Writing+Curriculum


 * K-2 Writing Curriculum **
 * Students need to know and be able to do: **

(knowledge of facts, theories, events, objects) ** The student will know that… ** ||  ** Do ** (know how to do something which includes motor skills, cognitive skills, and cognitive strategies) ** The student will… ** ||  ** Assessment ** (various tools for measuring what students know and are able to do in these areas)  ||  ** How ** (mini-lesson topics, strategies, etc.) ** The teacher will… ** || ** Attitude & Independence ** || * Writing is a valuable means of communication. ** Planning & Productivity ** || *  Authors use their own life experiences to generate ideas for their writing. || * Observation || * Authors plan their writing before they begin to write. There are a variety of ways to plan writing. || * ** Prewriting- ** Generate a topic. Plan their idea orally, in pictures, using a graphic organizer, or in writing. *Students will share their writing throughout the entire writing process, validating their work and accomplishments. *Students will continue to cycle through the writing process continuously and independently, making choices about where they need to go next in the process. || * Observation ||  Utilize a variety of strategies to create an interesting and complete story, including being able to: || * Observation *Students will use a variety of genres to fulfill these purposes, including:
 * || ** Know **
 * Writing conveys meaning.
 * Writers use tools and materials to create their work.
 * Writing is a continuous process. || * The routines of writing time need to be followed.
 * Approach writing with eagerness and confidence.
 * Share writing with others.
 * Get materials and use them as directed.
 * Work independently for a developmentally appropriate length of time || * Observation
 * Anecdotal notes
 * Conferring logs || * Use share time to celebrate the accomplishments of authors.
 * Teach mini-lessons to establish the routines of writing time. ||
 * Authors plan their writing before they begin to write, considering who they are writing for (audience) and why (purpose).
 * Writing is a continuous process.
 * The routines of writing time need to be followed. || *  Generate ideas for writing independently.
 * Complete pictures and graphic organizers to match their ideas.
 * Work regularly to compile a variety of writing samples.
 * Independently cycle through pieces of writing, beginning new pieces without adult intervention.
 * Anecdotal notes
 * Conferring logs || * Teach mini-lessons to establish the routines of writing time.
 * Teach mini-lessons and model pre-writing strategies. ||
 * ** Process **
 * Authors consider their audience and purpose when writing.
 * The first time an author writes, they work to capture their ideas on paper. They do not worry about making everything word perfect.
 * Authors reread their work to see if it makes sense. Authors make many changes to improve their story for the reader.
 * Authors reread their work to check for accuracy of conventions (e.g. punctuation, capitalization, accurate spelling, spacing, word endings, etc.) in their work.
 * There are resources to aid in the editing process (e.g. word walls, books, dictionaries, peers, adults, etc.)
 * Authors do not publish every piece that they create.
 * Published work is accurate, legible, and complete.
 * Engaging in the writing process is highly valuable, and validation comes throughout, not simply with publishing.
 * Authors put forth great effort in **each** stage of the writing process.
 * ** Writing in Progress ** - Record their ideas about the topic fluently. Focus on the content of their ideas exclusively.
 * ** Revising ** - Reread their work repeatedly to check for: staying on topic, meaning, clarity, and organization. Reread their work considering their intended audience and purpose. Add, change, or remove details or words as necessary to improve the quality of their piece.
 * ** Editing ** - Reread their work to check for conventions of writing. Use classroom resources to attempt to correct conventions. Conference with an adult to correct conventions.
 * ** Publishing ** - Create a polished, final copy of their work using the revisions and edits that were made throughout the writing process.
 * Anecdotal notes
 * Conferring logs
 * Writing samples || * Teach mini-lessons detailing the writing process.
 * Model the skills utilized during the different stages of the writing process.
 * Utilize share time as a way to reinforce teaching points from mini-lessons. ||
 * ** Language & Qualities of Good Writing ** || * Authors use a variety of words and sentence structures to make their story interesting to the reader.
