Peggy's Small Potatoes: Kid Writing

Writing in kindergarten... how many times have we followed our language arts manual and given our students a topic to write about? What followed in my classroom were moans and groans, and then 20 students all needing my help at the same time. It was the worst part of the school day. I had no idea how to teach beginning writers!

Everything changed when a new principal came to our school who had ACTUALLY TAUGHT KINDERGARTEN!!! She bought all of the kindergarten teachers the book Kid Writing by Eileen Feldgus and Isabell Cardonick, and then came in to our classrooms and modeled some lessons. What followed amazed us all. The students couldn't wait for journal time, and they became independent writers! By the end of the year most of my students could write two to three sentences on a topic with no help. They also were writing yes/no surveys and notes to each other during free choice center time!

The philosophy of Kid Writing is that writing and reading go hand in hand. Phonics is used while journal writing, which transfers into reading skills. The students write the sounds that they hear as they stretch out words. Word walls with sight words are up and used as needed.

What makes Kid Writing so different? For me, it was that the students get to write about whatever they want - not a prompt from a teacher's manual! Also, the teacher models lessons from his or her own life to demonstrate the process. If the student cannot hear any sounds in a particular word, it is ok to make a "magic line" for that word. Meatball spaces are put between words. So kid friendly! In my classroom, I circulate from table to table, listening to their "story" as they draw their picture. Then I help kids stretch sounds as they write. When they are finished writing, they read to me (pointing to each word), then I write "grown up writing" underneath. Little by little, the higher students are off and running and I can devote more time to those who need a little more help. It is an amazingly effective process.

There is much, much more to be learned by reading the Kid Writing book! Here are some pictures of the progression one of my lower students has made this year.