Kindergarten Writing Lesson #2 / Descriptive Prompt

Materials

Teacher Materials:

• Mirrors
• Chart paper
• Water-based markers

Student Materials:

• Writing paper
• Pencil
• Drawing paper
• Crayons

Instructional Procedures

Session 1

1. Hold a mirror up to your face and describe yourself to the students. As you describe yourself, draw a picture of what you see on a piece of chart paper.
2. Distribute mirrors to students and have them look at themselves and describe what they see.
3. Have the students draw pictures of themselves, reminding them to include the details they saw and described.

Session 2

1. Review the previous session. Using the picture you drew of yourself, model how to write a description of yourself (for example: "I have red hair. My eyes are green. I have a nice smile").
2. Read the prompt. Distribute the self-portraits and writing paper to the students. Allow students sufficient time to complete the writing task.

Writing Prompt: Write to tell me what you look like.

EXEMPLARY

Exemplary Example (pdf)

IDEAS AND CONTENT:

• The writer attends to details such as, "Freckles are on my nose and cheeks."
• The writer notices little things that others might not notice: "I have a scar on my nose."
• The writer includes seven physical features on his face.

ORGANIZATION:

• The paper shows excellent correlation between the text and student drawing.

VOICE:

• The student writes some unusual sentences: "I am an American." "I have a scar on my nose."

WORD CHOICE:

• The writer "stretches" to use new and precise words: American, freckles, scar, cheeks.

SENTENCE FLUENCY:

• The writer demonstrates the use of more complex sentences: A="I have brown hair and I have freckles on my nose and cheeks."
• The student uses long and short sentences.

CONVENTIONS:

• All high frequency words are spelled correctly.
• Some words are spelled phonetically but are readable: Amaracn, checs, frecls.

AVARAGE

Avarage Example (pdf)

IDEAS AND CONTENT:

• The writer pays attention to some details: "curly long hair"; eyelashes and earrings in the student drawing.
• The writing includes two physical features from the picture of her face.

ORGANIZATION:

• The student text and picture match.
• There is balance on the page between the drawing and the writing.

VOICE:

• One unusual detail and bit of sparkle: "I have curly long hair."
• The drawing shows emotion and personality: curly hair, eyelashes, earring, smile, nose, and there is a border around the drawing and text.

WORD CHOICE:

• The student "stretches" to use new/precise words, such as "curly long hair."

SENTENCE FLUENCY:

• Both sentences contain a subject and verb.
• One sentence is long, the other short.

CONVENTIONS:

• Some high frequency words are spelled correctly.
• The writer spaces between words.
• There is left-to-right orientation.
• The student writes on the lines.
• The student capitalizes "I."
• The spelling is readable.

WHAT TO DO NEXT WITH THIS CHILD:

• Provide the child with more lines for writing to encourage the child to extend more.
• Through interactive writing, model more complex sentence structures.
• Encourage the use of resources such as the "word wall" and shared readings.