Ideas to Incorporate More Authentic Writing into the Kindergarten Classroom

A few of my students teach kindergarten students. Currently, one of the students in my class who is teaching kindergarten has shared that she has so many different curricula to include into her teaching. The writing that the kids do is aligned to a specific writing program, and the program does not allow the students to do much authentic writing or writing about topics that interest them.

It’s really challenging to get more into the school day, especially when the day feels like it is packed full enough already. The students who are working with kindergarteners have shared that the kids do enjoy writing - especially now that they are able to write more. So, rather than upend everything, my suggestion is to add in small writing activities or lessons that the students can complete with some teacher modeling. These are activities that will not take a tremendous amount of time, but gets in some of the writing for the students. Reading and writing are so interconnected that it is really helpful for the teacher and the students if they can have the experience of writing.

Here are some manageable ideas to get started with including into your day. It’s also important to remember that drawing is a form of writing - particularly when working with kindergarteners. They can express their ideas in more depth through illustrations than through printing at this point. So, let them draw!

Self-Portrait

Have the students draw a picture of themselves. I really like to do this a couple of times a year with students. It’s great to see the growth in their illustrations (and in themselves!). You can bring in hand-held mirrors from the Dollar Store to help them add in the details that they see on their faces. Encourage them to include color into their self-portraits, too. If you want to extend this, you can read the book The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About Their Bodies in Pictures and Words by Wendy Ewald or you can read I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont. The students can then write a sentence (or even two!) about their favorite part about themselves.

Heart Map

Georgia Heard invented the heart map in 1990 to get kids to explore through writing and drawing what is in their hearts. It’s a tool to get kids started with their writing and to find out what is most important to them. For kindergarteners, model your own heart map and how you fill our heart map with people, places, and things that are important to you. Then, have the students create their own heart maps. Have them begin by drawing the people, places, and things that are important to them. Then, have them add some color to their drawings, and finally they can label the items in their heart map.

Pick a Topic From the Heart Map!

Now that your students have some of the items that are most important to them in their heart map, you can have them write about the items they included. Begin by modeling how you would select a topic from your heart map and then begin with an illustration. Just as in the other activities, add color to your illustration and label it. You want the students to get in the habit of adding details to their illustrations and then labeling what they drew. Then, write 1-2 sentences about the item you selected. For example, if you chose your cat, you can draw a picture of something your cat does (like sleeping!) and your sentence can be “My cat loves to sleep all day!” This gets the students writing about their lives and interests. The first few times you do this, it will take more time, but once the students get the hang of it, it will not take too long to implement and complete. Also, some students may finish quickly while others may only complete the illustration. This is fine - the goal is that they are all engaging in the writing process - thinking of topics, selecting a topic, and writing!

Writing About The Weekend News

My second grade student loves this activity! It can be used for any grade. The students come in on Monday morning and write about something that they did over the weekend. Again, you will need to model this at the beginning so that the students see how you are approaching this activity. I would also have them spend more time on their drawing and adding the details and labels before moving to the writing. After the kids have completed the writing, they can share with each other and talk about their weekends.

Responding to a Read-Aloud

Read-alouds are great for kids because it allows them to hear stories that are too challenging for them to read on their own. It’s also a shared experience as a class. After reading a book to the class, have them write about their favorite character or write about what the character did during the book. They can also write about how the book is similar to their own life. You can extend the book into a writing experience in so many different ways. You can discuss the book with the class. Then, model your response to the students so that they see the expectation and have a model of the work that they will complete. Then, have them draw their response and move into writing a sentence.

Giving the students the opportunity to write will help you see what they need support with. If you are only able to include one of these writing activities into your teaching each week - it’s a starting point and it’s something. You may be able to add more as time goes by or if you find that you have extra time one day (I know - hard to believe!). See if you can include any of these into your teaching, and let me know how it goes!

A kindergarten student’s response to a text. The book was about a cat who loved to sleep until it was time to eat!

Here’s the transcription of the text: Socks was sleeping on the bed. Socks likes food.