Introducing Interactive Writing | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

Home › Our Curriculum › ELA Grade 1 › ELA G1:S1 › ELA G1:S1:C2 ›

ELA G1:S1:C2:L13

Introducing Interactive Writing

In this Lesson

You are here:

Download Materials

Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A (optional): I can review taught phonemes, high-frequency words, and decodable words. (RF.1.2, RF.1.3, RF.K.3,)
    • I can decode regularly spelled one-syllable words by mapping graphemes and phonemes.
    • I can read first-grade words that "don't play fair" in isolation.
    • I can look at each consonant and say its sound.
    • I can identify the short sound for each vowel.
    • I can identify the sound that corresponds to "th."
  • Opening B (optional): I can review taught graphemes and phonemes. I can segment and blend phonemes (sounds) into a spoken word like: "path." (RF.1.2, RF.K3)
    • I can look at each consonant and say its sound.
    • I can identify the short sound for each vowel.
    • I can identify the sound that corresponds to "th."
    • I can say a two-phoneme or three-phoneme word and segment (break apart) into individual phonemes (sounds) in order.
    • I can blend two or three phonemes to form a spoken word.
  • Work Time: I can collaborate with my teacher to write a sentence with VC, CVC, CCVC, and high-frequency words. (RF.1.1, RF.1.2, RF.1.3, L.K.2)
    • I can look at each consonant and say its sound.
    • I can identify the short sound for each vowel.
    • I can identify the sound that corresponds to "th."
    • I can identify features of a sentence, including the first word, capital letters, and ending punctuation.
    • I can say a two-phoneme or three-phoneme word and segment (break apart) into individual phonemes (sounds) in order.
    • I can use what I know about common spelling patterns to correctly spell words with those common patterns.

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Opening A. Determine whether they can make the sound for letter(s), decode, and read familiar words using letters and sounds from this cycle.
  • Observe students sharing the pen (or following along) during Work Time A. Determine whether they can write the given sentence, following basic concepts of print such as directionality and spacing.

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (3-5 minutes)

A. Introducing Question and Switch

B. Introducing Call and Response

2. Work Time (10-15 minutes)

A. Introducing Interactive Writing: Writing Regular and Familiar One-Syllable Words

3. Closing and Assessment (2 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

4. Differentiated Small Group Instruction and Rotations (40 minutes)

Tech and Multimedia

  • Prepare:
    •  Question and Switch Cards (each letter ("t," "a," "p," "n," "h," "c," "s," "m," "r," "v," "g," "th") should be on its own card; also prepare a handful of regularly spelled one-syllable words using the same letters taught to this point and high-frequency words) (see supporting Materials)
    • Snapshot Assessment (optional; one per student)
  • Pre-determine one sentence to be used for the Interactive Writing instructional practice that best meets students' needs. Suggested sentences: "This is Pat's hat." or "Pat's cat has a hat."

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T)

  • interact, interactive, possession, proficient (L)

Materials

  • Question and Switch Cards (one per student)
  • Interactive Word Wall (begun in Lesson 9)
  • Whiteboards (or sheet protectors with white cardboard inside; optional; one per student or pair)
  • Whiteboard markers (optional; one per student or pair)
  • Whiteboard erasers (optional; or tissues, socks, etc.; one per student or pair)
  • Snapshot Assessment (optional; one per student)

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Introducing Question and Switch

(Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"Gather around together, together, together. We're going play a quiz game, a quiz game, a quiz game. We're going to play a quiz game to check what we've learned."

  • Distribute Question and Switch Cards. Each card should include one of the following:
    • A letter or digraph from this or a previous cycle ("t," "a," "p," "n," "h," "c," "s," "m," "r," "v," "g," "th")
    • One word that can be decoded ("tap," "cap," "van," etc.)
    • One of the high-frequency words from this or a previous cycle ("the," "a," etc.)
  • Introduce the Question and Switch instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: "Question and Switch is a way for us to review the graphemes, phonemes, and words we have learned. You each have a card. Your card has either a letter or a word on it. Look at your card. Raise your hand if your card has a letter."

2. Students with Question and Switch Letter Cards raise their hands.

3. Teacher holds up a Question and Switch Letter Card, shows it to students, and models saying the corresponding sound and skywriting the letter with proper letter formation.

4. Students with Question and Switch Letter Cards take turns saying the sound and skywriting the letter on their card.

5. Teacher says: "Raise your hand if your card has a word (decodable and high-frequency)."

6. Students with Question and Switch Decodable and High-Frequency Word Cards raise their hands.

7. Teacher holds up a Question and Switch Decodable Word Card, shows it to students, and models reading the word automatically. Teacher explains that if students do not know the word automatically, they can use the thumb-tapping technique to decode each of the phonemes in the word. Teacher models the thumb-tapping technique.

