Persuasive Writing In Kindergarten

Hi All!

It's Jenn from Crayons and Cuties In Kindergarten!

I hope you are enjoying Memorial Day Weekend!

To all that have served, and to all that have lost their lives in the line of duty, my thoughts, prayers and thanks are with you this weekend and always.

It probably doesn't take much to persuade your students to do something if a reward is in sight....

but getting kindergarteners to understand and be able to write persuasive pieces is nearly an Olympic sport!

Last year was the first year we were required to cover persuasive writing in kindergarten.

You can read all about how I launched it, mentor texts I used, interactive writing/shared writing pieces we completed, as well as individual pieces in this blog post:

In that post you will see that my students wrote a letter to the principal trying to persuade him to purchase swings for the kindergarten playground:

There was a lot of back and forth (I really suggest you read it because it is SUPER CUTE!)

AND I am SO PLEASED to announce that just this month (a year after we wrote our letter) swings were installed!!!!

I could not be prouder!!!!

Here are 2 of my cuties waiting for the ribbon cutting ceremony: 

 

The entire kindergarten gathered outside to witness the ribbon cutting: 

And we cheered!!!

Two days later the mulch was delivered and they have been swinging to their hearts content every since!

It was the PERFECT springboard for my persuasive unit launch this year!  I showed them how my former students were able to persuade the principal and PTA to purchase swings using the power of their writing!

We have been working in our unit for a little over a week now and they are beginning to understand what it means to persuade someone.

I pulled out one of my FAVORITE mentor texts for persuasive writing and spring fun:

If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a kid and ant going back and forth as to why the ant should and should not be squished!  The end is left for you to decide....with a raised up shoe....

That got me thinking...I could make a real cute art/writing project using this book!

Prior to reading the book I asked how many students would squish an ant if it walked across our classroom floor....EVERY hand went up!

I introduced the book and told them that the ant is going to try and persuade you to change your mind!

After reading the book I asked the same question...and NO hands went up!

We compiled a list of reasons why someone SHOULD NOT squish an ant:

Then we started our project!

Each child traced his/her foot on a piece of construction paper and also took a piece of black scrap to make an ant,

They wrote why they think the ant should not be squished (some referenced the chart, others used sound spelling) [I had the prompt written for them to copy] and then they glued the ant to the paper and part of the footprint (shoe) in a 'raised up' position:

These are just a few!

They came out so cute AND it was amazing to see how many teachers knew EXACTLY what book we had read by just looking at our papers!

So if you are launching a persuasive writing unit...or struggling to get it going, stop on by my blog to read my post, or use this fun and simple book craft!

Now...can I persuade you to relax and enjoy your summer vacation?!

I bet you don't need good reasons to make that a reality!

Next time I post I will be ALMOST done...I go until 6/26,,,so I still have over a month left!

To all those on vacation....I am so jealous...but we can chat about that jealousy come August when I am still sitting on a beach!

Until next post,