writing lesson plan for kindergarten

How to Teach Narrative Writing for Kindergarten and First Grade: Step by Step

Narrative writing is often one of the first forms of writing kindergarten and first grade students do. This is because writing a personal narrative, or writing about our own experiences, is often less challenging than other form of writing. Still, teaching young children how to write narrative pieces can feel overwhelming. Here is how to introduce narrative writing step by step in a first grade or kindergarten classroom from a classroom teacher.

Are Your Students Ready for Narrative Writing?

Are your students ready to dive into narrative writing? Before you begin writing a personal narrative, it’s important to make sure your students are already comfortable with a few other things. Here are the things to teach before you dive into narrative writing.

• Letter sounds – Your students don’t need to know all of their letter sounds, but they need to know enough so they can easily sound out simple words . If your students can’t yet stretch and tap out some words, they are not ready for this type of narrative writing. Instead, it’s more important to focus on strengthening their letter sound, segmenting, and blending skills. This doesn’t mean they can’t draw a picture of a personal experience and have you write a caption for them (which is a valid form of narrative writing), but having them attempt to write their own sentences without a firm letter sound foundation is simply not a great use of time. So, make sure they have a solid letter sound foundation first.
• Illustrations- Although most students are comfortable drawing, we shouldn’t just assume that they are. Instead, it’s very helpful to take some time to discuss the importance of illustrations. (After all, illustrations enhance the story.) You can explore the illustrations in some favorite picture books, and even take some time to practice drawing different objects, people, and animals. The more details students can convey through their pictures, the easier it will be for them to use those illustrations to support their writing.
• Sentences – Lastly, before diving into narrative writing, it’s important to spend time teaching your students the basics of sentence writing . Do yourself (and their future teachers) a favor, and take at least a full week to develop their understanding of sentences. If you’re teaching first grade, you can even go a bit further if they’re ready for it. (Learn how to teach your students about basic sentences and going further with sen tences .)

Step 1: Introduce Beginning, Middle, and End with Mentor Texts

Okay, so now your students are ready to dive into personal narrative writing. The first step is to spend some time reading some mentor texts together. I personally prefer to read realistic fiction texts. Some of my favorites are Jabari Jumps , Jabari Tries , and Anything by Ezra Jack Keats (because who doesn’t love Peter!).

Discuss how every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Make an anchor chart together for students to refer to. Each time you read a story, have students retell the beginning, middle, and end. ( Read why mentor texts matter here. ) Taking the time to show them good narratives makes it so much easier for them to develop their own.

Step 2: Draw It Out

Once we’ve read and retold some narrative stories, it’s time to give it a try. Planning writing is so important, so we start there. First, talk about potential topics. I always tell my students to think about things they do often, such as what they do before and after school, on the weekends, or on special days like birthdays. Then, I model drawing a beginning middle, and end of a personal narrative. I talk through each step and we make sure that the series of events are consecutive and go together. This is where picking something that is routine can be helpful- such as getting ready for school. After I model, I have students draw their beginning middle, and end. If possible, it’s really helpful to allow them to pair up with a partner and tell about their pictures. This helps them find the words for their story.

Step 3: Label It

After they have drawn their beginning, middle, and end, I model labeling each of their pictures. We talk about how, when we label, we only need 1-2 words. This is helpful because typically writing a personal narrative will span over many days, so the picture and the label helps them (and me) remember what they’re writing.

When my students are labeling, I ask them to tap out their words and try their best with spelling. I do not spell words for them. This is because I am able to learn a lot about where they are in their literacy journey and understanding by what they can write on their own and how they can write it. For example, if a student writes “et” for eat versus “ete”, I know that the second child is aware that “et” is a short e so there needs to be something else that makes e say the long e sound.

Step 3. Write a First Draft

Once my students have labeled their pictures, I model how to write a first draft. I model looking at my picture and label and them using it to write a sentence. When we read narrative writing and create our anchor chart, we talk about using transition words like first, next, and last. We use these words when we retell the stories so they are already familiar and comfortable with them. So, we write first and then a sentence about our first picture. For example, “First I put on my shoes.” I model this for the beginning, middle, and end. One important thing is to add some mistakes in your writing. (This is important for step 5.) I tell my students that I am going to make some mistakes, and we don’t have to worry about them yet because this is just the first draft.