8. Students with Question and Switch Decodable Word Cards read the word on their card.

9. Teacher holds up a Question and Switch High-Frequency Word Card, shows it to students, and models reading the word automatically. Teacher explains that if students do not know the word automatically, they can identify the sounds they do know and look at the Interactive Word Wall or anchor charts to help them figure it out.

10. Students with Question and Switch High-Frequency Word Card take turns reading the word on their card.

11. Teacher says: "Now you are going to find a partner with a different card. You will show each other your card. Your partner will read your card aloud, then you will read your partner's card. Then you will switch and find a new partner and do it again." 

12. Teacher models this process with a student volunteer.

13. Teacher tells students it is okay to help each other if they are not sure how to read a word or say a sound. Teacher says: "That's something effective learners do."

14. Students find a partner with a different card and begin.

15. Teacher circulates and supports as needed.
  • For students who may need an extension: Consider challenging them to use the Question and Switch High-Frequency Word Cards in a sentence.

B. Introducing Call and Response

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"March along together, together, together. We're going to say the sound that we find in words. Come now and chant together, together, together. Say the sounds you know as we march along."

  • Introduce the Call and Response instructional practice using Cycle 2 phonemes:

1. Teacher says: "You have been working hard to hear and say phonemes in words with the /a/ sound. Today, you will write a story with some of the words. First, we will warm up our brains by reviewing some of the phonemes (sounds) with a chant. You can also warm up your bodies by marching in place while we chant. Watch and listen to what I do. When I point to myself, it is my turn to say something. When I point to you, it is your turn to say something."

2. Teacher marches in place. Students follow along.

3. Teacher begins by modeling with a grapheme-to- phoneme connection (followed by phoneme to grapheme, then blend phonemes into a spoken word).

4. Teacher: grapheme (letter) to students: phoneme (sound):

      • Teacher points to self and says: "When I say 'th,' you say (points to students) _____." (Students respond with the sound /th/.)
      • Teacher points to self and says: "th."
      • Teacher points to students.
      • Students say: /th/.
      • Teacher points to self and says: "th."
      • Teacher points to students.
      • Students say: /th/.
      • Repeat with "m," "p," "a," and "r."

5. Phoneme to grapheme:

      • Teacher points to self and says: "When I say '/th/,' you say (points to students) _____." (Students respond with the letters' names: "t-h.")
      • Teacher says: /th/.
      • Students say: "t-h."
      • Teacher says: /th/.
      • Students say: "t-h"
      • Repeat with /m/, /p/, /a/, and /t/.

6. Blending phonemes into spoken word:

      • Teacher points to self and uses thumb-tapping technique for each phoneme. Teacher says: "When I say /p/ /a/ /th/, you say (points to students) _____." (Students jump once when saying the blended word: "path.")
      • Repeat with words from Cycle 2 that are found in "Pat's Mess": "Pat," "tap," "can," "pan," "hat," "cat."

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Introducing Interactive Writing: Writing Regular and Familiar One-Syllable Words

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"Now let's all be writers, be writers, be writers. Now let's all be writers like the authors we love. Listen to the sentence, the sentence, the sentence. Listen to the sentence, we will write as a group."

  • Suggested sentences (choose one that best meets students' needs): "This is Pat's hat." "Pat's cat has a hat."
  • Optional: Distribute whiteboards, whiteboard markers, and whiteboard erasers (or have students follow along by skywriting).
  • Introduce the Interactive Writing instructional practice:
    • Explain to students that when they played Question and Switch, they were interacting with each other. That means they were talking to each other, learning together, and taking turns. Inform students that during interactive writing, they interact with each other as well. Emphasize interact in the word "interactive." The group talks, learns together, and takes turns. Tell students that during Question and Switch, the emphasis was on speaking words. During interactive writing, the emphasis is on writing words in a sentence.

1. Teacher models interactive writing with one word:

      • Teacher pronounces the word: "cap."
      • Teacher segments the word into three phonemes: /c/ /a/ /p/.3/4   
      • Teacher asks:

"What is the first sound you hear in /c/ /a/ /p/?" (/c/)

      • Teacher writes the letter on the board: "c."
      • Teacher says: "Now I will share my pen with one of you at a time. You will come up to the board and write the letter that represents the next sound in the word. Everyone else will write the same letter on their own whiteboard at the same time."
      • Teacher chooses a volunteer. Student volunteer writes "a."
      • Teacher chooses a volunteer. Student volunteer writes "p."
      • Teacher invites students to read the word they have written together. Teacher and students read: "cap."

2. Teacher reads the chosen sentence aloud and taps out the words on the paper/whiteboard.

3. Students repeat the sentence. (Rehearse as needed.)

4. Teacher says the first word in the sentence and repeats step 1 with letters, words, or word parts from the chosen sentence. Teacher asks:

"What do we need to remember to do to this first letter so that our reader will know that this is where our sentence starts?" (Capitalize it.)

