Kindergarten and Writing Workshop

I just read an article, "Kindergarten is More than Ready for the Common Core State Standards" (Kelly, Kramer-Vida, Levitt, 2012), that discusses introducing writer's workshop into kindergarten classrooms. Initially I was surprised at the prospect of introducing writer's workshop to such young students. My introduction to the program was in relation to 4th to 6th grade classes, and I thought that it may be most effective for older elementary classes. However, these kindergarten classes were previously using a basal reader and the change to writer's workshop seemed appropriate. Using the basal reader program, teachers would write on the board the response a student gave to a question, and all the other students would copy what the teacher wrote. The turn to writer's workshop held hope that students would write (and draw pictures) that were individual to themselves, and based upon what they knew and brought to the classroom.

The school year's writer's workshop started out with students walking around the room and drawing pictures of what they saw, and then reconvene to share their drawings. Students also learned to label their illustrations as best they could with the letters they knew, or using resources that had been introduced to them, like a word wall. Later in the year, the kindergarteners learned about personal narrative and sequence in telling a story about a time they'd made a mess. Teachers gave the students paper that had three boxes on it and taught an accompanying mini-lesson. The students were encouraged to draw three pictures in the boxes, and write sentences that went with them, using the words beginning, middle, and end.

Throughout the school year, the kindergarteners had a variety of writing experiences. They wrote across the curriculum, incorporating shapes and colors into their writing. Halfway through the year, a checklist was introduced for the students to try and check that they had capitalized, included details, etc. The kindergarteners also wrote to a specific audience, like a friend, and wrote "All About" books. They also wrote how-to's which again used the sequential language which they had learned about previously. These and many more experiences were a part of their kindergarten experience. Eventually, there was the standard writing workshop celebration which the students wrote invitations to important people to attend, and they read their published pieces.

Through this process, the kindergarteners were able to write in ways to satisfy Common Core standards related to writing, such as "Standards for Writing 4 (“Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience”) and 10 (“Write routinely . . . for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences”) ) (p. 18)."(Kelly, Kramer-Vida, Levitt, 2012). In fact, these kindergarteners were completed work that addressed standards that are not expected till the third grade. Additionally, the teachers found their students worrying about whether what they wrote would make sense for the reader. Undoubtedly, these kindergarteners had a more authentic writing experience than what they would have had using the previous basal curriculum. Giving students the opportunity to write, draw, create, and respond in ways that are meaningful to them is key in getting them engaged in their learning, and this seems like a step in the right direction as they move away from a basal reader - even if the idea of writers workshop for kindergarteners may sound intense at first blush.

Kelly, S.P., Kramer-Vida, L., Levitt, R. (2012) Kindergarten is more than ready for the
                  Common Core State Standards. Language Arts. Vol. 90 (2).