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English Writing Unit - Term 4 2014 Early Stage 1

Focus: Guided Writing, Independent Writing Duration: 34 lessons/week
Overview
The following provides a guide for teaching writing in Early Stage 1.
In this unit, students develop their knowledge of concepts about print as they engage in a range of
modelled and shared writing experiences. Students are taught specific skills and strategies for composing
and structuring texts. They learn to express themselves and respond to a variety of texts.
This unit provides a general framework for teaching independent and guided writing. Effective use in the
classroom will require meaningful contextualisation. Skills and strategies should be taught through relevant
and engaging texts with an appropriate thematic basis. Students should be provided with opportunities to
build their understanding continually, eg through viewing picture books and animations, engaging with
relevant objects and people (such as guest presenters), and discussing their personal experience of the
theme.
Links to other KLAs
Selection of texts for shared and guided reading to support
HSIE and Science and Technology units.
Direct link to HSIE unit of Landscapes
Inclusion of Indigenous texts or multicultural perspectives
for shared and guided reading.
Outcomes Assessment overview
ENe-2A composes simple texts to convey an idea or message
ENe-3A produces most lower case and upper case letters and uses digital technologies to construct
texts
ENe-5A demonstrates developing skills in using letters, simple sound blends and some sight words to
represent known words when spelling
ENe-9B demonstrates developing skills and knowledge in grammar, punctuation and vocabulary when
responding to and composing texts
ENe-10C thinks imaginatively and creatively about familiar topics, simple ideas and the basic features of
texts when responding to and composing texts
ENe-11D responds to and composes simple texts about familiar aspects of the world and their own
experiences
Observation notes/anecdotal records to be maintained as ongoing
assessment of learning.
Use ARC website for assessment standards and work samples to
compare.
Differentiated responding and writing activity examples:
sequence the beginning, middle and end of the story using the
text
for support
draw the beginning, middle and end of the story
draw a story map, adding more detail possibly writing.

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Writing - Grammar Specific Writing Focus Sentence a Day Literacy Groups Writing Activity
S
h
o
r
t

W
e
e
k

**ASSESSMENT**
Recount
Students write a simple recount of their holidays.
In my holidays

Guide for assessment - please refer to ARC website for further comparison.
On my holiday I went to a farm.
On my holiday I went to a farm with my family.
On my holiday I went to a farm with my family and we saw a horse.
During the holidays, I drove to a farm with my family. We saw a horse that
was brown and black. I enjoyed my trip to the farm.

Variations and extension
Sentence starters written or copied for students
Sentence starters written or copied with spaces for adjectives to be added
Using conjunctions and, with and pronouns
Planning for who, what, where, when, how and why

Punctuation
Introduce Kung Fu Punctuation to the students. Watch Youtube clip as an introduction
and model moves. Encourage students to be aware of the punctuation during all
literacy tasks.
Focus on when yesterday,
over the holidays, on Tuesday
etc

Focus on where a farm, Fiji,
Grandparents house etc

Full stops and capital letters

Basic Grammar and punctuation

My favourite season
is.because.
Silly Sentences:
Students choose one word from
each colour and construct a
sentence following the colour
sequence. Students then write their
sentence onto a whiteboard or in
their books.
2 Descriptive Sentences
Students are given pictures from fairytales or known books (shared reading) and
jointly construct sentences describing the image. Students can choose to describe the
character, the background or an object in the image.
NB - Media clips can be used for this task and video paused to direct attention.

eg/ This is a long, sandy beach.
This mountain is tall and has lots of green trees.
Adjectives

Full stops and capital letters

Basic Grammar and punctuation

Extension: encourage alliteration
green grass
I enjoy Spring

In Term 4, I am looking
forward to.



Mystery word:
Students choose a word from the
selection on cards. They then write
their own sentences using that
mystery word. Read sentence to a
partner to check if the meaning is
maintained.
3-4 Literary Recount / Digital Recount
Students listen to the reading of a fairytale picture book such as The Little Red Hen or
The Gingerbread Man (Teacher may choose a text to use).They discuss the events
and illustrations in the book. Students provide a written or oral recount of part of the
story.

Repeat this task with printed text, digital text and multi-media resources.

Use sentences from authentic texts and other known texts to reconstruct the sentence
structure. Write the sentences out on cards and cut up into separate words, students
then place the sentence in order and rewrite in books or whiteboards.
Sentence structure

Full stops and capital letters

Text Structure

Basic Grammar and punctuation

If I was a pirate..

