Note writing in the primary classroom
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=285
A lesson plan for Grades K–2 English Language Arts
This lesson from ReadWriteThink invites students to write short everyday notes, to remind, plan, request, or compliment, providing many natural opportunities for meaningful writing and lots of practice in encoding/decoding written text. Note writing is particularly appealing to beginning readers and writers because the form is short, its purpose easily understood, and results are frequently concrete and immediate. This lesson incorporates two interactive activities, including the interactive Letter Generator.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 1
- Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.08: Discuss and explain response to how, why, and what if questions in sharing narrative and expository texts.
- Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
- Objective 3.04: Share personal experiences and responses to experiences with text:
- publishing non-print texts.
- discussing interpretations.
- recording personal responses.
- Objective 3.06: Discuss authors'/speakers' use of different kinds of sentences to interest a reader/listener and communicate a message.
- Objective 3.04: Share personal experiences and responses to experiences with text:
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.01: Select and use new vocabulary and language structures in both speech and writing contexts (e.g., oral retelling using exclamatory phrases to accent an idea or event).
- Objective 4.02: Use words that name characters and settings (who, where) and words that tell action and events (what happened, what did ___ do) in simple texts.
- Objective 4.03: Use specific words to name and tell action in oral and written language (e.g., using words such as frog and toad when discussing an expository text).
- Objective 4.04: Extend skills in using oral and written language:
- clarifying purposes for engaging in communication.
- using clear and precise language to paraphrase messages.
- engaging in more extended oral discussions.
- producing written products.
- completing graphic organizers.
- Objective 4.05: Write and/or participate in writing by using an author's model of language and extending the model (e.g., writing different ending for a story, composing an innovation of a poem).
- Objective 4.06: Compose a variety of products (e.g., stories, journal entries, letters, response logs, simple poems, oral retellings).
Grade 2
- Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
- Objective 3.02: Connect and compare information within and across selections (fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama) to experience and knowledge.
- Objective 3.03: Explain and describe new concepts and information in own words (e.g., plot, setting, major events, characters, author's message, connections, topic, key vocabulary, key concepts, text features).
- Objective 3.04: Increase oral and written vocabulary by listening, discussing, and composing texts when responding to literature that is read and heard. (e.g., read aloud by teacher, literature circles, interest groups, book clubs).
- Objective 3.05: Locate and discuss examples of an author's use of:
- kinds of sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory).
- capitalization (titles, dates and days, names of countries).
- punctuation (exclamation marks, commas in dates, and to introduce dialogue and quotations).
- use of paragraphs in texts and their effects on the reader.
- genre(s) and specific word choice(s).
- Objective 3.06: Discuss the effect of an author's choices for nouns, verbs, and modifiers which help the reader comprehend a narrative or expository text.
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.01: Begin to use formal language and/or literary language in place of oral language patterns, as appropriate.
- Objective 4.04: Use oral communication to identify, organize, and analyze information.
- Objective 4.05: Respond appropriately when participating in group discourse by adapting language and communication behaviors to the situation to accomplish a specific purpose.
- Objective 4.06: Plan and make judgments about what to include in written products (e.g., narratives of personal experiences, creative stories, skits based on familiar stories and/or experiences).
- Objective 4.07: Compose first drafts using an appropriate writing process:
- planning and drafting.
- rereading for meaning.
- revising to clarify and refine writing with guided discussion.
- Objective 4.08: Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization.
- Objective 4.09: Use media and technology to enhance the presentation of information to an audience for a specific purpose.
Kindergarten
- Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
- Objective 3.01: Connect information and events in text to experience.
- Objective 3.02: Discuss concepts and information in a text to clarify and extend knowledge.
- Objective 3.03: Associate target words with prior knowledge and explore an author's choice of words.
- Objective 3.04: Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences and text
- listening to and re-visiting stories
- discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories
- discovering relationships.
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.03: Use words that describe color, size, and location in a variety of texts: e.g., oral retelling, written stories, lists, journal entries of personal experiences.
- Objective 4.04: Maintain conversation and discussions:
- attending to oral presentations
- taking turns expressing ideas and asking questions.
- Objective 4.05: Use a variety of sentence patterns such as interrogative requests (Can you go with me?) and sentence fragments that convey emotion (Me, too!).
- write from left to right and from top to bottom.
- write most letters and some words when dictated.
- Objective 4.06: Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language.



