Save room on your 1st or 2nd grade classroom bulletin boards for narrative writing temporal words and opinion words for writing anchor charts. Gradually add temporal words and opinion words to a reference board for your students to refer to during writing activities.
Narrative Writing
Students in first grade and second grade are expected to complete narrative writing activities which include words to signal event order. Teaching temporal or transition words is important.
Select mentor texts for a read aloud or use in small group instruction. Many authors include words such as “first, next, then, after that, finally” in their stories. Point out these words to your students as you read and discuss the story.
Many other books do not include temporal words. However, during a retell use “first, next, then” to highlight the sequence of events. The books about the little old lady swallowing things would be perfect for practicing transition words. The books which discuss what happens if you give a mouse, a moose, a cat, and others something also could be retold using temporal words to sequence the events.
After reading books and using temporal words in discussions about book events, students will be more prepared to start adding the words in writing. Perhaps start with a group shared writing activity to model and write together. After that, students can take on a writing assignment on their own.
Add just a few words in the beginning. After students use “first, next, last”, you can add more options to the bulletin board.
Get the bulletin board anchor chart and printable collage for your writers here.
Opinion Writing
First grade and second grade students are also expected to complete opinion writing pieces. Their writing needs to:
- state an opinion
- supply a reason for the opinion
- include some sense of closure
Teaching students more than “I like…” and “I love…” sentence starters will help them develop their writing skills.
Teach just one sentence starter at a time as in the opinion writing example above which used “I think”. Then add a reason to support the opinion. Creating a sense of closure may take a bit more modeling and practice.
Using classroom discussions will build familiarity with the opinion phrases.
“What do you think is the best type of sandwich?” Let students respond, “I think a peanut butter sandwich is best.” or “I think salami if the best type of sandwich.”
One example of a mentor text for opinion writing is the book: Red is Best. Read it aloud or show a video of it being read. Afterwards, have students list the reason the girl gave for why she likes her red boots or her red mittens. Focus on her opinion and her reason.
Build your students’ vocabulary and introduce the word favorite. Let students see the speech bubble, “My favorite.” Use this sentence started instead of “I like”. Students can write about their favorite color and state a reason to support their opinion. “What is your favorite color?”
Get the bulletin board anchor chart and printable collage for your writers here.
Whether your first grade or second grade students are focusing on narrative writing or opinion writing, give them the support they need to develop their writing skills.
- Create a bulletin board as you introduce temporal words or opinion starter sayings.
- Provide printable charts to reference which they can have in personal writing folders.
Interested in more writing activities for your primary classroom, check out this post focusing on writing informative text about dinosaurs.
No Comments