Lesson Length: 55min

Grade: 1st

Content SOL: 1.8 The student will investigate and understand that natural resources can be used responsibly.
Key ideas include
a) Most natural resources are limited;
b) Human actions can affect the availability of natural resources; and
c) Reducing, reusing, and recycling are ways to conserve natural resources.

Literacy SOL: 1.12 The student will write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion.
e) Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, places, things, and events

SWBAT (Students Will Be Able To): make revisions to their writing by adding descriptive words and
adjectives that can help to make their writing more interesting/creative

Skill taught in the Mini Lesson: Mentor Text(s): Phase of Writing:

● How to add adjectives when ● “A Squiggly Story” ● Revision
appropriate or replace current by Andrew Larsen
adjectives with more descriptive
ones

Materials: Preparation:
● Mentor text ● All materials will be readily available for use
● Large chart paper
● Markers

Lesson Steps

Read-Aloud (10 mins): The students will be asked to gather around the carpet to be read “A Squiggly Story” by
Andrew Larsen. At times during the read-aloud, students will be prompted with questions about the events that
are happening in the story.

Brief Teaching (10 mins): After reading our mentor text, we will talk about how in the story the characters had
to get creative with their writing and enhance the story to make it better. Then, we will talk about ways to make
our writing more descriptive through the use of adjectives. The “think-pair-share” method will be used for
students to collaborate with their peers on ways to make their writing more descriptive before they are asked to
share with the whole class.

Modeling (5 mins): On large chart paper, we will be coming up with a list of our favorite adjectives to get
students thinking of ways to spice up their writing. They will be encouraged to think of descriptive words that
can replace some “duller” words that they may have already used in their writing (EX: good→ fantastic, pretty→
beautiful). The teacher will keep this list up so that students can refer to it while revising their writing.
Writing & Conferencing (25 mins):
Students will go back into their writing and include any descriptive language when appropriate. One by one, I
will be pulling students aside and conferring with them about their writing. During each conference, I will first
ask the student to tell me about their writing and what they think they need help with. I’ll then ask the students
questions about their writing to help inform me about what that student needs to more successfully revise it.
Depending on what the students need, I’ll teach them a specific skill that can help them to make their writing
more descriptive and refer back to the strategies we used in our mini-lesson.

Sharing (5 mins):
The students will pair up with one peer and quickly explain what they added to their writing to make it more
descriptive. They will then read their scripts to each other, noting the differences from before it was revised and
after.

Differentiation:
All the students will be provided with plenty of wait-time when asked questions. At times, I may ask the students
to share their thoughts with a peer first before sharing with the whole group, so that they can help each other
generate ideas. In addition to that, I will make it a priority to conference with the students whom I know will
need the most support first. This way, I can be sure that my struggling students are able to go forward with the
tools that they need to be successful during workshop time and not fall behind.

Assessment:
I will be revolving around the classroom and looking to see that the students are engaged in their writing and are
working to make it more descriptive. During my conferences, I will analyze student work to determine if their
revisions make sense and match the objectives of the lesson.