Currents in Literacy

Project WRITE: A Look at Children's Writing, K-5

By Elaine Bukowiecki

Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins, Donald Murray, Shelly Harwayne, Nancie Atwell, Regie Routman, and many others who have explored writing, the teaching of writing, and the Writers Workshop, have informed us about the various reasons and purposes for which people write. Frank Smith (1983) tells us "writing is for stories to be read, books to be published, poems to be recited, plays to be acted, songs to be sung, cards to be sent, cartoons to be labeled, instructions to be followed" (p. 566). Whatever one's reasons are for writing, all writing contains, whether consciously or subconsciously, purpose; audience; a particular topic; specific organization, with appropriate content and detail; and mechanics (spelling, grammar, paragraphing, etc.).

In this essay, I will focus on an examination of students' writing (kindergarten to grade five). All of this writing was completed by children who attend the Hardy Elementary School in Arlington, Massachusetts, and who participated in Project WRITE, which was sponsored by the Hood Children's Literacy Project. As I share these children's writing, I will point out the different purposes for which these children wrote. I will explain what classroom teachers and college professors who were associated with the Hood Children's Literacy Project learned from these students' writing, and I will describe the criteria we used to evaluate these students' writing. Finally, I will share with you the conclusions we drew from Project WRITE.

Kindergarten

The kindergarten children at the Hardy School wrote for a variety of purposes. First, they penned journal entries based upon personal experiences such as playing with a family member or a special friend, visiting a new place, or an exciting event in their lives. Second, they created a class Big Book about whales. This Big Book was based upon a classroom theme regarding ocean life and was written and illustrated after the children returned from a visit to the New England Aquarium in Boston. Finally, after having been read several books from the "Arthur" series written by Marc Brown, these kindergartners created personal responses to these picture books.

Besides demonstrating their ability to write for a variety of purposes (personal memoirs, in collaboration with others and in response to literature), these children revealed a proficiency in a particular stage of writing development. Thus, the children used pictures, random strings of letters, and invented spelling to convey a written message.

First Grade

The first graders at the Hardy School also wrote daily for many different reasons. First, these children created dialogue journals which were personal written conversations between the students and their teachers. These dialogue journals revealed daily life experiences such as the purchase of new shoes or a parent's absence due to a family funeral. Second, the students completed memoir writing about favorite adventures: participating in a sport such as baseball or soccer; visiting a special place such as Chicago or Cape Cod. Last, these first graders penned fictional, narrative stories. This fiction combined pictures and text and is reminiscent of favorite picture books the children read. The first-grade narrative story entitled "The Cow's Vacation" is a clear example of the fiction these first-grade children created.

As we examined this first-grade writing, we noticed similarities and differences when compared to the writing of the kindergarten children. Both kindergartners and first graders used writing to communicate for a variety of purposes. However, the first-grade writing did not show evidence of different stages of writing development as the kindergarten writing did. Instead, the first graders employed mostly standard spelling and only reverted to inventive spelling when writing a difficult word such as "funeral." The first graders wrote longer pieces than the kindergartners, and often their compositions were "bed-to-bed" stories which described every minute detail of a personal experience. Finally, the personal memoirs and fictional, narrative texts composed by the students were completely in final draft form. No evidence of the entire writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing) was seen.

Second Grade

The writing of the second-grade children at the Hardy School reflects developmental advances and also similarities one might expect to find as this writing is compared to that of kindergarten and first-grade children. Like their counterparts in the earlier grades, the second-grade students found a variety of reasons to write. First, these second graders wrote about events in their own lives. These personal memoirs concerned camping; trips to Philadelphia, a cousin's house, Rockport, and Cape Cod; a special birthday; a "Pear in My Pocket;" and a Boston College football game. Second, these second graders also enjoyed Marc Brown's "Arthur" books. As a response to these "Arthur" books, the second-grade students wrote their own versions with themselves taking on the persona of Arthur. Third, after reading fairy tales and Native American legends, these students wrote their own fairy tales and legends, which contained many of the characteristics this traditional writing includes. Finally, they wrote poems to describe specific personal attributes.

As we looked closely at the writing of the second graders, we could see changes in these students' writing skills as compared to the writing skills of the younger children. The second-grade children followed the entire writing process when they wrote and found it most helpful to create prewriting semantic maps as a means of organizing their thoughts and as an aid to their compositions. Second, the second graders did use some of the detailed "bed-to-bed" format found in the first-grade personal memoirs; however, for the most part, the second-grade personal memories were focused more on a particular topic and were not simply lists of details as found in the first-grade stories. Finally, the second-grade writing was rich with dialogue which was correctly and appropriately punctuated.