 * Authors take risks in their writing to attempt to improve it for their audience.
 * Good writing makes sense, and does not leave the reader confused.
 * Use descriptive language in their writing.
 * Make careful word choices during writing.
 * Organize writing in a logical manner.
 * Utilize sentence variety in their writing.
 * Envision to create a clear mental image from which to write.
 * Include details in their stories or pictures to help create mental images for the reader.
 * Incorporate introductions and story endings into daily writing (grades 1-2).
 * Emulate the writing of other authors to improve their own writing (grades 1-2). || * Observation
 * Anecdotal notes
 * Conferring logs
 * Writing samples || * Teach mini-lessons outlining specific writing strategies.
 * Utilize vocabulary-rich texts (read-alouds) that exemplify a specific strategy or skill that writers use.
 * Model writing that includes specific strategies or skills used in writing, as well as the thought process this includes.
 * Utilize share time as a way to reinforce teaching points from mini-lessons. ||
 * ** Graphophonics & Reading ** || * Authors write words the best that they can, and move on.
 * You can hear the sounds in words by saying the word slowly, and there is a letter-symbol that matches that sound.
 * Writers read a variety of texts, and readers also write.
 * Authors read their own work, and share their work with others to read.
 * Authors write in a way that can be easily understood by others. || *Students will progress through these stages of graphophonics while writing. Every student may not show evidence of each stage in their writing, and may move through the stages at varying rates of progress.
 * Make writing-like marks that show a growing knowledge of concepts of print. They go left to right, top to bottom, contain alphabet letters, etc.
 * Label items in the drawing, mostly using initial consonants. The child may write strings of letters.
 * Label items with more than initial sounds
 * Write a sentence under a picture. The letters are not random, but they may appear to be because various things make the writing difficult to read (no spaces between words, limited sound-letter knowledge, few high frequency words).
 * Write in a way that includes both phonetic spelling and known word patterns.
 * Use a variety of resources to develop conventional spelling for commonly used words (e.g. word walls, books, bulletin boards, etc.).
 * Write in a way that is conventional enough that the author and the teacher can often reread the text with one-to-one matching and self-correction as needed.
 * Write in a way that demonstrates an increased attention to conventions.
 * Anecdotal notes
 * Conferring logs
 * Writing samples || * Teach mini-lessons that focus on specific encoding strategies.
 * Utilize modeling and think-alouds to demonstrate encoding strategies.
 * Model using a variety of classroom resources to include conventional spelling patterns while writing.
 * Use interactive writing in the classroom to reinforce teaching points from mini-lessons and create opportunities for guided practice.
 * Utilize share time as a way to reinforce teaching points from mini-lessons. ||
 * ** Genre ** || * There are a variety of genres of writing that are used for different purposes.
 * Authors choose words, structures and materials, depending on the genre of work that they are creating.
 * There are different writing strategies and skills to use for different genres of writing. ||  *Students will write for a variety of purposes and across the content areas, being able to:
 * Express opinions or feelings
 * Share what they have learned
 * Respond to texts or experiences
 * Compare and contrast
 * Communicate with others (friendly letters)
 * Retell and summarize
 * Entertain
 * Personal narrative writing: the student will tell, draw, or write a coherent narrative, containing appropriately sequenced events.
 * Non-fiction writing: the student will choose a topic, outline a table of contents, sketch steps, collect and record facts, plan chapters, and write an informational text using a variety of resources (by grade 2).
 * Poetry: the student will use features of poetry to create poems for a variety of purposes.
 * Fiction: the student will write imaginative stories, including characters, simple plots, and settings (by grade 2). || * Observation
 * Anecdotal notes
 * Conferring logs
 * Writing samples || * Teach mini-lessons detailing different genres.
 * Use read-alouds to observe features of particular genres of writing.
 * Model strategies used for specific genres.
 * Use interactive writing for guided practice of various genres.
 * Utilize share time as a way to reinforce teaching points from mini-lessons. ||