In just one day, experience the power of authentic kindergarten writing strategies.

1. Independent Writing Totes Provide Systematic and Authentic “Heart Word” Practice.

Independent writing totes provide drawing and bookmaking experiences with a sequence of “heart word” sentences: “I love…,” “I see the…,” “I like my…,” “I can see…,” ”I have a…”

2. Children Are Engaged in Writing Workshop and Authentic, Motivating Writing-to-Read Experiences with Good Handwriting Throughout the Day and Across the Curriculum.

Kindergartners love to draw and write and make “really cool” books.

3. “I love you” Is Our Handwriting Anchor Sentence: We Read, Write, and Practice “Heart Words” for Fluency.

We expect all children to master this sentence using accurate handwriting, spaces between words, and punctuation. Even special needs students can write “I love you” early in the year.

4. Our Students Use Music, Fingerspelling, Writing, and Sign Language to Create Memory Hooks. We Take Advantage of How the Brain Learns Best!

Children simultaneously practice handwriting and high-frequency “heart words.”

5. Ongoing Assessment Drives Instruction, and Learning Is Celebrated!

6. “Parents as Partners” Accelerates Mastery of High-Frequency “Heart Words.”

Each new set of “heart words” goes home on a ring in a special box for family practice as soon as the previous set is mastered.

7. Learning Is Differentiated, and All Children Receive an Arts-Rich Talented and Gifted (TAG) Learning Model.

There is a constant challenge for the more-proficient readers and writers, and there is scaffolding for the developmentally-younger and less-experienced writers.

8. We Teach the Common Core Opinion Writing Word “because” Through Rhythm, Rhyme, and Writing Early in the Year.

Children engage in high-quality oral language rehearsals emphasizing the word “because.”

9. Children Write Compound Sentences, e.g.: “I love my mom because she loves me.” “I Can Read” Anthology Pages Featuring “Heart Word” Songs and Chants Are Illustrated.

Children take pride in doing quality work and in challenging themselves to fingerspell, write, and read each new word.

10. Harder-to-Accelerate Students Receive Additional Multisensory “Heart Word,” CVC Practice, Word Work, and ABC Brain Exercises for Fluency.

Response to Intervention (RTI) teams, volunteers, and parents provide additional targeted practice. Our end goal is fluency — speed and accuracy!

11. Our Rooms Have A-Z Word Walls with Movable “Heart Word” Cards That Children Use!

Children use these words during writer’s workshop time. With limited space, a cookie sheet or an oil pan may become an additional movable Word Wall!

12. Writing Workshop Is Where Children Practice the Craft of Becoming a Writer: Information Stories Become Published Books.

(Thank you Jaime Corliss for published books)

A Comprehensive Kindergarten Writing Workshop model includes all students as authors and illustrators, publishing their own fiction and information books. They do amazing work!

Kindergartners, like twelfth graders, draft, edit, and publish their writing. Lucy Calkin

BONUS! Art, Creativity, Voice, and Playfulness Are Part of the Writing Process!