Grade Level Writing Expectations - Kindergarten

Writes Clearly and Effectively

Ideas/Development

  • Records ideas and information, often unconventionally, but talks about what has been written
  • Recalls main idea and some detail when returning to writing at a later time
    • Organization
  • Uses some complete sentences when dictating ideas or information Voice
  • Writes mainly in personal voice
  • Respond expressively to stories or pictures
  • Express individuality in drawing
  • Begin to use details in drawings
  • Tell a story using expression

Organization

  • Uses some complete sentences when dictating ideas or information

Voice

  • Writes mainly in personal voice
  • Respond expressively to stories or pictures
  • Express individuality in drawing
  • Begin to use details in drawings
  • Tell a story using expression

Sentence Fluency

  • Begin to discriminate between conversational-style text and choppy unrelated text
  • Listen to and appreciate rhythm and cadence in written language

Word Choice

  • Use environmental print in drawing and writing
  • Use labeling with pictures
  • Recognize expressive language in writing
Conventions

Spelling

Capitalization

Punctuation

Grammar & Usage

Sentences / Paragraphs

  • Some sound to letter correlation, particularly consonants
  • Print in the classroom as reference
  • Builds a repertoire of some conventionally spelled two or three-letter words
  • Writes and names all upper and lower case letters
  • Writes own name (first and last) and the names of some family members and friends
  • Capitalization of own name
  • Capital and lower-case letter formation
  • Shows awareness that writing has conventions-some student writing
    • shows directionality and appropriate use of capitals and periods
  • Teacher models use of ending punctuation
  • Teacher models correct usage
  • Writing left to right and top to bottom

Understands and Uses the Writing Process

Prewriting

  • Talks about topic and considers ideas before writing

Drafting

  • Sometimes writes before drawing
  • Uses own ideas through drawings and/or words to create text

Sharing/Responding

  • Reads own writing
  • Seeks help to correct or improve work for greater accuracy
  • Listens and gives positive comments to author

Revising

  • Adds detail in response to questions or suggestions

Editing

  • Edits to meet Kindergarten standards of conventions

Publishing

  • Begins to "read" own writing

Reflecting

  • Shares published work with pride
  • Talks about writing and written work, especially achievements and new learning

Addresses Audience, Purpose, and Form

  • Writes for own satisfaction and/or purposes
  • Writes labels, signs, or captions for drawings and models
  • Shows understanding of different purposes of some forms (e.g., letters, shopping lists, birthday cards, recipes)
  • Uses more than one form (e.g., lists, sentence-like text)

Suggested Text Forms

  Literature or Literary Forms Informational, Task-oriented, and/or Technical Writing
New to
Grade Level
  • Narrative: experiential stories
  • Narrative: fictional stories
  • Personal letters, cards, and notes
  • Diaries/journals
  • Labels
  • Labels
  • Captions
  • Informational sentences