Narrative Writing Small Moment Lesson Plan

Unit of Study: Unit 2.1 Understanding a Small Moment Story

Mini-lesson Teaching Point: Writers get their ideas and put them on their paper.

Materials: Three pages of writing paper stapled

Connection: (activate prior knowledge and focus student attention on the lesson)
Writers get a picture of a special time their minds. We think of happy times, upset times, worried times, scared times, and funny times. We pick one time, picture everything that happen, and then we draw it across the pages of our booklets.

Teach: (demonstrate the teaching point as if you were working independently)
Watch me. I am going to think of a special time when I was worried. Model Thinking. I got it! I am going to write about a special time when I was worried about a friend . I’m going to picture that special time in my head now. One day, my friend called me and told me that her car has stopped in the middle of the street. She sounded so upset and sad when she told me what had happen. I told her that I was going to get into my car and come help her. As I was driving, I became worried because I thought I may not be able to help her fix her car. When I found her, we looked at her car together and were able to fix her car. The End. Now I’m ready to draw my small story in my booklet. Point to each page. On the first page, I am going to draw me on the phone with my friend. On my second page, I am going to draw me driving in my car to go help my friend. And then on the last page, I’m going to draw me and my friend fixing her car.

Active Engagement: (coach and assess students during this time)
Now it is your turn. I want all of you to take two minutes to think about a special time you was either worried, happy, upset, scared, or a time that was funny to you. Time students for two minutes. Okay, does everyone have an idea of what they want to write about today? Now, you are going to picture the moment in your head. You have two minutes. Turn and tell the person next to you what you will draw across your pages by pointing to each page like I did.

Link: (review and clarify key points, globalizing their utility from the now to the future)
Call on a few students and have them share their ideas. Eventually have everyone go back to their seats to get started. Keep some friends on the carpet to help them generate their ideas and put it on the paper. Great job everyone. I heard some really cool stories coming from all of my friends. Who has idea of a special time that they would like to write about? Great. So remember writers, when get a picture of a special time in our minds, we pick one time, picture everything that happen, and then we draw it across the pages.

Ways to Support Writing Development

• Encourage children to write as much as possible
• Let them see you writing and encourage them to write with you
• Don't worry about correcting spelling or grammar, those skills will come later
• Keep writing materials handy and in good working order. Also, make sure the materials are accessible for the child to reach
• Use all small moments as an opportunity for teaching writing (i.e. when they are telling you about their dream ask them to write it down)

On Demand Writing Samples 3 months later (December 08)

These writing samples are a result of an on demand writing assessment that I gave my students during the first week of December during the 2008-2009 school year. This on demand assessment was given after 3 months of individualized and whole group writing instruction and conferences. On demand simple means that students weren’t given any prompts or support during this activity. It is a way to determine my student's current abilities in writing. The description is written in their "own words."

"I am not sharing my cake"

"I was going to my moms friends house"

" When we went to the park from the school"

"When I fell down and broke my wrist and had to go to the hospital"

"Me at my grandmas house"

"I went camping"

Children at this phase are still developing an understanding of the writing process. They are learning to love writing process and gaining more writing independence and confidence. A child at this stage may attempt to produce letter strings or make other attempts at writing words. They may begin to represents characters in their drawings and may read the first page as if it contains one sentence. A child at this stage may be developing an understanding that letters carry meaning and that writing is different than drawing. They are also developing a sense that written text convey meaning and are beginning to draw and write to capture the topic or content they have decided on.

How to teach Kindergarten Students to Write Simple Sentences

Reading and Writing with Preschool and Primary Children

How Reading and Writing Begin

On Demand Writing Assessment Samples

These writing samples are a result of an on demand writing assessment that I gave my students during the first week of Kindergarten for the 2008-2009 school year. It is an on demand assessment because students weren’t given any prompts or support during this activity. This on demand assessment was given to the students before any writing instruction was taught as a means to determine my student's current abilities in writing. The description is written in their "own words."



"My moms birthday"

"Flowers"

'The car"

"The bus"

Children at this phase are just developing an understanding of the writing process. They are learning to be creative and expressive. It is important to foster this ability in children. If you child or student is at this phase of writing, while I am no expert, I would suggest that they be given as many opportunities to write and express themselves as possible. However, it is important to remember that a child at this level may not yet write to communicate a meaning. A child at this stage may simply make marks on the page for the sheer pleasure of making marks. Or they may produce a drawing that they know how to make (e.g. hearts, flowers) and decide on the meaning for the text only when they are asked to read their story.