Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
Page 1
October/November/December
Unit 2/3/4
Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
Overview of Unit:
In this unit, students will create a pattern book that others are able to read and understand.
Students will learn how to draw representational illustrations. Patterns that they create
will be carried across all the pages of their book and will follow the concepts of
predictable pattern books.
Goals for Unit:
Recognize a repeating pattern in a book
Be able to create their own repeating pattern
Generate a good beginning
Generate a good ending
Be able to stay on the same topic
Pictures match their words
Use/spell words on word wall
Use/spell familiar words
Good use of sentence structure
 Spacing
 Capitals
 Punctuation
Paper Choices:
You may want to use ½ sheets of paper for drafting to make it look more like a small,
level A or B pattern book (just a suggestion). Other paper choices may look similar to
previous units with 1 or more lines added.
Planning paper and list need to be easier for students to distinguish from story writing
paper.
Ideas: Colored Paper, Index Cards
Pattern/Predictable Book List:
AUTHORS
Todd Parr
Bill Martin
Eric Carle
Nancy Shaw
Laura Joffe Numeroff
Audrey/Don Woods
Erza Jack Keats
Raffi
DRAFT
Nancy White Carlstrom
Eileen Christelow
Pat Hutchins
Julie Vivas
Sandra Boynton
Donald Crews
Eric Carle
Revised August 2010
Pattern/Predictable Unit
BOOKS
Cookie’s Week – Cindy Ward
Ten, Nine Eight – Molly Bang
The Carrot Seed – Ruth Kraus
Are You My Mother? – P.D. Eastman
Come Out and Play, Little Mouse – Robert Kraus
Dance Away – George Shannon
Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown
Happy Birthday Moon – Frank Asch
Is Your Mama a Llama – Deborah Guarino
It Looked Like Spilt Milk – Charles B. Snow
It’s A Perfect Day – Abigail Pizer
The Chick and the Duckling – Jose Aruego
The Important Book – Margaret Wise Brown
The Runaway Bunny – Margaret Wise Brown
Who Said Red? – Mary Serfozo
Little Red Hen – Paul Galdone
Millions of Cats – Wanda Gag
Jake Baked The Cake – B. G. Hennesy
A House is a House for Me – Mary Ann Hoberman
I Went Walking – Sue Williams
If It Weren’t for You – Charlotte Zolotow
I Was Walking Down the Road – Sarah Barchas
I Will Not Go to the Market Today – Harry Allard
Jump, Frog, Jump – Robert Kalan
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of
Anything – Linda Williams
Old Mother Hubbard – Colin & Jacqui Hawkins
One Monday Morning – Uri Schulevitz
Over in the Meadow – Olive Wadsworth
Rain Makes Applesauce – Julian Scheer
DRAFT
Writing Workshop
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Drummer Hoff – Edward Emberley
A My Name is Alice – Jane Bayer
Each Peach Pear Plum – Janet Ahlberg
10 in the Bed – Anne Geddes
What Do You Say Dear? - Sesyle Joslin
The Enormous Turnip – Kathy Parkinson
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt – Michael Rosen
Caps for Sale – Esphyr Slobodkina
Have You Seen My Duckling – Nancy Tafuri
The Fat Cat – Jack Kent
Tikki, Tikki, Tembo – Arlene Mosel
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly –
Nadine Bernard Westcott
Fortunately – Remy Charlip
The Gingerbread Boy – Paul Galdone
Hattie and the Fox – Mem Fox
Henny Penny – Paul Galdone
The House that Jack Built – Rodney Peppe
The Rose in my Garden – Arnold Lobel
Round as a Pancake – Joan Sullivan
Someday – Charlotte Zolotow
The Teeny Tiny Woman – Barbara Seuling
Three Blind Mice – John Ivimey
The Three Little Pigs – Paul Galdone
This Old Man – The Counting Song – Robin
Koontz
The Wheels on the Bus – Mary Ann Kovalski
When I Was Young in the Mountains – Cynthia
Rylant
Where’s Spot – Eric Hill
Who Sank the Boat – Pamela Allen
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears – Verna
Aardema
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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Alignment with Standards:
K.1.1
K.1.2
K.1.3
K.1.4
K.1.5
K.1.6
K.1.7
K.1.8
K.1.9
K.1.11
K.1.12
K.1.14
K.1.15
K.1.16
K.1.17
K.1.18
K.1.19
K.1.22
K.2.1
K.2.2
K.2.3
K.2.4
K.2.5
DRAFT
Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page.
