Writing Lesson 11/6/18

Subject: Writing Activity: Handwriting For Letters N and M Setting: Kindergarten # of Students:25

Statement of Objective: Students will be able to write the letter N with 80% accuracy. Accommodations
*Observable/Measurable (A,B,C,D) Students will be able to write the letter M with 80% accuracy. With assistance (if
*GLCE/IEP needed) for
Standard: Windemere, Wael, Luis,
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.1.A Print many upper- and lowercase letters. and Marcel

Materials: “Where do we start our letters” song, student handwriting books, letter wooden shapes, Slant writing board, 3
*Prepared and organized projector, picture of girl sitting at the carpet, visual behavior reminder cards pencil grips
*Available for all
Opening: Review carpet expectations
*Gain attention/motivate Display picture of the girl sitting at the carpet. “This is a picture of a Kindergartener sitting at Luis sits on a carpet
*Activate prior knowledge the carpet. Thumbs up, or thumbs down, is she sitting the right way (motion a thumbs up) or spot and Wael sits on a
~link/relate; assess; prepare for new the wrong way (motion thumbs down). Can someone tell me what is something that she is chair.
learning (e.g. vocabulary) doing that is showing the teacher respect and following the rules?” Have a class discussion
*State goals/set purpose about how the girl is giving eye contact, sitting crisscross-applesauce with her spoons in her Visual and auditory
~explain task: why, what, how, and when lap, and she is catching her words. reminder of carpet
for strategies Remind students of the scoreboard, where they can earn “oh yeahs” for sitting the right way. expectations
*Clear directions
“Where do we start our letters” song
Students are sitting at the carpet, in their carpet spots. Project the worksheet for letter N on
the board.
Play the song “Where do we start our letters”. Sing and do motions with the students.

5 min
Presentation: Creating letters Review the names of
Teacher: Hold the 4 wooden letter parts behind back (big line, little line, big curve, little curve). Pull out the letter parts for ELL
*Variety of learning (T/S, S/S, S/T) each part one by one and have students yell out what the name of that letter part is.
*Organizational framework “Let’s review some letters we have made so far. If I have one big line and one little curve (build Review past letters for
~construct, clarify, and link concepts in a the letter with the wooden shapes as you say it), what letter is this class? (P) Now from here I background knowledge
meaningful context can add two different parts to build two different letters! What letter does it make if I add and to reinforce past
*Present visually, verbally, kinesthetically, another little curve? (B) What letter does it make if I take away our second little curve and add lessons
real world (e.g. LESH) a little line instead? (R)”
*Model and think aloud to make visible
~language practices/processes Modeling the letter N
~learning strategies and adaptations (how, “Today we are going to make two new letters! Our first letter is the letter N! The letter N is
when and why) made of 3 big lines! One big line, straight up and down like a building, then the next one goes
~organization, relationships, and clues down like a slide, and the last one stands tall like another building.” Model writing the letter N
*Transfer of control on the board. “When we write our letter N, where do we start class? We start at the top and
~students explain, justify, clarify, etc. draw one big line from the top to the bottom. Then we pick up our pencil, and jump back up to
*Clear directions the top of that line. Now we need to add another big line that goes down like a slide. Look how
*Check for understanding in our examples the big line going down like a slide goes all the way to the other side of the
~appropriate feedback: praise, prompt box. Now we have to draw our last big line, but without picking up our pencil this time! Just
probe/question (in ZPD) draw it straight up, back up to the top of the box.
~assess/error drill
5 min
Guided Practice: Guided Practice for the letter N
*Activity related to presentation/objectives “We are going to draw our letter N with our magic finger, and our handy notebook. Use your Define and show the
*Active student participation magic finger to draw the letter N on the palm of your hand. Do you start at the top or the palm of your hand
~provide rationale for assignment bottom? The top! Now draw your big line down and jump back up to the top. Draw your slide
~multi-sensory and real world down, and then finish it off with another tall big line going up, like a tall building.”
~instructional dialogue “Tell someone sitting next to you, how many big lines does our letter N need to have?”
*Transfer of control Pick student sticks to have students come up to the board to practice writing a N on the Having kids come up to
~students explain, justify, clarify, think worksheet projected on the board. As they write, comment on how they start at the top, do a the board reminds
aloud big line down and then a big line down like a slide, and finish it with another big line up. students where to write
*Check for understanding Give an example of drawing a N in the box, where the second big slanted line goes to the left the letter N on the
~ensure high success rate instead of the right. Talk about how if our letter N doesn’t stay in our box, we know we have to worksheet
~appropriate feedback: praise, prompt, put our slide the other way.
probe/question (in ZPD)
Individual Practice: 5 min
~assess/error drill
~monitor and adjust instruction Modeling the letter M
*Management/monitoring Switch the worksheet from letter N to letter M and have the teacher helper (Marcel) erase the
~scan, circulate, assess, support, praise board. “Now we can talk about our other letter we are going to learn to write today! This letter
is a lot like the letter N, but it has 4 big lines! Talk with a partner, how many big lines did we
need for the letter N, and how many do we need for the letter M?” Let partners talk and have
one student share out. As they share out, write on the board ‘N = 3’ and ‘M=4’. “Class, which
number is bigger? So, our letter M has more big lines than the letter N.” Model with the
wooden shapes and then by writing with the marker, similar to the letter N above. Talk about
how the letter M needs to have two big lines in the middle, so the 2nd and 3rd lines are a lot
 Writing Lesson 11/6/18

