Video: Drawing and Writing Lesson
Pete the Cat day 20 of kindergarten
As many of you know from my writing book--Teaching Writing in Kindergarten--I start the year with six weeks of drawing together. As the days and weeks go on, writing is incorporated into the lessons. We start with single sounds, then a word, then two word phrases such as the man or a cat, and finally short sentences, such as I see the bug. Usually around the sixth week of school (October for us), the students have the skills and confidence to start writing “independently.”
These initial drawing and writing lessons encompass and solidify so many important foundational skills in kindergarten:
following directions
planning
copying
phonemic awareness
application of phonics
rhyming
spelling
letter formation
sentence structure
grammar
vocabulary
counting
shapes
staying on topic
pencil grasp
fine motor muscle development
fine motor control
drawing
organizing
erasing
using classroom resources
physical stamina
time management
watching the teacher
focusing
self-monitoring
goal-setting
oral sharing
listening
segmenting sounds
blending sounds
starting and finishing a project
Like I say in the video, if I only had the students for 30 minutes every day, a drawing and writing lesson is what I would do. You’ll see as the year goes on that the students are getting so much phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading instruction during writing time!
After watching the video, if you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below so others can benefit from the discussion as well. Thank you!
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Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful. I’ve been reading your book and plan to start the drawings tomorrow. I was wondering what your thoughts are on handwriting lines. Also, do you have them do any coloring with the drawings? If so, how do you add that part. If not, why? Thank you so much! I find your work so inspiring.
These videos are such a great resource! Thank you so much for sharing!
I started out the year in our writing journals having the students write their names, write the letter we learned about for the day, and then teaching them how to draw the keyword (your suggestion in earlier posts) and I can't wait to get here! It's awesome to see how far they have come in our 11 days of school thus far with their writing!