We are talking NO PREP and no more than 5 minutes of planning a day!

This Common Core Standards Aligned writing curriculum is the perfect way to teach first graders all the foundational skills they need before heading into opinion, narrative, and informational writing.

All too often we skip building important foundational skills before jumping into writing. Unfortunately, this can lead to frustration for students and teachers.

Our 1st grade writing unit is all about building a solid foundation. By the end of this unit your students will be writing strong sentences that are meaningful and interesting.

Just say no to:

· Sentences without spaces between words

· missing capitals

· sentence fragments

· Run-on sentences

· missing end punctuation, wrong punctuation, or no punctuation

· lack of commas in a series

· and most importantly…boring sentences

And say yes to…

8 Weeks of fun and engaging explicit writing lessons geared toward the beginning of first grade to ensure success for all learners. Your writers will learn to:

· create detailed drawings using basic shapes and lines

· label drawings using best-guess spelling

· write a complete sentence with a subject and predicate

· correctly use capitals, spaces between words, and punctuation

· write a sentence using a sentence stem

· write telling, asking, and exclamatory sentences

· write a list

· list 3 or more things in a sentence using commas

· write to respond to questions

· write stronger sentences by including adjectives, adverbs, who, what, where, when or why

· write stronger sentences after receiving feedback from teacher and peers

· write more than one sentence on a topic

After this writing unit students will be able to rock and roll with opinion, narrative, and informative writing!

————————————————————————

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS FIRST GRADE WRITING RESOURCE?

40 DIGITAL LESSON PLANS – No need to search for your lesson plans or spend an enormous amount of time reading them each day. We have them right on the slides – making your teaching life stress-free.

Digital Lessons Include:

· 40 “I WILL” STATEMENTS – To keep students laser-focused on the objective of the day. We use “I will” statements instead of “I can” statements as they hold the students more accountable

· Writing Chats – To introduce topics, build background information as well as vocabulary

· Watch Me Slides – For the teacher to show the day’s objective through think aloud and modeling. This is oftentimes interactive to keep student engagement high.

· Our Turn Slides – For students to practice the new skill learned with you.

· Your Turn Slides – For students to independently practice the skill learned each day.

40 STUDENT WRITING PAGES – After each writing skill has been explicitly taught and practiced, students are held responsible for their learning by engaging in a daily writing assignment aligned to the days learning target.

OBSERVATION CHECKLISTS – Great for formative assessment! As you walk around and observe students, record your findings. This easy to use checklist helps you remember who has learned the targeted standard taught, and who needs extra help. This is great to refer to when planning for parent-teacher conferences.

END OF UNIT ASSESSMENT – To use as a summative assessment of the skills taught.

HERE IS A GLIMPSE OF THE FOCUS FOR EACH WEEK:

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 1 – Draw detailed pictures using shapes & lines

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 2 – Label pictures using best guess spelling

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 3 – Write complete sentences

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 4 – Write complete sentences & lists

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 5 – Write stronger sentences

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 6 – Write more than one sentence on a topic

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 7 – Write more than one sentence to answer a question

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 8 – Respond to questions to strengthen writing

————————————————————————

HERE’S WHAT OTHER TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR WRITING PROGRAM!

Okay, to be completely transparent, we just published this resource so do not yet have feedback. However, we have had several teachers ask us to help them with writing, we hope you find this writing program to be just what you need.

And we hope we can publish your awesome feedback right here.

————————————————————————

WHY EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION FOR WRITING in 1st GRADE?

It’s simple… IT WORKS!

Explicit instruction (also called direct instruction) works for all writers…not just the stronger ones. It’s a strategy that allows teachers to scaffold learning by giving structured, sequenced lessons targeting specific skills or standards. It’s teacher led with a gradual release of responsibility to students. This method truly allows all students to succeed.

If you are thinking, that doesn’t sound like Writer’s Workshop, you’re right. It’s not. Years ago, we implemented Writer’s Workshop in our classrooms, but it didn’t work for us… or our students.

The biggest problem was that it was very difficult to manage and keep students on track. It was also a planning nightmare trying to find mini-lessons to match our students’ diverse needs. And to make matters worse, when we gave mini-lessons students didn’t necessarily practice the targeted skill because they were at a different stage of the writing process.

We were disappointed, frustrated and knew we had to do something different.

We decided to put structure and intentionality into our teaching. We clearly state what students will be working on, give thoughtful instruction through modeling and discussion, and provide time to practice as we observe and guide. It is so simple to manage and gives students the support they need. The result? Student writing like we’ve never seen. This method truly works!

————————————————————————

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING THIS WRITING RESOURCE?

· The entry point for this unit is assessable to all learners.

· Lessons are carefully and thoughtfully scaffolded, ensuring success for all learners.

· Our I Do, We Do, You Do format sets your first-grade writers up for success.

· At completion of this unit, your students will be able to confidently tackle opinion, narrative, and informative writing with ease.

————————————————————————

WHO IS THE 1ST GRADE WRITING RESOURCE FOR?

· First grade teachers looking for a strong, yet easy to implement, writing curriculum that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and fun for kids.

· Special Education Teachers who need to take students at other grade levels back to the basics and build a strong writing foundation.

————————————————————————

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is this resource aligned to Common Core?

Yes! We built this whole resource around the Common Core State Standards.

Are the students required to write each day?

Yes! After we discuss, model, practice skills; students are then ask to show understanding by engaging in a writing task independently.

Does this follow a Writers’ Workshop model?

No. Writers’ Workshop worked great for us in second grade, but not so much in first. Students are explicitly taught a writing skill each day, then they practice the skill taught.

————————————————————————

OTHER FIRST GRADE RESOURCES YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN

If you love explicit instruction as much as we do, you might LOVE our First Grade Sight Word Program.

Students work with words in isolation, then contextually. We have had GREAT success with this, and other teachers have too!

FIRST GRADE SIGHT WORD PROGRAM