Writing Samples Month-by-Month

Our kindergarten students are getting accustomed to the daily rituals and routines of the day. There is always morning work at their seats. This varies from day to day. It could be letter, number or name practice, an art project, or other hands-on activities (such as making the "Three Billy Goats" stick puppets) that we completed on Monday. There are always books in the middle of every table. When the children are finished their task, they may "read" until the papers are collected.
Another activity that the students complete is a monthly writing sample. At the end of each month, students are invited to draw and write about anything. For this first writing sample, it is very interesting to see how comfortable each child is in his/her writing experience. Some will draw a picture, some will start to label beginning sounds, and some will be able to write a few words. Below is a sampling of the August writing. At the end of each month, another sample will be taken. It is amazing to see the amount of growth that can take place in one month.

Here we have a drawing.

This is the start of labeling.

Here we have color words and words that she is confident in knowing how to spell (yellow sun, me, black, grass).