the needs of the entire class. I know that a main
focus for Kindergarten is trying to introduce the conventions in writing, as it is found in the
standards. When talking with Tracy and observing her throughout the weeks, I have learned that
she enjoys learning by watching me model examples and teach up in the front of the classroom.
She is a strong visual/auditory learner, therefore, I knew that I wanted to form a lesson that will
benefit that learning style. She also explained to me that she loves writing, drawing, and working
with letters. I knew that she would be intrinsically motivated to grow as a writer, so I knew that
she would respond well to this lesson. I chose to guide the students writing by providing them a
topic to write about so they would not spend too much time focusing on what to write. I have
noticed that Tracy has not been using the tools that she has around her as much as she used to.

Because she is a visual learner, I knew she would respond well to having a refresher on the tools
we have in the classroom that can help her be an effective writer.
I decided to teach through examples and have the students follow directions, such as
utilizing the checklist, because Tracy prefers to to follow directions to complete a task. She enjoys
completing tasks in sequential order. In the two articles that I read, they mentioned to explicitly
model writing for the students and to use tangible objects to represent the sounds in words. Using
the snap cubes benefits a visual learner because they can see or think about how many sounds they
need to listen for in the word. Tracy raised her hand twice to participate in sounding out words
using the snap cubes, so I know she responded well to the task. One of the articles also mentioned
to incorporate interactive writing, and I definitely wanted the students to be involved with helping
me write my sentence. It allowed me to model effective writing, while allowing students to get
involved and participate. I was also happy to hear students asking me to use the tools without me
prompting them to ask.
During my collaboration with my peers, we discussed how I could help Tracy include
appropriate spaces in between her words. One of my peers mentioned to use popsicle sticks. I
decided to have them use their fingers instead because I knew that their finger would not be a
distraction. I was worried that adding the popsicle sticks would be too overwhelming. My peers
also mentioned that I should model a sentence to the class since she does learn well from listening
to information. I used the information that my peers gave me to help me realize how I wanted to
form my writing lesson. After speaking with my peers, I knew that I wanted to write a model
sentence during the guided practice section of the lesson.
To ensure that Tracy and the other students were responding well to the lesson materials, I
utilized a lot of formative assessments. I constantly had students engaged through the use of
questioning so I could see if the students were following along appropriately. The checklist was
an effective way to remind students to include spacing, capital letters, punctuation and words that
they sounded out in their writing. By having the checklist in poster form, it allowed me to interact
with students and have them think about their writing. I chose not to have an individual checklist
at each students desk because I did not want the students to be overwhelmed with certain tasks.
When students came up in front of the class to share, I asked them to tell me where they think they
would receive a smiley face. I had the students show the class where they used finger spaces,
punctuation, etc.
Overall, I definitely followed the Charlotte Danielson framework. Related to planning and
preparation, I was constantly thinking about Tracys needs and preferences. I knew she needed to
work on her spacing so I constantly stressed to the students that they should use their fingers to
help them space. I even had Tracy come up to the easel to check my spacing with her own fingers.
I created my own checklist, which allowed me to really tailor it to my students needs. Thinking
back on the classroom environment, I engaged the students through the use of questioning. I
provided appropriate feedback, and encouraged the students to participate through my enthusiastic
tone. Thinking about my instructional delivery, I modeled examples and constantly asked students
to help me sound out a work and complete my sentence. My anticipatory set engaged the students
through the use of technology because they were able to review the different resources they have
available. Professionally, I managed the class appropriately, remained positive throughout the
lesson, and maintain a positive relationship with the students.
Although I planned tremendously for this lesson, there are some things that I would change
when I teach this lesson again. Next time, I would have a student helper stand up next to me as I
write to help me space my words as I am writing along. I feel as though I could have modeled that

more than I did. I also want to continue to explain directions clearly and have students restate
directions or tasks that need to be completed. I have learned through experience that the more the
students are involved, the more smoothly the lesson flows. After recording the students, I can
already see that students have improved with their spacing and punctuation. Overall, Tracy
responded well to having the resources up on the interactive white board as well as the checklist
hanging up while she was writing. I am looking forward to analyzing the assessment results to see
how much the students writing improved!
Assessment Results
Below are the assessment results for the students in the class. The students could receive a score
between 0 and 4, and their score were based upon the checklist.
Student
R.A.
A.B.
C.B.
I.C.
J.C.
Jack D.
Josh .D.
R.F.
M. G.
J.H.
A.I.
O.J.
T.L.
A.M.
S.M.
M.M.
C.N.
R.R.
O.R.
O.T.
E. T.
G.V.
T.W.

Pre-Assessment Data Post-Assessment Data

2
3
3
3
0
2
2
2
3
4
2
4
3
4
3
4
3
3
2
4
3
4
0
2
3
4
4
3
1
3
1
2
4
4
2
4
3
4
1
4
3
3
0
1
3
4