Kindergarteners writing out a complex paragraph, kindergarteners printing so clearly is pretty impressive. So is the way this collectively written paragraph came about.
After Ms. Smith read a book about Columbus and his voyage to her students, she had them summarize what it was about in a writing session for Morning Message. First she helped the kids brainstorm to answer the question. Then the writing process began.
"Our sentence starts with Columbus. Can anyone tell me the first letter of this name? That's right, it's a C. Would you like to write it on our paper?"
"Spain. S-s-s, what's that letter? Who wants to print the "S" in Spain?"
"Sp-Spain. P-p-p, what's that letter? Good for you, come on up!"
"S-p-a-i-n. So what's next? A-a-a. That's an easier one."
And this is how it goes. Some children screwing up their courage to write a letter. Some ready to print a whole word. Big pieces of correcting type and reassurance allows mistakes to be redone.
In kindergarten, it takes a village to write a sentence. Or better said, the whole village gets to participate!
The kids also got to draw their own pictures, deciding whether to label their ships the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria.
