Term IV Writing Lesson

Lynette Kehoe
Spring 2018

Teacher: Lynette Kehoe

Date of lesson: Four Mini Lessons from March 12, 2018 to March 15, 2018
Location: Penn Alexander Elementary School
Grade: Kindergarten

Goals:
Students will be able to state an opinion in writing, and write at least two related reasons to
support their opinion.

Standards:
W.K.1 - Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in
which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an
opinion or preference about the topic or book.
W.K.2 - Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose
informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some
information about the topic.
W.K.5 - With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from
peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

Materials and Preparation:

● Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett
● Chart paper and markers
● Topic sentence and reasons template
● Blank writing paper

Classroom Arrangement and Management:

For the writing mini lessons, the class will be seated at the story rug, and I will be sitting in the
rocking chair with the easel next to me. Special rug spots will be chosen for particular students
with different needs. In order to manage the class during mini lessons, I will follow our
classroom norms and routines around getting attention and using hand signals. Class discussions
will follow our listening expectations, and will involve raised hands to talk to the whole class, as
well as turn and talks between student pairs. When students are working on writing, they will be
seated in their table groups, with specific students moved to a different writing spot based on
their needs for independent work and focus. During these times, we will be following our
classroom routines for quiet independent work, and I will turn on the music box to softly play
music and regulate the noise level. At the start of independent writing, I will circulate
throughout the classroom to make sure every student is getting started and has an idea to write
about. After this initial check, I will focus each day on conferencing with a specific table group.
This will allow my to work one on one with each student throughout the week.

Plan:
Day One - 10 minute mini lesson, 30 minute independent writing block (Monday 3/12)
 1. We will begin at the story rug, with a blank piece of chart paper and the book Animals
Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.
2. “This week we’re starting a new type of writing. It is called opinion writing, and it
means that you get to tell people what you think about something. Today I will read an
opinion text for you, and we can figure out what opinion texts need.”
3. I will read aloud Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.
a. I will begin by reading the title and letting the students make observations and
predictions.
b. I will read through, only stopping to help students understand any difficult words
and to ensure comprehension.
c. At the end I will ask “What was the authors opinion? How do you know?”
d. I will continue the conversation by asking, “What are some other options that
someone could write about?” I will have students turn and talk, and then take 3-4
responses.
4. After talking about the book, I will write Opinion Writing as a title on the chart paper,
and ask “What does opinion writing need?”
a. I will have 5-6 students tell me their ideas and record them in one color on the
chart paper. This chart paper can be revisited later in the unit and edited in
another color.
5. “Now that we know a lot about opinion writing, you all can go try it. Raise your hand if
you have an idea for an opinion that you want to write about.”
a. I will have students tell me what they are going to write about one by one.
b. Some students will have an idea right away, and will go get started. I will help
students who are having trouble thinking of an idea brainstorm, and have several
ideas for topics handy in case some children need them.
6. After everyone has been dismissed from the carpet with an idea, students will write
independently. I will circulate to make sure that everyone is getting started, then sit
down to conference with one table group.

Day Two - 10 minute mini lesson, 30 minute independent writing block (Tuesday 3/13)
1. We will begin at the story rug and the opinion writing chart from yesterday will be hung
up behind me. On the easel, there will be a blank, half-sized chart paper.
2. “Yesterday we learned about a new kind of writing: opinion writing. Who remembers
what opinion writers do?” I will take 1-2 responses.
3. “Today I want to show you how to start your opinion writing, and share one of my
opinions. Opinion writers always need to start with a topic sentence, which means they
state their opinion. Remember the book we read yesterday? The author started by stating
her opinion that animals should not wear clothing.”
a. On the chart paper I will write “1. Start with a topic sentence, state your opinion.”
4. Next, I will model writing out a quick opinion piece on a template.
a. I will write and dictate “Kindergarteners should go on a field trip every month.”
After writing I will explain,“That is my topic sentence. My opinion is that we
should have more field trips.”
b. I will write and dictate “We should have more field trips because they are a fun
way to learn new things.” then explain, “This is one reason I have this opinion.”
 c. I will write and dictate “We should have field trips every month because then we
can meet many new people.” and explain, “This is another reason I have this
opinion.”
d. Finally, I will write and dictate “That is why kindergarteners need field trips every
month.”
e. I will refer back to the topic sentence, and explain, “I started with this topic
sentence because I wanted my readers to know what my opinion is.”
5. Now that they have seen how to start their writing, I will ask them to turn and talk to a
partner about their opinion on where they would most like to travel. I will take 3-4
responses to the whole group.
6. After they talk, I will ask each student to tell me where they would most like to travel,
and I’ll dismiss them to their seats one by one with a writing paper.
7. After everyone has been dismissed from the carpet with an idea, students will write
independently. I will circulate to make sure that everyone is getting started, then sit
down to conference with one table group.
a. If I notice a student doing something that would make a good teaching point, I
might call the attention of the whole class to point it out.