To start, I only ask them to write 3 sentences. One for the beginning, middle, and end. Although eventually we’ll work to writing a introduction and closing sentences, at first I keep it simple. I would much rather my students confidently write 3 sentences than push them to do more before they are ready.

Once I’ve modeled, I have my students write their draft. I will write the transition words on the board for them, or encourage them to look at the anchor chart. As they write each part, they check it off so they can make sure they include each one. Drafting typically takes a full day, sometimes too. Again, I do not spell words for my students at this stage. I want to see what they can do on their own. Plus, it is important for the next step.

Step 4: Editing Your Draft

After everyone has written their first draft, I introduce the idea of editing. Together, we create this anchor chart of the different editing marks. Then, we look back together at my first draft. We read each sentence together, and I let my students tell me what mistakes they see . I make sure to have at least one of every common mistake in my writing.

Once we’ve edited my writing, I show them how to rewrite my story to a final draft. We talk about going word by word so we don’t miss any important changes.

Step 4.5: Sit and Edit TOGETHER with Each Student

Once they have helped me edit my writing, I sit with each and every student and help them edit their story. I ask them to read me the story. This is important because I want to make sure they can understand and read what they wrote. After they read the whole thing, I make sure to compliment them on a few things they did really well. Then, we go through sentence by sentence and talk about what things we can fix. I make sure they understand why any changes need to be made. Once we’ve finished, I give them a paper to write their final draft on and they get started right away while it’s fresh in their mind.

If you’re wondering, yes, this takes a long time. Sitting one on one with 25 students takes many days. Sometimes a full week, but this is the most valuable time in the writing process because it gives me a window into where they are, gives me a chance to focus specifically on the areas the student needs, and allows me to encourage them in the areas they’re doing well. Often times, this turns into a one on one mini lesson on capitals, certain spelling patterns, punctuation, etc. It is time well spent, even if it means that it takes 3 full weeks to complete a writing piece.

If you’re also wondering what the other children are doing, that is a great question. It really varies, but typically I meet with students while the rest of the class is working on literacy centers . I also might work on editing writing when they’re working independently on their inquiry work or morning work . Really, any time is fair game. Any time I have a few minutes, I’ll grab a student to edit their writing.

A helpful tip: If your students struggle with tracking when they’re rewriting a rough draft to a final draft, this works like a charm. Cut a piece of construction paper in half, cut a little window, and that’s it! This allows them to only focus on 1-2 words at a time. As time goes on, you can make the window longer, if you want.

Step 5: Publishing and Celebrating

The final step is letting students enjoy the fruits of their labor! After they have all finished their final draft, we take time to share our writing. The first time, I typically have them partner up and share two stars and a wish . Long before we begin narrative writing, I like to share this video about Austin’s Butterfly with my students. It helps them understand the purpose and benefit of getting and giving feedback. We practice giving feedback often, so this is not a new thing for our class. After they share their writing with a partner, I ask willing students to share some of the stars and then some of the wishes they received.

As we continue, sometimes I ask students to share their writing in small groups, with the whole class, or sometimes on Seesaw for their parents. This step is so important, though, because it allows them to feel a great sense of completion and accomplishment.

I typically tape or staple the two drafts together so the students can see the progression of their work. They always love to see what they started with and where they ended up! They also enjoy checking off their self assessment when they’re finished.

Step 6: Going Further

You might be wondering, if or when we make more detailed changes. When I first introduce narrative writing, we stick to 3 sentences and just fixing surface errors. With the next writing piece, I encourage my students to add a topic sentence or more details. Each time we work on adding more and more until they have created a story with an introduction, beginning, middle, end and closing sentence. I also encourage them to expand their sentences and add more details. I would rather my students take it slow and really feel confident than to rush and their teacher next year to have to reteach all of this.

If you’d like the template that I use for personal narrative writing, you can find it in my free resource library for email subscribers . Click the picture below to find it. You can also read more about my year long writing curriculum here .

You might also enjoy:

3 Ways to Build Confidence in Your Developing Writers

Free At Home Parent’s Guide for Supporting Student Writing

Why Strong Sentence Skills Help Students Produce Better Writing

The Easy Way to Teach Students to Expand Sentences

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Join my FREE Facebook Club for k-2 teachers here .

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Preschool and Kindergarten Writing Lessons {a 10-part series}

By thisreadingmama 3 Comments

Does teaching writing to your preschooler or Kindergartner seem overwhelming? What kinds of things should we teach them? And how do we do it? I am so excited to announce that after our Simple Writing Lessons Series for Primary Grades, The Measured Mom and I are back with Preschool and Kindergarten Writing Lessons…a 10-part series that will run every Wednesday, starting tomorrow!

