Context of writing
A kindergarten boy wrote this story during writing workshop where students were encouraged to write about something they were an “expert” on. This is the final page of a three-page book about planets.
What is this child able to do as a writer?
- This student has a lot of ideas to share. He writes several sentences to share his expertise about planets.
- He has a solid concept of word.
- He uses descriptive language (‘orange’ and ‘smallest’)
- He is beginning to revise his writing. He has written the “sun is the biggest planet” and written over it “sun is a big star” to correct his information.
What does this child need to learn next?
This student is not using any punctuation in his writing. He may be so excited to get all of his information on the page when he writes that he can’t think about using mechanics at the same time. He should be encouraged to re-read his writing aloud to himself or someone else. He could be taught to listen for natural pauses in his words, which would signal the ends of sentences. He may also hear where he has forgotten a word in a sentence (‘and sun is a big star’ — omitted the ‘the’ before sun).