Day Three - 10 minute mini lesson, 30 minute independent writing block (Wednesday 3/14)
1. We will begin on the carpet with the chart from the first day hanging up, and the new
opinion writing chart from yesterday on the easel.
2. “Yesterday we learned that we need to start our writing by stating an opinion. Today we
will make our writing even better by making sure that we add reasons to writing. Does
anyone remember some reasons that Judi Barrett said animals should not wear clothing?”
I will take 2-3 responses. “These are great examples of an author supporting their
opinion with reasons.
a. One the chart I will write “2. Give at least two reasons to support the opinion.”
b. If there is an example of a student doing this well from either of the past two days,
I may share their writing piece now.
3. “Yesterday we wrote about our favorite place to travel. I want you to do that again today,
but make sure that you give at least two reasons. Turn and talk to a partner about where
you want to travel, and also tell them two reasons why.” After the turn and talk, I will
take 3-4 responses.
4. “To help you remember to add your topic sentence and two reasons, I made a special
writing paper that will help.” I will show them the topic sentence and reasons template,
and show how to use it.
5. I will dismiss the students to their tables to begin writing their opinion piece again with
the template. I will circulate to make sure that everyone is getting started, then sit down
to conference with one table group.
a. If I notice a student doing something that would make a good teaching point, I
might call the attention of the whole class to point it out.

Day Four - 10 minute mini lesson, 30 minute independent writing block (Thursday 3/15)
1. We will begin at the story rug with our charts visible. I will review number one and two
on our chart to help them remember the important pieces of opinion writing.
 2. “Today we are going to try writing an opinion piece about something at school. All week
we’ve been reading folktales before lunch. Today I want you to write about which
folktale was your favorite and why.” I will take out the folktales we’ve read to remind
the class, and I will have them turn and talk about their ideas, and then have 3-4 students
share.
3. “Don’t forget that you will need a topic sentence. Something like ‘my favorite folktale
was…’ and then at least two reasons. You can say this by saying something like ‘this
was my favorite folktale because…’ Raise your hand to tell me which book you will
write about.” After taking a few ideas, I will then dismiss them to their seats to write
independently.
4. While they write, I will circulate to make sure everyone is getting started, then sit down
to conference with one table group.
a. If I notice a student doing something that would make a good teaching point, I
might call the attention of the whole class to point it out.

Assessment:
Assessment will be based on my analysis of student writing, and will be ongoing throughout the
week. On the first day, I will collect student work, and read each piece, recording on my
assessment checklist what each student needs to work on. This will help me to identify themes
to work on as I move forward throughout the week. As the week goes on, I will assess students
based on my conferences with them. On the fourth day, I will collect the student work again,
and analyze it the same way I did on the first day. This will show me where students have
improved and what I will need to work with them on the next week. I will be analyzing whether
students wrote a topic sentence and two related reasons, and if the writing piece makes sense.

Anticipating Student Responses:

The students in my class often enjoy talking about the things they like and their own ideas, so
writing their opinions will likely be enjoyable for most. They will enjoy reading the mentor text,
and will likely have lots to say during our discussions. I will need to be intentional about making
sure that all student voices are heard during discussions, because some students rarely raise their
hands at the carpet. This means that I will need to call on certain students sometimes even if
their hands are not raised. I will also be careful to make sure that everyone has a partner during
turn and talks. Students might have trouble thinking of opinion ideas to start out, so I will need
to have a few different ideas prepared in the back of my mind.

Accomodations:
While students are writing, I will make accomodations for struggling writers by using our
writing strategy cards and supporting their specific needs. One common way to help students
who have a harder time with writing is helping them plan out their words by using a yellow
colored pencil to sketch out spaces for the words they intend to write. This can be done in
conferences, and conferences will be longer with students who need it more. I can also provide
sentence starters for students who are struggling, and let certain students continue using the topic
sentence and reasons template the next day as well. During the mini lessons and group
discussions, every student will get a chance to talk because I am using turn and talks. During
turn and talks, I can strategically listen in on students who need more help, and provide
prompting and scaffolding. I will also adjust my mini lessons as I go, depending on how much
the class is understanding. If there are students that are finishing early and understanding
opinion writing, I will give them the opportunity to write more opinion pieces about different
topics.