Using a recount exemplar as a scaffold has enabled my students to start developing control of their writing. My students have been extending their writing to include more detail. Our journals are a record of each student’s personal history. They understand that when they read their writing back in years to come they will want to remember as much as they can about the things they did. This also relates to an earlier inquiry into personal histories. All children, at every stage of writing development are benefitting from using a structure to support their writing.
Before writing their journals, the children focus on the exemplar to remind them of the main parts of a recount. We also discuss punctuation and spelling strategies.
Orientation: When? Who? Where?
Sequence of events: What happened?
A large number of my students are now extending their writing. They are excited by their ability to record events. These students are 5 & 6 year olds, and I’m amazed by what they are capable of. It’s interesting to see their use of punctuation developing in the examples below. Using commas, capital letters, full stops, spaces between words and time words is evident.