Understand that printed materials provide information.
Recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.
Distinguish letters from words.
Recognize and name all capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
Listen to two or three phonemes (sounds) when they are read aloud, and tell the number of
sounds heard, whether they are the same or different, and the order.
Example: Listen to the sounds /f/, /m/, /s/ or /l/, /n/, /v/. Tell how many sounds were heard and
whether any sounds were the same.
Listen and say the changes in spoken syllables (a word or part of a word that contains one
vowel sound) and words with two or three sounds when one sound is added, substituted,
omitted, moved, or repeated.
Example: Listen to the word bat and tell what word is left when you take the /b/ sound away.
Tell what word is left when you take the /br/ sound away from the spoken word brother.
Listen to and say consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) sounds and blend the sounds to make
words.
Example: Listen to the sounds /b/, /e/, /d/ and tell what word is made.
Listen to one-syllable words and tell the beginning or ending sounds.
Example: Tell what sound you hear at the beginning of the word girl.
Listen to spoken sentences and recognize individual words in the sentence; listen to words
and recognize individual sounds in the words.
Match all consonant sounds (mad, red, pin, top, sun) to appropriate letters.
Read one-syllable and high-frequency (often-heard) words by sight.
Use self-correcting strategies when reading simple sentences.
Read their own names.
Understand the alphabetic principle, which means that as letters in words change, so do the
sounds.
Learn and apply knowledge of alphabetical order (first letter) when using a classroom or
school library/media center.
Listen to stories read aloud and use the vocabulary in those stories in oral language.
Locate the title and the name of the author of a book.
Use pictures and context to aid comprehension and to draw conclusions or make predictions
about story content.
Example: Tell how and where bees gather pollen after listening to a book about bees such as
The Honeymakers by Gail Gibbons.
Generate and respond to questions (who, what, where).
Identify types of everyday print materials.
Example: Walk around the school and identify the signs in the school, such as EXIT,
Principal’s Office, and Restrooms. Tell the difference between a storybook and a beginners’
dictionary.
Identify the order (first, last) of information.
Example: Listen to and look at the information in a book such as Going on a Whale Watch by
Bruce McMillan. Then draw pictures representing the main events of a whale watching trip in
the order in which they occurred.
Revised August 2010
Pattern/Predictable Unit
K.3.1
K.3.2
K.3.3
K.3.4
K.3.5
K.4.1
K.4.2
K.4.3
K.4.4
K.4.5
K.4.6
K.4.7
K.5.1
K.5.2
K.6.1
K.6.2
K.7.1
K.7.2
K.7.3
K.7.5
DRAFT
Writing Workshop
Page 4
Distinguish fantasy from reality.
Example: Listen to The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, Trinka Hakes Noble’s story about a
class field trip to a farm, and Farming, Gail Gibbons’ nonfiction book about farming. Tell
how these two books are different.
Retell (beginning, middle, end) familiar stories.
Example: Retell the story of a folktale, such as the version of The Three Little Pigs by Steven
Kellogg.
Identify characters, settings, and important events in a story.
Example: Identify the main characters in a story, such as Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells.
Describe the setting in a familiar story, such as Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.
Retell the important events in a story, such as the folktale Jack and the Beanstalk.
Identify favorite books and stories.
Understand what is heard or seen by responding to questions (who, what, where).
Discuss ideas to include in a story.
Tell a story that the teacher or some other person will write.
Write using pictures, letters, and words.
Write phonetically spelled words (words that are written as they sound) and consonant-vowelconsonant words (demonstrating the alphabetic principle).
Example: Write correctly simple words, such as man, cat, and run, and spell other words as
they sound, such as whale as wal, jumps as jmps, and bigger as bigr, showing an
understanding of what letters represent certain sounds.
Write by moving from left to right and from top to bottom.
Ask how and why questions about a topic of interest.
Identify pictures and charts as sources of information and begin gathering information from a
variety of sources (books, technology).
Draw pictures and write words for a specific reason.
