- chart paper
- crayons
- marker
- paper
- bean
- grow
- plant
- seed
MA Standards:
Writing/W.PK.MA.2: Use a combination of dictating and drawing to explain information about a topic.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Uses scribbles, shapes, pictures, and letters to represent objects, stories, experiences, or ideas.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Composition 16: Use their own words or illustrations to describe their experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information about a topic of interest.
Draw and Write Together: “Our Bean Seeds” Chart
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: There are many different types of plants and seeds; Some plants start from seeds; Plants have different parts: roots, stems, leaves, and fruit; Plants grow in many places; Plants often grow in some type of dirt
ELA Focus Skills: Concepts of Print, Compare and Contrast, Early Writing, Speaking and Listening, Vocabulary
Tell children that they will make an “Our Bean Seeds” chart to record their observations as their plants grow. Explain that as their plants grow over the next few weeks you will add to the chart. Say, This will help us remember how our plants changed as they grew.
Ask children to describe what the beans looked like before they were planted. Draw a large bean at the top of chart paper. Under it, write the title “Our Bean Seeds.”
Talk about the planting experience and then guide children to dictate their first entry, such as, “Day 1: Today we planted our bean seeds.” Children may want to add a comment about how the beans were planted.
Educator Tip: You will be adding entries as the unit progresses, so keep this chart handy.
Educator Tip: As you write, talk about where on the page you begin to write, the letters in the words you are writing, and the spaces you leave between words.
Social Emotional Tip: Writing group notebooks helps children develop their understanding of group dynamics and expectations and provides them an opportunity to understands how one’s thoughts and ideas can affect others.