Kid Writing-Collaborative Group Work

Kindergarten students work in a collaborative group after a mini-lesson to progress through their writing process. They share resources that aid them with spelling words they have been studying correctly.

At the end of the mini-lesson discussed in the previous blog, the students transitioned into small collaborative writing groups to begin Step 1 of the Kid Writing process, draw your story or information. One group was paired with the teacher. Two other groups were paired with another adult (one of the researchers, paraprofessionals, or teacher’s assistants) and one group worked independently. The adults rotated through the groups each day to make sure all of the groups received guidance multiple times throughout the week.  Having adult assistance available for most of the groups is key to helping the students develop their writing skills.

Once the students formed the idea of their text through drawing, they were encouraged to incorporate their oral language skills when the teacher (or volunteer) asked the children to talk about their picture before writing words on the page. At this point, students are ready to write down the ideas they came up with during the drawing portion of the lesson. Students can use a variety of tools to help them spell the words they wish to write. These tools can include using sight words the students had already been taught, using word walls, stretching out words, using kid crowns, using teacher-made resources, and using invented spellings. The strategies to spell the words should be modeled by the teacher multiple times throughout the school year.