Example: Draw a picture or write to a friend or a family member to tell about something new
at school.
Draw pictures and write for specific people or persons.
Example: Write or dictate an invitation to a parent to attend a classroom event.
Write capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet, correctly shaping and spacing the letters.
Spell independently using an understanding of the sounds of the alphabet and knowledge of
letter names.
Example: Spell correctly common words, such as cat, or spell by how the word sounds, such
as kat.
Understand and follow one- and two-step spoken directions.
Share information and ideas, speaking in complete, coherent sentences.
Describe people, places, things (including their size, color, and shape), locations, and actions.
Tell an experience or creative story in a logical sequence (chronological order, first, second,
last).
Revised August 2010
Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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Immersion
(For this work, you’ll want to use level A and B books, so that many of the students can
follow the pattern. Let the students have time to read like writers in small groups.)
Teacher Note: Tell the students that they will be writing “just right” pattern books, like the
ones they’ve been reading in Reading Workshop or like the ones they have been hearing read
aloud.
What (skill): Writers notice patterns in pattern books
How (strategy):
 By reading books by famous authors
 By looking at just right books
 By noticing something that the author did to make his/her pattern book.
 By using Post-its and marking the page when they notice words that repeat from page
to page so they can identify the pattern in the book they are reading.
What (skill): Writers notice what that authors do to make pattern books
How (strategy):
 By putting a post-it note in the book on a place where they want to share with their
partner
Chart Idea:
Make a chart of all the things they notice about the level A and B pattern books.
You can then copy and shrink down examples from the books to go with each
noticing so that they can remember (most cannot read all of the words you’ll
put on a chart). You’ll want to refer to this chart each day during Writing
Workshop.
What (skill): Writers remember how pattern books go
How (strategy):
 By making a chart with all the things they notice about pattern books
Make a chart listing all the patterns they are noticing in the level A and level B
pattern books (I am… / What am I? I am a…/ I love… /.... is big / I have a…)
You will have several, and this will be good when they go to write their own
“just right” pattern books. They will have several to choose from.
What (skill): Writers remember what kinds of patterns can be in pattern books
How (strategy):
 By making a list of the patterns they notice in their just right books on a chart
DRAFT
Revised August 2010
Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
Immersion Noticing Chart
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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Collecting
Teacher Note: Teach them that pattern book writers get ideas for their books by thinking of
things they love or things they do all the time. You can have them make lists of all the things
they love or all of the things they do.
(Additional ideas: things they hate, like, enjoy, etc.)
What (skill): Writers get ideas for their pattern books
How (strategy):
 By thinking of things they love
 By saying them on their hand
 By listing them on their planning paper
Teacher Note: The strategies listed above are specific for the topic “love” remember there
will be additional topics.
What (skill): Writers make a plan for their pattern book
How (strategy):
 By choosing one topic and sketching all the things they know about it.
What (skill): Writers organize their ideas
How (strategy):
 By writing a topic in the middle and naming five things about that topic
Teacher Note: Have them choose one thing at a time from their lists and put it at the top of
the page. Then, have them list out everything or 5 things they can think of that go with that
one thing. (Hopefully, this will keep them focused when they go to write a pattern book.)
What (skill): Writers get ideas for a topic for their pattern book
How (strategy):
 By drawing a detailed picture of their topic
What (skill): Writers choose a pattern for their pattern book
How (strategy):
 By trying out several pattern that go with their topic and picking the one that goes the
best
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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Choosing and Drafting
Teacher Note:
Model how to choose one of your topics from one of the pages you made during
collecting ideas.
Model how to then pick a pattern you want to try out
(Refer to the samples on the chart: I am… / What am I? I am a…/ I love… /.... is big / I
have a…).
Model getting started in a booklet.
What (skill): Writers choose a topic for their pattern book
How (strategy):
 By picking the topic they like the best
Teacher Note:
You could try out a different pattern each day to model how different patterns would
work.
(Refer to the samples on the chart: I am… / What am I? I am a…/ I love… /.... is big / I
have a…).
