Units of Study-Chapter 12*

In my Kindergarten classroom, I asked my teacher how she plans out the units of study of writing in her classroom. Since her students are just learning how to form letters make words and create sentences, the units of study are broken into this for the whole year:
Quarter 1: Narrative Writing
Quarter 2: Comparison/Contrast Writing (very simple)
Quarter 3: Informational Writing
Quarter 4: Persuasive Writing
Each quarter is 9 weeks long and for 20-40 minutes every day they work on their writing. Since I have only been in this classroom for this semester, I have only gotten to see the informational writing unit of study. Usually, Ms. Young picks a couple of informational books that the students are interested in. They vote on one book and then Ms. Young reads it. Afterwards they talk about some of the facts in the book and then head to their seats to write. This may take two or three class periods depending on how much time is allotted. Some of the topics the students have written on were spiders, the presidents, t turtles, the solar system, how crayons are made, and volcanoes. I like how Ms. Young listens to her students and asks them what they would like to learn more about. This is also a great way to incorporate other subject areas. Since science and social studies usually fall to the wayside in schools due to the importance of other subjects such as reading and math, Ms. Young is able to teach some of the science and social studies curriculum through writing.
When we come back from spring break, Ms. Young is going to start the unit on persuasive writing. I really hope that she will let me do a lesson with the kids because I have some great ideas on teaching persuasive writing; some of which are using the texts I Wanna Iguana and Dear Mrs. La Rue Letters from Obedience School. It is REALLY hard to get teaching time in her classroom. So hopefully I will be able to get at least 30 minutes because I think the kids would enjoy these books.