Context of writing
A five year old girl wrote this story during Kindergarten writing workshop where students are given free choice of topics.
What is this child able to do as a writer?
- This student has an idea she wants to share with her pictures and a sentence.
- She is using a clear sentence to tell about her picture.
- She includes details in her picture to help tell her story.
- She begins the sentence with a capital letter and ends with a period.
- She uses a combination of upper and lower case letters.
What does this child need to learn next?
This child has not completely developed a concept of word, words needing to be separated in the sentence (‘raining outside’ is combined). The teacher could provide short lines for the separation of words or the student could underline each word as she sounds it out and writes it.
This child may be ready to add more sentences to her writing. She has written about the setting of the picture. She might be prompted to write about the person in the picture next. For example, the teacher could work one-on-one with this child using a 5W’s graphic organizer. Having some questions words for the student to think about answering may help her generate more writing — “Where does this picture take place?” “Who is in the picture?” “What is happening in this picture?” “When is this story happening?”
The teacher could write key words on the graphic organizer for the student.