What is Writing? and When is my Child Ready to Begin?

How do I know if my child is ready to start writing? I am asked this question a lot, particularly of moms with young children (ages 2-4). I think it first helps to define writing. Writing is a developmental process, much like talking, walking, reading, or spelling. It starts out as scribbles and drawings in the very young child {And YES, I count this as writing!}. For a very early age, our child is already showing us what he or she knows or does not know yet about print.

For example, NSis (age 2), likes to scribble. But those aren’t just arbitrary scribbles. As I sat and watched, she integrated the letter O. As she went round and round her page in orange, she said, “O” to let me know she was “writing” an o . She had a message to share with me.

So how early can a child start writing? As early as the child shows an interest. And if you keep in mind that scribbling and drawing are a part of communicating a message or telling the story, you will understand that they count as writing! 🙂 As children grow in their development, we want to support and encourage their writing. This is what our series is all about!

Preschool and Kindergarten Writing Lessons {upcoming topics}

Here are all the topics that will be covered in our 10-part series. As they go live, the link will be provided below.

Week 1~ Model what good writing looks like | This Reading Mama Week 2 ~ Teaching Tips for Children in the Early Stages of Writing  | The Measured Mom Week 3 ~ Dictation with Young Children: Discovering the Purpose of Writing  | This Reading Mama Week 4 ~ Helping Children Find Topics for Journal Writing | The Measured Mom Week 5 ~ Helping Children Write by Sharing the Pen  | This Reading Mama Week 6 ~ Writing for many different purposes | The Measured Mom Week 7 ~ Ways to motivate reluctant writers | This Reading Mama Week 8 ~ Help them with spelling | The Measured Mom Week 9 ~ Teach them how to write a sentence | This Reading Mama Week 10~ Provide ways for them to share their writing | The Measured Mom

More Helpful Resources for Writing with Young Children {Preschool/Kindergarten}

•   5 Effective Ways to Teach Handwriting to Preschoolers
• Journal Writing: How to Teach Your Preschooler to Write
• How to Motivate Your Child to Write
• 25 Ways to Make Writing Fun
• Roll a Sentence
• Roll a Silly Sentence
• Writing Pinterest Board
• Google+ Writing Community ~ Writing with Kids ~ Join Us!

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April 8, 2014 at 10:11 am

I’m looking forward to this series, sounds like a lot of great material will be covered!

April 24, 2014 at 9:39 pm

I am loving these series so far, as I just started journaling with my little girl who just turned 5 years old. I have plans to blog about her journaling on my own blog, Teaching Munchkins, and I plan to link back to this series!

April 25, 2014 at 7:05 am

Awesome! Thank you in advance for linking to us! 🙂

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No Time for Isolated Kindergarten Handwriting Lessons?

30 essential handwriting lessons build sentence writing stamina and fluency for writing workshop, why is good handwriting important updated september 2023.

No time for isolated handwriting lessons? Want to build stamina and fluency for writing workshop? This research-based handwriting model is NOT mindlessly tracing over one letter! You will ACTIVELY ENGAGE your students as they practice letters within real words and anchor sentences beginning with "I love you." Time-efficient! Brain-friendly! Inexpensive! Scroll down for videos, sample pages and lessons.

Start with 30 Essential Handwriting Lessons . (Includes 40 additional pages of printables, resources, parent letters and assessment.)

Created BY master kindergarten teachers FOR kindergarten teachers over 10 years of action-research in actual classrooms. These essential, integrated handwriting-to-read lessons focus on practicing high-frequency "heart words" and “heart word” sentences.

• So we can write better and faster
• So our finger muscles won’t get tired
• So everyone can read our writing
• So we can build our reading and writing brain

"These lessons are a game changer for my kinders! So engaging and I’ve seen so much improvement. Wish I would have started these in the fall!" — C.G. from TPT

See handwriting videos from Nellie Edge:

• Teaching Children to Write Their Name-Name Tickets
• Use Drawing to Teach Handwriting Motions

What are the 30 Essential Handwriting Lessons?

1. Teach pencil grip and build strong finger muscles with playful exercises: fingerspell a,b,c,d; duck talk with thumb and pointer; touch thumb to each finger; squeeze and release fist.