What (skill): Writers choose a pattern for their book
How (strategy):
 By trying out several patterns that go with their topic and picking the one that goes the
best
What (skill): Writers write and sketch their story
How (strategy):
 By making sure that the “tricky and/or changing word” matches the biggest picture on
the page
What (skill): Writers add movement marks to people and things in their pictures to
show their readers what was moving in their story
How (strategy):
 By looking at each person or thing in their picture and asking themselves, “Was this
person or thing moving?” Then, if it was moving, they add movement marks to the
parts of the person or thing that was moving so readers will understand what was
moving when they read their story.
What (skill): Writers go back to their old pieces and add to the words and pictures
How (strategy):
 By looking at one page at a time and asking themselves, “What else should be on this
page?”
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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What (skill): Writers add speech bubbles to their pictures
How (strategy):
 By looking at their picture, closing their eyes, and asking themselves, “What were the
people saying to each other on this page? By looking at their characters and asking
themselves, “What did I hear, what could they have said?” So that whoever reads their
story will know what the characters were saying.
What (skill): Writers add thought bubbles to their pictures
How (strategy):
 By looking at each character in their story and asking themselves, “What was this
character thinking about in this part?” So their readers know what all of their characters
were thinking in their story.
What (skill): Writers add the weather and time of day to their stories
How (strategy):
 By looking at each page and asking themselves, “What was the weather and time of
day in this part?” Then, add details to show the weather and time of day.
What (skill): Writers add the ground to their pictures first
How (strategy):
 By asking themselves, “Where was this happening and what was the ground like
(carpet, grass, pavement)? They do this so that whoever reads their story will know
where the story takes place so that the characters aren’t floating in the air.
What (skill): Writers add to their pictures
How (strategy):
 By adding feelings to their characters’ faces. They look at each person in their story
and ask, “How was this person feeling in this part of the story?” Then, they add details
like smiles, frowns, tears, eyes wide open, and more to let their reader know how the
people were feeling.
What (skill): Writers make sure their pictures will help their readers understand their
story better
How (strategy):
 By closing their eyes and thinking carefully about all the things they want their reader
to notice in their picture and then drawing those things into their picture.
DRAFT
Revised August 2010
Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
Page 10
Revision
(Fixing Time)
Adding more detail to words and pictures
(Most of these skill and strategies are repeated from the drafting section.)
Teacher Note: Teach them to think about how their ending should wrap it all up. The pattern
usually stops at the end and the book/pattern is wrapped up.
What (skill): Writers end their pattern book
How (strategy):
 By saying what the book is about
What (skill): Writers end their pattern book
How (strategy):
 By changing the pattern on the last page
What (skill): Writers add labels
How (strategy):
 By looking at their pictures and choosing the most important part and writing its name
near by.
Teacher Note: Students would have their writing and show their partner what they would
label
What (skill): Writers add more text to the actual sentences
How (strategy):
 By using the word “and”, “or”, “because” and add one more detail to their topic
What (skill): Writers add detail with describing words
How (strategy):
 By naming the size, shape, or color of the object
What (skill): Writers make their writing easier to read
How (strategy):
 By rereading and thinking how they could make it easier for their reader to read
What (skill): Writers make sure their writing is going to make sense for others to read
How (strategy):
 By rereading their writing and thinking…Does that sounds right? Is that what I want to
say?
What (skill): Writing partners help each other choose a piece for publishing
How (strategy):
 By looking at all the writing they have done and sorting it into piles of “easy to read”
and “not easy to read” and telling each other which piece of writing is the best because
it is easy to read.
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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What (skill): Writers add more to their words and pictures
How (strategy):
 By reading their story with a partner and asking the partner if there are any words or
pictures missing, so they can make their story easier for others to read.
What (skill): Writers go back to their old pieces and add to the words and pictures
How (strategy):
 By looking at one page at a time and asking themselves, “What else should be on this
page?”
What (skill): Writers add speech bubbles to their pictures
How (strategy):
 By looking at their picture, closing their eyes, and asking themselves, “What were the
people saying to each other on this page? What did I hear? What could they have
said?” So that whoever reads their story will know what the characters were saying.
What (skill): Writers add the weather and time of day to their stories
How (strategy):
 By looking at each page and asking themselves, “What was the weather and time of
day in this part?” Then, they add details to show the weather and time of day.
