IT’S JUST AS YOU

DESCRIBED:HELPING EMERGING

WRITERS USE DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE

By: Brooke PowellSWP - 2014

Agenda for the Workshop: Introduction to roadblock Example writings at beginning of year How can descriptive writing be taught? Creating anchor charts/ Why are they important? Group discussions/Share time Example of descriptive language/ Partner Activity Mentor Text – Owl Moon by Jane Yolen – Group Activities Word Cloud Activity Example writing at end of year Practice/Slice of Life

INSTRUCTIONAL ROADBLOCK

I have identified my instructional roadblock as being able to have my Kindergarten

students write more without being repetitive and sounding dull by incorporating the use of descriptive language into their writings.

My goal In teaching them how to use descriptive language appropriately is that their writings will be more interesting and full of details and it will encourage them to use new vocabulary words that they may

have not known how to use before.

WHAT IS DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE IN WRITING?

“Good descriptive writing includes many vivid sensory details that paint a picture and appeals to all of the

reader's senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste when

appropriate. Descriptive writing may also paint pictures of the feelings the person, place or thing invokes in the

writer.” -Reading Rockets.org

WHAT DOES A KINDERGARTEN WRITING LOOK LIKE BEFORE THE USE OF

DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE?

Google images

Lines from children books with examples of great descriptive language

HOW CAN I TEACH MY STUDENTS TO USE DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE IN

WRITING?

Teaching Descriptive Language Effectively

***I will monitor students’ progress by having a rotating conferencing schedule so that I will be able to see their writings weekly to make sure they are

adding descriptive language to their pieces.***

LET’S CREATE ANCHOR CHARTS!

Google image

Google image

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING ANCHOR CHART

Google image

LEARNING THROUGH SONG….

Unpack Your Adjectives Song - School House Rocks

My StrategyOnce my students have mastered writing simple sentences, I

encourage them to add a little sparkle to their work. For example, if a student writes “The cat sits,” have them explain what the cat

looks like, how it feels and where it sits.  Continue by guiding them through the creation of a new sentence.  For example: “The

big cat sits happily on the chair.” This is a great activity to use when teaching my students how to

add descriptive words. I model this activity with my students several times to help them understand and master the concept. 

SHARE TIME!!!Turn and talk with a partner at your table about the following questions:

1. Have you see that your students have struggled with incorporating the use of descriptive language in their writing?

2. If so , what are the trends you see in their writings? Ex; being repetitive etc.

3. Why do you think students struggle with adding descriptive language to their writing?

4. What strategies have you used to teach descriptive writing to your students in your classroom?

First, let’s get it clear that the house is practically falling down, but for some reason

that doesn’t make any difference to how beautiful it is. It’s made out of big chunks of yellowish stone, and has a steep roof, and is shaped like an L around a big courtyard with fat pebbles set in the ground. The short part of the L has a wide arched doorway and it

used to be the stable, but now it’s the kitchen and it’s huge, with zigzag brick floors

and big windows all across the front.

Study Driven – Pg 58

EXAMPLE PASSAGE WITH THE USE OF DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE FROM MEG ROSOFF’S NOVEL HOW I LIVE NOW

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU NOTICE FROM THAT PASSAGE THAT STOOD OUT TO YOU? HOW DID HER WRITING MAKE

YOU FEEL ABOUT THE HOUSE?• She put a negative and turned it into a positive• She used personification• Word choice was positive• Words are colorful and warm• Words are specific and descriptive• She was precise with her word choice• Had an oxymoron in her writing•

“Learning new words helps them (students) to master new subject matter more quickly and solidifies their understanding of it. Reading and understanding more difficult

texts and speech will be easier for children who have a good grasp of

descriptive language.” -Leyla Norman, Demand Media 

OWL MOON VISUALIZATION ACTIVITY

Get out a piece of paper Listen to the first two minutes of the story

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen After I stop I want you to create a picture of

how you visualized Jane Yolen’s interpretation of what was read based on her use of descriptive language in the text

Also write down the descriptive words that you hear that helped you to create a picture in your mind

Book Flix Owl Moon

SHARE TIME!!!!

Do we have any volunteers who would like to share their pictures?

What words did you “hear” that helped you to create your picture

in the first 2 minutes of Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon?

LET’S CREATE A WORD CLOUD!!

This will engage students and they have the opportunity to help me create something that will be useful to them. It will also help me to assess if the students listened to the story and understand what descriptive language is. They can use this to create their own word clouds with other books that they read or about a writing topic that they are struggling to add descriptive language in.

OWL MOON WORD CLOUD

ABC YA WORD CLOUD

WHAT DOES A KINDERGARTEN WRITING LOOK LIKE AFTER

DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE HAS BEEN TAUGHT?

NOW YOU GET TO PRACTICE………

I was nervous about meeting new classmates. Would they be nice to me? Would there be

new kids? I found out that all of my classmates were nice. The new kids fit right in. I wondered what the teachers would be like to. I wondered if they would be mean. I

wondered if they would like me.

You have two different options You can choose to revise the writing below by adding descriptive

language to make it sound better and to help create a picture in the reader’s mind OR you can write your own “slice of life” like Jane Yolen did in the story Owl Moon. If you choose this route then you need to write about an experience that

you remember with an animal, pet or special person. Make sure to remember the tools we

have learned about using descriptive language and make sure to incorporate those words into

your writing! You have 15 minutes and then we will share

Descriptive Writing Mentor Texts 1

Click below to find a list of books that you can use in

your classroom to help with this strategy

More mentor texts

“When students write from experience, they can breathe those specifics into their writing- dialect, odd smells, precise names of plants- that can animate even the most tired and tedious text.” 

― Ralph Fletcher What a Writer Needs

“WHEN STUDENTS WRITE FROM EXPERIENCE THEY CAN LEARN TO CREATE

MIND PICTURES TO HELP WITH DESCRIPTIVE

WRITING”

Excerpts from A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the

Writer Within You

By: Ralph Fletcher

Resources

Fletcher, Ralph. What a Writer Needs: Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann. 1993. Print

Norman, Leyla. What Is the Importance of Children Using Descriptive Words in a Sentence?, n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/importance-children-using-descriptive-words-sentence-15948.html

Ray, Katie Wood. Study Driven: Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann. 2006. Print

“Reading Rockets.” Descriptive Writing Strategies, n.d. Web. 12 June 2014. http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/descriptive_writing