2. I Always Start My Letters at the Top

3. I Chant ( Top to bottom, left to right )

4. I can draw lines : art lesson

5. O Dance (Curve up and around letters: c, o, a, d, g, q, f, s) plus practice page

6. L-o-v-e Spells Love song (Learn 4 basic handwriting movement patterns)

7. Draw a Twinkling Star ! (lift-the-pen movement patterns)

8. Draw a Van Gogh-like Star ! (continuous path of motion)

9. How to Draw a 5-point Star

10. Some Letters Are Tall/Small/Fall

11. I remember “d” and “b” (A Reading Recovery® lesson with streamers)

12. How to draw and write dog (white board, then paper)

13. How to draw and write cat (white board, then paper)

14. The Spelling Chant and T-h-e e-n-d: The-end! Chant

15. How to Write “y ” and “you!” (learn two different language cues)

16. M-o-m Spells Mom and I love… sentences

17. Celebrate mastery of name writing: Use this Crown Pattern

18. What Does Quality Handwriting Look Like? (Anchor chart)

19. Capital Letters: Lift the Pen Movement Pattern

20. Capital Letters: Continuous Motion Handwriting Pattern

21. This is my house: h-o-u-s-e lesson , plus drawing page

22. There’s a King of “ing”: i-n-g

23. “Make a Book” Sentences: I see the … My Book, by (Also with Skinny Books)

24. I am a Master of Pink Heart Words : Sing, Sign, Spell, and Read! (Use CD every day for spelling lessons. Make copies of the CD for your families: permission granted!)

25. Fingerspell Everything : Expect Students to ALL become masters. Make an “I am a Fingerspelling Expert!” book. Celebrate mastery. (Book cover incl.)

26. Take the a, b, c, d Challenge : Fingerspell and write each letter fluently.

27. I Can Write CVC Words lessons with white boards/paper (especially words that begin with p, f, b, and r: less commonly used consonants).

28. I Can Write: r, n, m, and h

29. I Can Write All of the Capital Letters

30. Brain Exercises for Fluency

Save District Resources! This is not a handwriting program with practice books that you need to purchase again every year: Print student book and engaging activity pages year after year. New updates are always included. You are encouraged to make copies for family “at-home learning”: good handwriting that builds sentence writing stamina is our goal .

For Kindergarten and First Grade Summer Learning at Home: Essential Handwriting Lessons are appropriate throughout the year! Families appreciate simple, meaningful handwriting, drawing, and writing lessons—not boring workbook pages. Choose the pages appropriate for your students. Bind this distance learning booklet for home study!

If you have attended Nellie Edge live Kindergarten Workshops or Online Seminars, you will recognize many of these 30 Essential Lessons . Our Handwriting Teacher’s Guide and MasterClass Intensive provide teacher support for this authentic approach to handwriting.

Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting lessons are consistent with the principles of visual learning research and a writing-to-read approach to kindergarten literacy. See how this looks in REAL CLASSROOMS!

A-Z Practice Pages Have Placement Dots

The brain works harder and the child’s visual-motor development grows stronger when required to copy letters and words with minimal support. However, some younger students will benefit from the added dots showing where to start the letter. Notice: All students practice good handwriting while building fluency writing a consistent, high-frequency “heart word” sentence starter: I see the…

Did You Know? Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting Integrates Phonemic Awareness, Word Work, and the Writing Process.

Learn more:

• Download FREE updated e-Book , What Does     Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting Look Like? • Peruse my Handwriting page at NellieEdge.com • Learn Handwriting Chants on YouTube • See H andwriting Preview on TPT • Study Nellie Edge Online Seminar #2 :

Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting Matters!

“These lessons are a game-changer for my kinders. So engaging and I’ve seen so much improvement. Wish I would have started these in the Fall!” – C.G. on TPT.

FREE eBook on TPT

  Nellie Edge Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting Curriculum Integrates ABC Phonics, word work, sentence writing, drawing, and fingerspelling.  

Your colleagues evaluate this program:

“ These lessons are a game changer for my kinders. So engaging and I’ve seen so much improvement. Wish I would have started these in the Fall! ” — Chelsea G.

“ This was very helpful to help teach writing. I homeschool my granddaughter and this was a perfect resource with little prep time. ” — Tamara R.

“ Now we ..always start our letters at the top! 🙂 Thank you for another great program. ” — Chantelle O.

