Curriculum

• Paper
• Pencil or crayon
• A large toy animal or character drawing

1. Step 1. Discuss purpose and audience. Explain that a narrative tells a story, a recount tells what happened, and an instruction tells how to do something.
2. Step 2. Have your child plan the sequence by drawing three pictures showing first, next, and last.
3. Step 3. Help your child compose the ideas into a draft. Explain that a draft gets thoughts down, while revise changes big ideas or details.
4. Step 4. Review together: revise big ideas, edit small mistakes, and proofread by reading the final piece aloud. Ask how audience and purpose shaped one choice.
5. Quick check. Success means the child explains how to compose by planning, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading, and explains how audience and purpose changed one choice.

Worked example. For a silly bear narrative, plan three events, draft “Bear found the red thing,” then revise it to “Bear found a wobbly purple berry,” edit the words, and proofread by reading the final sentence aloud.

Optional challenge. Writing Process Vocabulary: compare two short drafts for different audiences and use genre, sequence, and detail to explain one change.

What to notice. Save a parent note quoting the child using compose, plan, draft, revise, edit, and proofread, plus one audience or purpose choice and one revised sentence.