5. After the first word in the sentence is complete, teacher asks:

"What comes after a word?" (a space)

6. Teacher taps out the remaining words in the sentence.

7. Repeat step 1 with the remainder of the sentence. Teacher may write some of the letters, word parts, or words to speed up the process if necessary.

8. Teacher asks:

"What do we need to remember to put at the end so that our reader knows we are done with this sentence?" (a period)

9. Teacher points to each word as he or she reads the completed sentence aloud.

10. Students read the completed sentence aloud.
  • For students who may need an extension: Consider using a more complex sentence, similar to one from the decodable text (example: "Pat has a big blue hat") or a sentence aligned with content from the Integrated Literacy Block (example: "I use a hammer and nail to fix the fence") that does not necessarily stick exclusively to sounds, letters, and patterns introduced in the letter cycles. Invite students to contribute parts (examples: a high-frequency word, a beginning phoneme) that they know and then model and fill in the rest. Doing this reinforces vocabulary and content learning.
  • For ELLs: Consider using pictures to clarify any nouns or verbs in the sentence that may be new for students. Verbs can also be acted out for clarification. Letter-sound connections are strengthened when students see that they are tools that allow them to communicate an idea.
  • If students are writing familiar words that they have read previously, remind them that these are familiar words and they should try to remember how the words were spelled when they read them. This supports the goal of automaticity with letter-sound connections.
  • For students who may need additional support independently recording the grapheme for each sound on their whiteboards: Provide and/or model with sound boards.
  • If a possessive "-'s" word is encountered, identify the "-'s" as having the job of showing that something belongs to the noun. Identify the "-'s" as the "possessive" and identify the apostrophe as what alerts the reader that this shows possession, or that something is belonging to the noun (example: "Pat's"). Call students' attention to the contrast of adding "-s" to a word (to make it plural) versus adding "-'s"  to a word (to show possession). Ask:

"Does this show that I have more than one Pat or that the cat belongs to Pat?"

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that effective learners keep track of and reflect on their own learning. Point out that they are doing this each time they consider how what they did today helps them to become more proficient readers.
  • Remind students that today they reviewed letters and sounds and irregularly spelled words, practiced decoding, and used the skills they've been learning to write a sentence together.
  • Invite students to reflect independently. Ask:

"What did you do today that is helping you become a more proficient reader?" (Responses will vary. Example: "I segmented the sounds in the word 'this' so I could write it.")

  • Invite a volunteer to share. Afterward, invite any students who did something similar to indicate that in an interactive way (examples: stand and turn in place, hop up and down excitedly).
  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Examples:
    • "When I wrote the letter _____, I _____."
    • "When I wrote the word _____, I _____."
    • "When I decoded the CVC word _____, I _____."

Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher

Suggested Plan: Teacher works with students in the Pre-Alphabetic, Partial Alphabetic, and Consolidated Alphabetic groups. Teacher will not work with students in the Full Alphabetic group today.

Note: Groups not working with the teacher at a given time should be engaged in purposeful independent rotation work. Refer to the Independent and Small Group Work Guidance document for more details (see K-2 Skills Resource Manual).

Pre-Alphabetic:

  • Because students in the Pre-Alphabetic phase are still working on letter identification and phonological awareness, small group instruction should be aimed at building that knowledge and skills.
  • Use the Assessment Conversion chart to determine appropriate Kindergarten lessons and Activity Bank ideas to use in daily small group instruction (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • Lead an interactive writing experience using a different sentence, focusing on initial letters and letter formation. Use a sentence that places letter sounds you are working on at the beginning and end of words. For example, if working on "c," "j," "p," "n," "m," or "t," you can work with:
    • I can jump on a mat.

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Extend or create a new interactive writing piece focusing on VC and CVC words. This may include a new sentence related to the Decodable Reader or the content in the Integrated Literacy Block, or a sentence that naturally follows the one written during Work Time.
  • Related Activity Bank suggestions:
    • An Activity Bank activity from the Decoding and Encoding category (DE) or Phonological Manipulation category (PM)

Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Extend work with interactive writing by inviting students to compose sentences related to the Engagement Text: "Pat's Mess" (consider making a copy for each student). Use this opportunity to give individualized feedback to students on conventions of print (including spelling patterns and grammar). Have students share out sentences/stories and reflect on new learning.
  • Follow up with the Lesson 6 Word List and related activities.
  • Check in on Accountable Independent Reading.

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up

Help us improve our curriculum.

Tell us what’s going well, share your concerns and feedback.

Terms of use. To learn more about EL Education, visit eleducation.org

Leave feedback