“ I had been wanting to get my hands on this resource for a while. So glad it finally came in a digital format. I have used Nellie Edge's resources to teach the alphabet, letter names and sounds. This was a wonderful match up product to reinforce teaching and learning .” — Educom K.

“ I love everything Nellie Edge! She uses best practices! I love, love, love! Ever since I began using her program, I've seen a huge increase in my students learning. ” — Jessica H.

“ Really great for step by step writing for kids .” — Sara B.

“ Great activities for my first graders. I used it at the beginning of the year for review. ” — Andi S.

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July 11, 2020

Kindergarten Writing: Personal Narrative

Teaching writing in kindergarten can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. In fact, this is the biggest struggle for many teachers in my private Facebook group. While we are talking about this struggle, let’s be honest: not all kids love to write. In like manner, children can struggle too! This is exactly why I have created the Kindergarten Writing Bundle! This easy to use curriculum has EVERYTHING you need to make writing successful in your classroom or homeschool! Simply put, my desire is for kids to learn to LOVE writing because they feel successful at it!

Fortunately, I think this curriculum hits the spot! I am SO excited to share this Kindergarten Writing Curriculum with you!

Kindergarten Writing Curriculum Scope:

There are a total of 7 units included in this comprehensive writing curriculum:

• Unit 1: Personal Narrative: Sharing My Story
• Unit 2: Non-Realistic Fiction: Using our Imagination
• Unit 3: Writing to Teach and Inform: How-to-Books
• Unit 4: Poetry: Exploring Poetry
• Unit 5: Realistic-Fiction: Writing Interesting Stories
• Unit 6: Opinion and Persuasive Writing: Changing the World
• Unit 7: Non-Fiction Chapter Books: Creating a Chapter Book

Let’s take a look at Unit 1 in the Kindergarten Writing Curriculum!

Teaching writing in Kindergarten can be one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences! They change and grow so much, even in the first weeks of school! Before you know it, you will see your students begin to blossom and grow as writers!

This Kindergarten Writing Curriculum uses a Writers Workshop type model. This means that there will be a mini-lesson, status updates (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, evaluating, or publishing), writing, and sharing! Don’t worry… I have you covered on how to effectively implement this curriculum in your classroom!

So when do you start teaching writing in Kindergarten? Good question! Right away! You can get this curriculum up and running during the first or second week of school! Luckily, you don’t need to wait until students know a certain number or sight words or letters. During Unit 1, we are not expecting them to write sentences….yet! Instead, in Unit 1 we will help students understand that their drawings/illustrations tell a story. Consider all of the wordless picture books you have “read.” You can certainly understand the storyline in those books. Allowing students to draw pictures and orally tell their story will show them that they too are authors!

*Side note: If you are looking for fun ways to teach the alphabet, click here . For fun phonics activities, click here .

What is Included In Unit 1: Personal Narrative?

• 22 Detailed Lesson Plans
• Suggested Schedule for (60, 45, and 30 minute blocks)
• Tips for Getting Started
• Curriculum Scope and Unit Scopes
• Developmental Writing Stages Chart
• Mentor Text Guides
• Conferencing Guides, Planners, and Trackers
• Assessments Guides
• Writing Templates
• Publishing Party Guide and Templates
• Writing Posters
• Personal Word Wall
• Writer’s Checklist
• Personal Narrative Writing Idea Charts
• The Writing Process Poster
• Young Author Award Certificate

Let’s start with the Lesson Plans!

These easy-to-follow lesson plans set you up for success. They are broken up into 6 simple parts:

Focus-  The skill, strategy, or idea students will be focusing on this lesson. 

Warm Up-  A quick activity that has students review and practice previous skills. 

Mini Lesson-  Teach, model, and discuss the new skill in today’s lesson.

Practice- The hands-on portion of the lesson where students apply what they have learned in the mini lesson to their own writing. During this time you will conference individually with students. 

Mid-Practice Teaching Point- A quick reminder and chance to highlight the great work students are doing. 

Share-  Lesson wrap up where students analyze, reflect on, and share their work. 

I have also laid out what a lesson might look like with a 60 minute , 45 minute , and 30 minute time block . We all have different schedules, and this writing curriculum is designed to meet your needs! Do what works best for YOU!

Also included are some tips for getting started! With this cohesive curriculum, I have set you up for success! All the work has been done for you. Just print out your materials and open up your lesson plans! Of course you will want to monitor students progress, and change your plans appropriately.