What (skill): Writers add the ground to their pictures first
How (strategy):
 By asking themselves, “Where was this happening and what was the ground like
(carpet, grass, pavement)?” They do this so that whoever reads their story will know
where the story takes place and so that the characters aren’t floating in the air.
What (skill): Writers add to their pictures
How (strategy):
 By adding feelings to their characters’ faces. They look at each person in their story
and ask, “How was this person feeling in this part of the story?” Then, they add details
like smiles, frowns, tears, eyes wide open, and more to let their reader know how the
people were feeling.
What (skill): Writers add thought bubbles to their pictures
How (strategy):
 By looking at each character in their story and asking themselves, “What was this
character thinking about in this part?” So their readers know what all of their characters
were thinking in their story.
What (skill): Writers make their writing feel real to their readers
How (strategy):
 By using the specific name of things in their writing (instead of candy, write Starburst /
instead of drink, write Sprite).
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
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What (skill): Writers make a special part of their writing seem really important
How (strategy):
 By repeating it (writing it again) in another place in their story (chapter 8 in Wondrous
Words by Katie Wood Ray).
Chart Idea
Ways to add to my story:
What did I hear?
What did I say?
What did I see?
How did I feel?
Weather and Time of Day
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
Page 13
Editing
(Fixing Time)
Working on conventions, punctuations, spelling (word wall words), spaces, etc.
Using Punctuation.?!
What (skill): Writers write sentences that end with a punctuation
How (strategy):
 By using a red crayon to make it.
Uppercase/Capital at the beginning of a sentence
What (Skill): Writers make sure they use an uppercase letter at the beginning
How (Strategy):
 by using a green crayon/marker for that letter
What (skill): Writers check all of their “words” and pictures to make sure that people
can “read” everything
How (strategy):
 By rereading everything they’ve written and making sure everything looks clear and
correct. They do this by putting their finger on each word and picture one at a time,
saying the word or picture, and asking, “Can I read this? Will other people be able to
read this? Does it look clear and correct?” If not, they fix it up.
What (skill): Writers help their readers know what their words are
How (strategy):
 By getting as many letters down as they can. They do this by touching a word they
already wrote, saying the word slowly (like a rubber band/like a turtle) ….stretching
the word, listening for all the sounds, and adding any new sounds that they hear.
What (skill): Writers make sure they have spaces between their words so that their
readers can easily read what they’ve written…just like in published books.
How (strategy):
 By rereading each word they’ve written and after each word checking to see if one of
their fingers will fit between that word and the next word. If the finger covers any of
the next word, they draw a line between the two words (or you can have them circle the
words that are too close). The line will help them remember that they need a space
there and it will help their readers know that those are two different words.
What (skill): Writers make sure that the words they already know how to spell are
spelled correctly (Word Wall words / star words…whatever you call them).
How (strategy):
 By looking at the words on the Word Wall, reading each one, looking back at their
writing, and asking, “Did I use this word in my writing? If I did, did I spell it
correctly?” Writers fix up any words from the Word Wall that they used in their
writing.
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
Writing Workshop
Page 14
Publishing
(Fancy time)
Add covers, title page, other parts of a book, author blurbs, and bind books
What (skill): Writers add color to their sketches
How (strategy):
 By closing their eyes and remembering the story and what things look liked so they can
add the correct colors to their sketches.
 By making the pictures look real, showing detail, and how people are feeling so others
know what the pictures are and what is happening in the story.
 By coloring their very best and making their pictures the correct colors across the pages
so others know what the picture is and what is happening in the story.
What (skill): Writers use fancying up writing tools carefully
How (strategy):
 By adding color with them and putting the tools back in the correct spots so others can
find the tools when they want to use them.
 By doing their best to stay in the lines of their sketches so their pictures look life-like.
 By thinking what tool might be best for each item in their picture and asking
themselves, “Should I use a crayon, colored pencil, or etc. for this picture?” so they can
make their picture look life-like.
What (skill): Writers add a title to their front cover
How (strategy):
 By reading their story and thinking about what it tells about so the title on the front
cover will help others know what the book is about when they read it.
 By using their best handwriting to add the title they chose so others can read what the
title of the book is.
 By using a picture that helps others know what the book is about so readers understand
what the book is all about.
DRAFT
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Pattern/Predictable Unit
DRAFT
Writing Workshop
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