Every day, the children in Mrs. Niles' class engage in writing activities. During the Writing Block, children may work on storytelling, working in their "Drawing and Writing Books," working in their "Red Journals" or practicing handwriting. In the pictures above you will see the children sitting in a circle on the rug (this is usually how writing time begins). For this writing block of time, the children first came together to have an oral discussion. Each child was asked to pick a puppet or stuffed animal and "describe" that animal by providing two sentences about it. Since the beginning of kindergarten, we have been working on what the word "describe" means (providing information about something such as its size, shape, color, use, etc...). We have recently been talking about what a sentence is and the difference between using a complete sentence as opposed to just responding with one or a few words. Mrs. Niles used me to explain what she wanted the children to do. She held me up and said "This is a lion. It is brown and furry. It can roar." Next, all of the children had the opportunity to describe an animal or puppet (see all of the friends that surround me in the ring). They did a great job using complete sentences and coming up with some creative responses. After this, they were asked to think of something to draw in their "Drawing and Writing Book." Their drawing could be of an animal, toy, or any object they felt they could draw and describe. They were sent back to their seats and given time to add details to their drawing. During this time, Mrs. Niles came around and wrote the sentences that the children dictated to her. Lastly, we all gathered around on the rug again to share our drawings/sentences. It was fun looking at all of the children's drawings (we have some great artists in our class). They also did a nice job coming up with sentences to describe their drawings. I look forward to writing time because Mrs. Niles takes me off the shelf and lets me participate with the class (I especially like storytelling when she passes me around and each child tells me their story).