I giggle when
Roll a sentence:
One dice has different Proper nouns
(my brother, Mrs Westoby, J ake etc)
and the other has an activity on it
(likes to ride a bike etc). Students
roll both dice and construct the
sentences.
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5-6 What can we write?
Brainstorm all the different forms and uses of writing. Eg/ story, note, recipe, list, book,
letter, card, poem, website etc
Do the same rules of language apply to the different forms?

Why do people write? Why do authors write?
Students can select one of the following types of writing to write. It is suggested that
real life examples and ideas are given to the students to increase their understanding
and confidence to write independently.

Letter writing: J ointly construct letters to different people.
Students write thank you letters to those people in our school who help them to meet
their needs. Eg/ Office/SAS Staff, Teachers, Principal. Parent helpers etc.
Initially jointly construct letters and then scaffold the students writing through the use
of proforma. The aim is to remove the scaffold by the end of the second week and
allow the students to produce written work independently.
Sentence structure

Writing for a purpose
Writing for an audience

Full stops and capital letters

Basic Grammar and punctuation

If I grew a tail..

On the weekend.

Mystery word:
Students choose a word from the
selection on cards. They then write
their own sentences using that
mystery word. Read sentence to a
partner to check if the meaning is
maintained.
6-7 Writing the story based on the illustrations - developing from Term 3
Using a known fairytale or story, show the pictures to the students with the words
covered over. Discuss the illustrations and the sequence of the story as each page
progresses. Return to the beginning of the book and jointly construct the text for each
page. Explicitly demonstrate qualities good writers use such as re-reading, editing,
proof-reading for punctuation etc. Even though the students may know the story they
are to follow the illustrations for storyline development.

Revisit jointly constructed story on a following day. Read the text as a class and ask
the students to comment on the meaning, sequence and link to the illustrations.

*Alternatively, this can be done on the IWB with the pages of the story scanned.
Sentence structure

Making sentences make sense

Story structure and fluidity

Basic Grammar and punctuation

The best day ever was.

Write two facts about a
dog.
Silly Sentences:
Students choose one word from
each colour and construct a
sentence following the colour
sequence. Students then write their
sentence onto a whiteboard or in
their books.
8-9 Writing instructions and procedures
Students write or illustrate a simple procedure using a scaffold provided by the
teacher. J ointly construct and review a selection of procedures - ensure to discuss the
need for a written procedure and who may write one.
As student ability increases, begin to remove the scaffold and proformas.
Examples:
How to make fairy bread
How to make toast
How to pack your school bag
Sentence structure

Making sentences make sense

Specific text structure

Basic Grammar and punctuation
Why should we wear a
hat? Name two reasons.
We should wear a hat
becauseand.


Response to Guided Reader:
What was your favourite part of the
story?
What happened at the end of the
story?
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Independent Writing
Students are encouraged to utilise all writing strategies learnt throughout the year to
write independently.

Topics or sentence starters:
My favourite part of Kindergarten was
In Year 1 I am looking forward to.
Dear Santa.
Performing in the concert was
If I was an elf..
Basic Grammar and punctuation

Sentence structure

Similes

Adjectives
I enjoy
reading.because

In Summer I can

Roll a sentence:
One dice has different Proper nouns
(my brother, Mrs Westoby, J ake etc)
and the other has an activity on it
(likes to ride a bike etc). Students
roll both dice and construct the
sentences.

Evaluation
Were the program outcomes achieved?
Were the activities relevant and appropriate to the needs of the students?
What teaching strategy was most effective?
Did students enjoy the program?
Were there sufficient challenging opportunities for extension?
What would I change next time?

SUGGESTED RESOURCES - Dictionary of Classroom Strategies K6, Board of Studies
Computer resources
ABC Reading Eggs
Online classroom resources
Story Bird: www.storybird.com
ABC Teach: www.abcteach.com
SparkleBox: www.sparklebox.co.uk/australia
Teach this: www.teachthis.com.au
Teachers pet: www.tpet.co.uk
Weblinks
BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/games (interactive literacy games)
Kidzone: www.kidzone.ws (photos and printable activities)
Literacy Zone: www.woodlands-junior-kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html (interactive
phonics activities)
Roy the Zebra: www.roythezebra.com (interactive reading games, guided reading
stories, literacy worksheets, songs)
Starfall: www.starfall.com (interactive phonics activities and animated picture books)
Storyline Online: www.storylineonline.net (popular stories reread for children by famous
people)
Storynory: www.storynory.com (audio stories)
iTunes resources: www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
Youtube: www.youtube.com and Teachertube: www.teachertube.com
Tumblebooks: www.tumblebooks.com (online collection of animated talking picture
book
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