Here are a few things that will help you, your students, and your classroom be ready to implement a Writers Workshop model. 

Things to keep on-hand:

Teacher Materials-  You will need a teacher copy of each template for modeling. You may find it helpful to use a document camera or recreate the templates on chart paper so students can easily see them. Many teachers find that putting their example away at the start of work time reduces the likelihood of students copying your work. 

Writing Process Poster-  This poster helps students learn the steps of the writing process and track what the class is currently working on. 

Use Velcro, tape, or a clothes pin to attach the marker to the laminated poster so it can easily be moved.  

Word Wall-  A wall and/or personal list that students use to help them spell sight words. 

Alphabet Chart-  A wall chart and/or personal list that students use to help them identify and shape letters. As students start learning digraphs and other special sound combinations it can be helpful to add these. 

Writing Materials-  Providing students with extra pencils or creating an independent system for them to get a new pencil when necessary will reduce interruptions. 

Writing Folder-  During the writing process students will have several drafts and templates. A dedicated writing folder can be helpful for organizing these materials. I’ve included a cover that you can personalize to add to the front of each writing folder.

Kindergarten Personal Narrative: Unit 1 Scope:

22 detailed lesson plans that will walk you through how to teach a personal narrative! By the end of the unit, your students will have written 3 personal narratives, and will be ready to move onto Unit 2!

In order to make your writing block effective, be sure to implement procedures and plan out your routines and expectations. Get your materials set up and provide students with a writing folder. Be sure to model, model, model!

Organization:

Each child will get his/her own writing folder. This folder will be the place where they keep all of their writing templates, charts, and materials.

Inside of each folder, you can include the Alphabet Sound Chart, the Letter Chart, Letter Formation Chart and any other resources about the unit.

Included in the files are pencil labels…

Mentor Texts:

Mentor texts are an important component to each unit in the Writing Curriculum. What are Mentor Texts? Mentor text(s) are 1-2 example texts that illustrate the writing style we are focusing on for the unit. 

For the Kindergarten Personal Narrative, here are some examples of mentor texts you can use:

• “Fireflies” by Julie Brinckloe
• “Kitchen Dance” by MaurieJ. Manning 
• “Shortcut” by Donald Crews 
• “Hello Ocean” by Pam Munoz and Mark Astrella
• “New Shoes” by Chris Raschka
• “The Leaving Morning” by Angela Johnson 

In Lesson 1 , we introduce mentor texts. Discussion- Who is the main character? What happened to them first? Then what happened? What happened at the end? What makes this story interesting to read? Would this story be as interesting without the pictures? Why? 

The mentor texts will be part of your Writers Library.

Writers Library

A Writers Library is a larger collection of on-topic texts that students can read and reference throughout the unit. Consider keeping these books in a special location where students can access them throughout the unit. 

“Ralph Tells a Story” by Abby Hanlon is a great way to introduce students to the idea of being a writer. This is a story about a boy named Ralph who thinks he can’t write a story. Consider using it in Lesson 2 to help students start brainstorming ideas of things they can write about. 

Planning Stage:

During Lesson 2 , students will start planning their narratives. They will complete fill in their own heart with things they like to do, places they like to go, and people they like to spend time with! Students will use these hearts to help plan their writing. 

Students will be reminded that they are focusing on a “small moment.” Maybe they went camping, but we don’t want them to tell about their entire camping experience. Rather, we want them to focus on a “small moment.” Maybe they tell about the fish they caught in the stream.

Posters help students understand what a personal narrative is and that their narratives will have a beginning, middle, and end.

Students learn that personal narratives include words like I, me, my and mine.

Their personal narrative will include detailed pictures.

Students will also have access to Personal Narrative Writing Idea posters , if you choose to use them.

A Writer’s Checklist can be used during small groups to help students edit their writing once they get to that stage.

The Writing Process poster will help keep students on track as you move from lesson to lesson. This will highlight where they are in the writing process and what is coming next.

The unit includes templates to get students started by mapping out their personal narrative with pictures.

Choose the template of your choice from the Level A Writing Templates.

Developmental Stages of Writing appropriate for Kindergarten:

While all students develop differently, most student writing progresses along these developmental writing stages. Therefore, use this chart to determine a student’s current writing level and identify next steps and goals. Keep in mind, it is normal for students to progress through some stages quickly and linger at others. 