steeper slides than in the N.

3 min

Guided Practice for the letter M

Guide students in drawing the letter M on their hand with their magic finger. Follow guidelines
above, similar to the letter N.
Pick sticks and have students come up to the board to practice writing the letter M on the
worksheet. Give verbal feedback.

5 min

Transition
“We are going to get our writing journals now. I am going to give you instructions for what to
do when you get your packets. When you get your journal, go to your seat, and find the page
with the letter N on it. Look for the picture of the newspaper if you need help. When you found
the right page, give me the signal. When I call your number come and get your writing journal.”
Once all kids have gotten their journals from their number basket, walk around to make sure
that everyone is on the right page.

4 min
Remind Marcel how to
Individual Practice: hold his pencil.
Use attention getter: Class Class Get Wael the slanted
“I am going to give you some instructions, so don’t start working until you hear my magic board and a pencil with
word: avocado. You are going to practice writing the letter N in each of the empty boxes. When a grip.
you are done with the letter N, circle your favorite N that you wrote, and give me the signal so I Some students may
can come give you a star. Once I give you a star for your Ns, then I will tell you that you can need a letter N/M
start working on the page with the letter M. If you are done with your Ms, give me the signal written on their
again so I can come and give you another star. When you are finished and have gotten two worksheet in yellow
stars, one on each page, you may then color the pictures at the bottom of the pages, put away crayon for them to
your packet and get a book. Avocado!” trace.

1 min
Closing: Assessment and Feedback
*Adequate time Walk around and watch how students are doing. Assist students who need it. When students
*Students summarize content and are done, have a mini conference with each student: “I love that you did a big line and then
accomplishments slide, and that your slide stayed in the box.” If students are done, but there is a consistent error
*Assess/identify new goals in their writing the letter, talk about what they did incorrect and how they can fix it.
*Link to future learning Possible responses to common student errors:
-the big line doesn’t touch the bottom of the box- “where did you start your letter? This line is
called the big line because it goes all the way from the top to the bottom of the box. Try and
see if you can fix all of your lines to make them big lines.”
-the slanted lines are going to the left and not the right of the big line (for letter N). “Did your
letter N stay in the box? How can you fix it so it stays in the box?”
-The slanted lines (for letter M) don’t meet in the middle. “We want our two slanted lines to
touch in the middle of the two tall building like lines.” Draw a dot with a yellow crayon at the
bottom middle of all the boxes. “Can you fix your slide like lines to make the first one end here
and the second one start here?”
If students have finished and the letters are written with 80% accuracy, give them a star and
tell them they can color in the pictures and then put their writing journals away and get a
book.

15 min
Writing Lesson 11/6/18
Writing Lesson 11/6/18
Writing Lesson 11/6/18