Third Grade

The writing of the third graders reflects a less personal focus for writing when compared to the writing of the kindergarten through second-grade children. In third grade, the pieces the students wrote were much more teacher-directed. The reason for change in writing purpose was to teach the students how to write concise, focused, detailed pieces, many of which were composed in the expository mode. Thus, the topics the children wrote about were personal interpretations of teacher prompts. The third graders wrote about favorite foods to eat, created math problems for other students in the class to answer, penned personal journal entries about a time the students were sad, and wrote step-by-step directions as to how to make a peanut butter sandwich.

Besides reflecting a change in writing purpose, the third-grade writing also illustrates a change in writing development when compared to the writing of the younger children. The writing of the third graders was much more concise than the pieces of the second graders. The third-grade writing contained more standard punctuation and spelling than did the writing of the younger children. Finally, the third-grade writing was in final draft form, with no evidence of the other stages of the writing process being included.

Fourth and Fifth Grade

Focused, detailed writing, especially in the expository mode, was continued and expanded in the fourth and fifth grades at the Hardy School. Since expository reading and writing becomes prominent in the intermediate grades, much of the writing these fourth and fifth graders composed was to gain new information. Thus, these intermediate-grade students wrote summaries regarding new facts learned about specific Native American tribes, created descriptions of birds such as the Great Blue Heron, and penned multi-chapter reports concerning an animal of the students' choice. To complete these expository pieces, these fourth and fifth graders had to first read a variety of expository texts, take notes regarding relevant and important facts, and organize this information in outlines and on semantic maps. When the students created these expository pieces, they mostly followed the entire writing process.

These fourth and fifth-grade students also penned personal memoirs regarding a favorite school subject, a past experience which presented a challenge, and essays entitled "What I Do When I Am Upset," which were directly connected to Beverly Cleary's novel, Dear Mr. Henshaw. Additionally, these students created personal experience stories concerning subjects such as a trip to Las Vegas, a visit to the U. S. Constitution, and participation in Little League. They also wrote in the style of authentic Native American legends and penned poems which reflected a certain event in the American Revolutionary War.

While the writing of these fourth and fifth graders represented a variety of literary genres, it also reflected a sophistication of writing skills. Their writing contained many facts and details as well as descriptive language; it also had accurate writing mechanics and mostly standard spelling.

Writing for a Wider Audience

In addition to the variety of writing the Hardy School students created in their classrooms, these children also had opportunities to write for a wider audience other than themselves, their peers, and their teachers. First, there was Poetry Month at the Hardy School. During this poetry celebration, poems written by published authors as well as poems written by members of the student body were broadcast daily over the public address system as well as shared on two occasions at lunch time. Also, many classrooms created their own poetry collections which were shared with other children in the school.

Second, students in first grade through fifth grade participated in the publication of The Hardy Times, a school-wide newspaper. Students volunteered to be writers and reporters for the school newspaper, which is distributed monthly to every student and teacher at the Hardy School. Various types of writing such as news reports, book reviews, interviews, personal stories, poems, movie reviews, and word finds are found in this newspaper.

Finally, students' writing from each of the three schools participating in the Hood Literacy Project (Hardy School and Thompson Schools in Arlington and Harrington School in Cambridge) is selected for publication in the Hood's twice yearly Currents in Literacy. These written pieces are submitted by students and classroom teachers and are selected for publication by the editor of Currents in Literacy. Previously published pieces have included poems, fables, and legends.

Evaluation of Students' Writing

In order to ascertain the writing skills of the students at the Hardy School, pieces of writing from each classroom were randomly selected for evaluation. Specific grade-level, writing expectations at the Hardy School, the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, and developmental stages of writing (preconventional, emergent, developing, expanding, fluent, independent) were considered as this writing was examined. Student writing was evaluated for purpose, focus, topic, genre, and the degree to which the writing process was followed. As we evaluated this student writing, we could see a continuum of writing expertise among the different children and at the various grade levels.

Conclusion

It was an enjoyable experience to read various pieces of writing composed by the students at the Hardy School. These children are certainly writers; they write for a variety of purposes. Their writing is shared and valued by their peers, their teachers, their families, and themselves. Having considered this student writing in kindergarten through grade five at the Hardy School, the following recommendations are cited in order for student writing to continue, to expand, and to flourish:

1. Students in kindergarten through grade five should be given numerous opportunities to write.

2. Students should write for a variety of purposes: to inform, to explain, to remember, to learn, to entertain.

3. When possible and when appropriate, students should follow the entire writing process as they write.

4. Various opportunities should be given to the students for sharing their writing with others: "Author's Chair," classroom publications, wide audience sharing.

5. Standard writing mechanics and spelling should be taught when appropriate to the students' writing development and through mini-lessons in the Writers Workshop.

6. Students should be given numerous opportunities to read and listen to various literary genres in order to make connections to these genres through their own writing.

Elaine Bukowiecki, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at Lesley University and has taught classes on literacy there for eight years. She is also a language arts coordinator for the Putnum, Connecticut Public Schools.