"Watch" How Time Will Tell!

It's time for the last standard-based bulletin board of the year. Most teachers have posted "work over time." The Mallards have looked at writing over time and have posted work over the Kindergarten and first grade year of a single student. The first piece, which is a writing log, looks at how the child's writing changed with a sample from kindergarten each month of the year. The growth is obvious as the student moves from a drawing that tells a story in August to a long written piece by the end of the year that shows a growing sight word bank, beginning punctuation and writing stamina.
The first piece written in early first grade is a small moment, "When I Went Ice Skating." The author writes a series of mini-events and shows that she has learned to edit her own work (using a green pencil). In October the student completed a Question/ Answer pattern book, "Swimming Fun," that introduced a unit on nonfiction writing.
The December piece is a report about the student's family. It includes a Table of Contents, comparison, a "how to"/ procedural piece and a narrative about a vacation. The piece shows that the student has been exposed to and has internalized the nonfiction conventions.

In February the young author wrote a response to the book, Wemberly Worried, during an author study of Kevin Henkes. This is one of many responses that the student wrote during the author study. The work meets the standard as it includes an opening, a detailed retelling and a closing.



The final piece is a letter written during our persuasive writing unit. This young writer wrote to the lifeguards at the beach asking them to come out a little earlier so she can have some fun!



It is always amazing at the progress that children make from the day they enter kindergarten until they end first grade. This bulletin board certainly displays that well and shows a young writer that is well on her way!