Writing About the Five Senses in Kindergarten

In kindergarten, kid writing is used to strengthen the ability to connect letters and sounds as budding authors stretch out words and print the letters they can hear and identify. This process helps to develop and strengthen phonemic awareness- the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in words. Before a child can learn to read, they need to become aware of how sounds in words work. As we develop writers, we are also developing readers.

Throughout the year, kindergarten students engage in a variety of writing activities to reflect upon experiences, write letters and create classroom books. Already this year, the children have written in a variety of ways. Some of the inspirations have been: our hopes and dreams for kindergarten, how to be a bucket-filler, our first field trips, notes to classmates, and the beginning pages of our Picture Dictionaries. 

Drawing a rainbow with hearts that she would like to touch

This week the kindergarten students worked on individual "My Five Senses" books as we wrap up our look at the five senses. Using their imaginations, the writers came up with a variety of favorite items that they like to see, smell, taste, touch and hear.

Kid writing a favorite item to taste, lollipops

This writing experience helped students to practice letter formation, strengthened letter and sound connections, and gave them opportunities to practice reading beginning sight words in a text with a pattern.

Reading known kindergarten sight words

The children were excited to work on their books and were eager to share their ideas with friends. Laughs and nods of agreement were heard as the children wrote and shared about smelling "stinky feet" and wanting to taste favorites like "lollipops", "mac and cheese" and "pizza." As the children wrote, many began to help one another figure out tricky letter sounds like "g" in gum, "y" in the word my, and "w" in rainbow.

Helping a friend sound out letters while writing

When the "My Five Senses Books" are completed, the kindergarten authors and illustrators are enthusiastically waiting to take turns in the author chair to read their book to the class!