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Name Megan Duregger Grade Level: 2nd

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

Mini Lesson Topic Adjectives


How writers use adjectives to bring the story to life and to accentuate the nouns in the
story.
- Fun Dog, Sun Dog by Deborah Heiligman
Materials -Smartboard
- writing materials for students

Connection: In a previous lesson, we discussed the importance of including describing words in


 Tell them what you writing to enhance sentences and ideas. We talked about the craft of using adjectives, and
taught in the why they are necessary in all types of writing, even short sentences. We also made
previous lesson. connections to how adjectives help us picture things in our mind while we read, in all types
 How does this idea of writing- even nonfiction stories about bugs. Today we will continue to be making a
connect? connection to using describing words throughout writing, while taking a look at descriptive
sentences in a story about one thing.

Explicit Instruction: "Alright everyone, today I will be reading you a story that is about one of my favorite
 Tell them what you animals, a dog! Even though this story is about one topic, the author fills the book with all
will teach today. sorts of describing words to help us picture the dog and his adventures. Can someone
 Show them remind us why those are important in our writing?" "That's right, they help bring our
examples of how writing to life, put pictures in our heads, etc.!" (The teacher will read the story and
others use the accentuate the adjectives as they are being read: something-new-to-teach dog, sandy dog,
technique(s). yowl dog, sticky, icky dog, fair, etc.) (The teacher will read halfway through the book and
pause when they get to the page with the dog tugging on the stuffed green bear) "Can I
have some friends raise their hands and tell us some describing words they have heard so
far?" (call on a few students to answer and acknowledge their responses) "Great! Let's keep
reading!" (the teacher will finish the story)
"Did you all like the book? I did too! I love dogs so much!"
Guided Practice: "Alright, so I have a few sentences here for you to listen to real quick. When I read them to
 Engage them in you, I want you to picture in your head what I have written, and then I will check to see if
practicing you’re you are on the right track!"
your and/or (The teacher will pull up these sentences on the Smartboard, then read the sentences. The
other(s). teacher will then ask the students to raise their hands if they think they know what is being
described. The teacher will call on a student to answer, and provide corrective comments if
they get it wrong. After all the sentences are read, the teacher will make connections to
using adjectives and being able to put pictures in your head to what is being described, and
how that helps us understand writing.)
1. My favorite dessert is ice cold, and creamy. It has oreo pieces all mashed up in it too!
What is it?
2. My birthday is in a month in the middle of the year. Usually on my birthday, the sun is
shining and it is extremely hot outside. Sometimes it thunderstorms in the afternoon. What
season is my birthday in?
3. When I have free time, usually I like to go sit in a comfy chair in my living room. I put this
hard object in my lap, and I flip the paper pages after I look over them with my eyes. What
am I doing?
Independent Practice: "Now it is your turn to practice using adjectives to describe things! We know that we want
 Remind students our readers to be able to understand exactly what we are trying to say. We want them to
how the teaching be able to picture the things we are writing in their own heads.
point can be used in
independent The students will be tasked with choosing an object from the classroom and writing
writing. sentences to describe it, using adjectives. It will be stressed to them that someone else
 Link mini-lesson and should be able to read it and guess exactly what that item is. The teacher will also remind
writing lives. the to use proper COP (punctuation, capitalization, spacing, etc.). After they have written
their sentences, they will be able to pair & share with a table partner or a buddy. The
teacher will monitor the room while this is happening. The teacher will call on a few
students to share their sentences to check for understanding, and the class will have to
guess what the item is.
Groups Wrap Up: "Great job with those sentences everyone! Did you have fun trying to guess what the
 Restate the teaching object was that someone else chose? Do you see why it is important to use adjectives in
point. our writing? What might have happened if we didn't describe those objects very well?"
 Ask: Did you try (reflect with the students on the activity and make connections to writing they will be doing
what was taught? in the future during writing time- in and out of the class.)
Did it work for you?
How will it affect
your future writing?

Self Check:

I modeled writing for the students.

I used a mentor text.

I used excerpts from the mentor texts.

I provided details as to what I was doing for each stage of the lesson.

I provided details as to what the students were doing for each stage of the lesson.

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