Activity TLC points______Date .
Activity: Creating an Effective Year-long Writing Curriculum for Kindergarten TLC Points: 20 Date: 9/20/05 Teaching & Learning Cooperative Proposal for Individuals or Groups of 2-4
PROPOSAL FACILITATOR: Keri King WORK LOCATION: LPES
PHONE: 672-3600 EMAIL: [email protected] PARTICIPANTS: Sara Sumner, Karin Rosenberg, Theresa Lougeay
START AND END DATES: 10/01-6/06
DISTRICT GOAL(S) ADDRESSED: x K-12 LITERACY (SUPPORT FOR K-12 READING, WRITING, OR MATHEMATICS) PROFICIENCY FOR ALL STUDENTS ACROSS ALL GRADE LEVELS AND CONTENT AREAS AS MEASURED BY STANDARDIZED STATE MEASURES (CST, CAHSEE) INCREASED ACCESS TO RIGOROUS CURRICULUM & COURSES FOR ALL STUDENTS (AP CLASSES, A-G)
ANTICIPATED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OUTCOMES: To create a new yearlong writing curriculum for our Kindergarten program with an emphasis on Units of Study for Primary Writing: a Yearlong Curriculum developed by Lucy Calkins. The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Writing, The Conferring Handbook, Launching the Writing Workshop, Personal Narrative Writing, Writing For Readers: Teaching Skills and Strategies, The Craft of Revision, Authors as Mentors, Nonfiction Writing, and Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages With the development of this curriculum and other resources, we hope to gain a better understanding of the writing process in Kindergarten. Through research, instruction, reflection, and collaboration we hope to establish a writing program that allows us to obtain the skills needed to be effective writing teachers.
Other resources we will use: About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood-Ray Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom by Katie Wood-Ray
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**All materials are new resources for us! In the past we have used Houghton Mifflin and other random resources to try and create the best plan we could. We now are committed to taking the time to create a new year long writing program that is carefully thought out and research based. We will also meet with the 1st grade team to discuss what writing skills/strategies they feel we need to focus on.
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH ACTIVITIES (Including Timeline) The team will meet every Tuesday (3:45-4:45) for an hour to discuss the seven units of study presented by Lucy Calkins as well as other Writer’s Workshop resources. In these meetings, we will discuss how to implement and create a rigorous year-long writing curriculum that develops independent writers and thinkers. The units to be covered include: The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Writing (October) The Conferring Handbook (October-June) Launching the Writing Workshop (October) Personal Narrative Writing (November-December) Writing For Readers: Teaching Skills and Strategies (January-February) The Craft of Revision (February- March) Authors as Mentors (March-April) Nonfiction Writing (May) Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages (June) *We will also incorporate Katie-Wood-Ray’s resources where appropriate (ex. author studies per month that promote good writing ideas and strategies.).
Each teacher will be responsible for reading and taking notes on all nine of Lucy Calkins books (listed above) as well as the Katie Wood-Ray books. The team will meet for discussion, planning, and revision. Our goal is to have a plan that is so comprehensive that any new teacher that joins our team could easily follow. We have had a new team each year for the past 6 + year, so we are hoping that this collaboration project will provide some consistency for not only this year, but for years to come.
Classroom Implementation Activities:
The lessons will be developed by reading and reviewing all resources listed above as well as reflecting on the needs of each student . Each teacher will implement the writing workshop a minimum of four days per week which will include a mini-lesson, time for writing, conferencing with students (writing in conferencing notebook), student sharing, and assessment of student work to drive further instruction.
Reflection Activities:
The teachers will reflect each individual lesson by keeping a reflection journal. Each journal entry will have a lesson focus, lesson observation notes and next best steps. Each
(Use back of form or attached sheet for more space.) Activity TLC points______Date . teacher will also review student writing and her conferencing notebook to ensure that each student’s individual needs are being met. We will share our individual reflections on the lessons we have each presented in our classrooms to gain insights and develop our year-long plan based on the results of our implementations.
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