Kindergarten

Add classlist and then enter score for each writing trait and for the genre. Benchmark Writing - Beginning of Year Prompt AWESOME TEACHER "Who is an awesome teacher?" Students will draw a picture and any words, letters or numbers that tell about an awesome teacher. Responses will be scored using the Pre-K - 1 rubric. Students may dictate their thoughts, to be recorded by the teachers.

Personal narrative || Awesome teacher || ||   ||  || Opinion || My favorite book is... || ||   ||  || Informational || Spring flowers ||  ||   ||  || Research || Lions, police dogs, sun || ||   ||  ||
 * Marking Period || Topic || Rubric || Mentor Texts || Resources ||
 * First
 * Second
 * Third
 * Fourth

**For the students in my class to be successful in writing_, they need to know: **

 * I can write my first name.
 * I can draw a picture about me (character) in a place (setting) doing something (event).
 * I can draw with details.
 * I can tell about my picture.

**Mentor texts that I can return to often to help students with this genre are: **

 * //Plaidypus Lost//
 * //Franklin Series//
 * //Little Critter Series//
 * //Clifford Series//

**Mentor texts that I can return to often to help students with the craft of writing (6 traits) are: **
Things to think about
 * //Author: A True Story//
 * //You Have to Write!//
 * //Aunt Isabelle Tells a Good One//
 * What went well
 * Students did better on their attempts at writing, but I wonder if it was really a knowledge of how, or if was more of a knowledge about what I was asking. The beginning of the year did not go smashingly, but could it be that they were not “students” yet? Hmmmm. The students understood the simple directions about writing a story about something that happened to them. Students were much better at telling their stories for the most part.
 * Should we be comparing 1st marking period to the benchmark? It’s before instruction vs. after instruction.
 * Students used sight words. Some good, some bad.
 * What did not go well
 * Students rushed. They wanted to be done, to work on their own choice, to be the first finished, whatever. I got sloppy drawings and attempts at writing that came from students who do so much better during their daily work.
 * What will you do differently in your instruction
 * Explicitly teach the setting, character, event for each book read from Reading Street. These are concepts not taught in the curriculum, yet we ask students to include them in their writing and be proficient at it. The focus of our Reading Street writing is draw a picture of yourself, write your name. Do we need to ask less?
 * Detailed picture books...write from there. Model the writing process explicitly. Using a wordless picture book, write down words to tell the story to make the connection. End result - story writers vs. sentence writers.
 * Tie in Reading Street and 6 Traits together.
 * List what the students needed to know in order to be successful
 * That it’s safe to take risks in writing...put yourself out there. Some are still holding back. Expectations were clear, yet some disregarded them.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The general rubric STINKS! It is not teacher, student or parent friendly. We need to create something that will be informative, instructional and readable. The genre part of the rubric was fine.

=Second Marking Period=