• Pre-Writing Stage:
• Random Scribbling
• Linear Scribbling. Scribbling moves from left to right
• Letter-like Symbols
• Random Letters. Letters do not correspond to sounds.
• Beginning Writing Stage:
• Letter Strings- child can “read” writing.
• Letter Groups
• Labeling Pictures
• Copying Print (Writer can’t read their writing.
• Sound Writing:
• Beginning Sounds
• Beginning and Ending Sounds
• Medial Sounds
• Fluent Writing
• Phrase Writing
• Mixed Sound and Recall Spelling
• Sentence Writing
• All Syllables are Represented
• Paragraph Writing

Conferencing:

Conference is the heart of Writer’s Workshop! This is where you will work with your small groups and get a good feel of where they are in their writing. Certainly keep in mind that you’re conferring with them. It’s an opportunity to provide individualized instruction, assess students writing, reinforce skills taught during the mini-lessons.

Highlighting Strengths

When you confer with your students, you can identify their strengths and notice what they are doing well. Specifically, these moments are great opportunities to celebrate those moments and help build self-confidence. As a result, students’ writing stamina grows as students learn what they are doing correctly.

Improving Weaknesses

Conferencing also gives the chance for students to think about where they can improve their writing. Certainly you can easily make this your teaching point. You may want to pose questions during this time. For example, what else do good writers do? Suggestions could include adding more details. Or they might need to make sure their writing has a beginning, middle and end. Perhaps the student is working on labeling. Whatever the case, conferencing time is a time to set goals for something they can work on to improve their writing so they can become even better writers.

Scaffolding

In light of the vigorous process, I have included Wordless Picture Books to help make this process more effective! Use the Wordless Picture Books to address specific writing goals with students. Some may be working on labeling. Some might work on detailed pictures. By the end of the year, you will see students progress in the Developmental Stages of Writing and move onto write sentences and even paragraphs.

Laminate the Wordless Picture Books and use them model what good writing looks like while meeting with your small groups.

There are blank lines to write a beginning,

and end to your story.

As students progress through their personal narratives, they will continue to grow as writers. Therefore, it is an exciting process to watch! In the example below, students can use the circles at the bottom of the page to show green for beginning, yellow for middle, and red for the end. Alternatively you can have students number their pages 1, 2, and 3.

Remember, some students will just draw pictures, some might label their pictures, and some will attempt to “write” words or sentences. First and foremost, let the creativity flow. Consequently, you will be able to watch your writers blossom and fall in LOVE with writing!

Celebrate your students successes as you continue to build writing stamina!

Rubrics provide a structured way to measure student writing ability. Use these rubrics to grade pre-unit on demands, post-unit on demands, and final writing pieces as needed. Most teachers find that grading all three writing pieces is not necessary. 

Conveniently, there are several options of rubrics provided so you can select the rubric(s) that best fits your needs. 

Publishing Party :

Now it’s time for students to share their writing in Lesson 22 ! This is such an important component to Writer’s Workshop, especially in Kindergarten! Finally, it’s time to have a Publishing Party! Students have worked hard to complete 3 personal narratives! It’s time to celebrate their accomplishments!

Publishing parties look different in each room. The main thing is that each student gets a chance to share their work! For a small class you could have students share one at a time. On the other hand, for a larger class you could have students share in small groups or sit at their desks while guests rotate around and see all of the books. 

Plan Ahead:

Mark your publishing party on your class calendar at the beginning of the unit to help your students get excited. Additionally, during revision and publishing days remind your students that they are authors and an audience is coming to hear their stories! 

The main goal of a publishing party is for students to celebrate and share their accomplishments as a writer . A variety of party supplies and props are provided including crowns, compliment pages, signs, party invitations, an “I’m an Author” banner and name tags. Use these to make your party something your students and families look forward to each unit.  Let’s get this party started!

For your convenience, you can use the included invitations to invite family, friends, or another class to come hear your student’s stories. 

I hope this post was helpful to you as you set out to implement kindergarten writing workshop this year!

Be sure to join my private Facebook group with other likeminded educators and homeschool families that are using Moffatt Girl Curriculum!

Happy Teaching!

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Reader Interactions

February 8, 2023 at 4:07 pm

I. Am intereses on the kindergarten currículum, where caI get It.

February 16, 2023 at 6:06 pm

Hi Karina, here’s the link to the Kindergarten Writing Curriculum: Click Here .

Kindly, Annie

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