Writing Mini-Lessons Template
Name: Samantha Burritt
Writing Trait: Word Choice
Grade Level: 2nd
Focus Area: Using Sensory Words/Adjectives
Explicit
Explanation/
Direct
Instruction:
Mini-Lesson 1
Mini-Lesson 2
Mini-Lesson 3
Mini-Lesson 4
Mini-Lesson 5
For direct instruction,
the teacher will have
the following four
sentences on the board:
1. The girl walked
down the street.
2. My dad gave me a
hug.
3. My teacher said, “Sit
down and be quiet!”
4. The boy gave his
mother a flower.
She will tell the
students what the main
focus of the week is on:
word choice. “This
week we will be
focusing on word
choice. We are going to
use words in our
writing that helps our
readers picture what
we are saying. We
want to use strong
words and not tired
words. Tired words
are words like happy,
said, walked, or mad
that aren’t very
descriptive. You could
replace those words
The teacher will start
off by reviewing what
the students learned
the day before about
tired words.
“Who can tell me what
we said tired words
were yesterday? Right,
tired words are words
that get used often but
don’t carry a lot of
meaning or description.
Who can remember an
example of a tired word
we used yesterday?
Yes, good is a tired
word. Can anyone give
me a word we could
replace good with to
make it more
descriptive?”
Next, the teacher will
have a pocket chart
that has lots of tired
words such as good,
like, walk, said, bad,
mad, happy, etc.
As a class, the students
will come up with new
words to use in their
writing instead of those
The teacher will start
off this lesson with a
paragraph on the
board. The paragraph
will be very descriptive
and use lots of sensory
words and adjectives.
The teacher will read
aloud this paragraph to
the class. Then, the
teacher will ask the
students if they thought
this paragraph was one
that used a lot of tired
words or if it had good
word choice in it. Once
the students can agree
that this was a wellwritten paragraph, the
teacher will ask the
students to tell her
some of the words the
author used and why
they liked them. Were
they able to better see
the picture they author
was trying to portray?
Did it appeal to any of
their five senses?
Today’s direct
instruction isn’t as
much as the previous
days. The teacher will
have a couple
sentences up on the
board:
1. That dog was mean.
2. My bed is
comfortable.
The students will do
something similar with
these sentences as they
did for Day 1. They will
pick out the tired
words in the sentences
and then discuss a
replacement word for
the tired words.
“Let’s look at the first
sentence. That dog was
mean. What word is a
tired word in that
sentence? Mean is a
tired word; what are
some other words we
can use instead of
mean? Let’s think of
some together. Now,
what word in this
sentence can be more
For today’s direct
instruction, the teacher
will have gotten one of
the students’ work
from the day before
(with their
permission). She will
use this paragraph to
do today’s direct
instruction. The
paragraph she should
pick should be one that
has sentences with
many descriptive
words, but also with
some sentences that
can be changed to be
made better.
She will first ask the
students which parts of
the paragraph already
contain descriptive
words that help the
reader picture what the
writing is about. Then,
she will ask the
students if they see any
places where there are
tired words or words
that could use more
description. If there is,
with strong words like
ecstatic, whispered,
strutted, or fuming.
Don’t those words
sound a lot better?
Can’t you picture those
words in your head
much easier than you
could the tired words?”
To practice using
strong words, we are
going to look at these
four sentences and pick
out the tired words in
each one. Then, we will
replace those tired
words with strong
words. We can also
add in more
description to the
sentences to make the
reader picture the
writing even more.
“Let’s read the first
sentence together. The
girl walked down the
street. What is the tired
word in that sentence?
The tired verb is
walked. What is
another word that we
can say instead of
walked that is more
descriptive but still
means the same as
walk? Strutted,
sauntered, strolled. Yes,
those are all words that
we can use in place of
tired words. The
teacher will call out one
word at a time, and the
students will offer up
replacement words to
use that are better than
those words.
descriptive? Dog could
be more descriptive.
What are some words
we can put in front of
dog to describe a dog
that might be mean or
(whatever word we
change mean to)?”
the students can give
suggestions to improve
the writing.
walk. If I said the girl
walked down the
street, or the girls
strolled down the
street, which sentence
gives you more detail?
Right, the girl strolled
down the street. “
The teacher will do this
same strategy for each
of the sentences on the
board.
The teacher will model
using sensory words
Modeling
and adjectives with the
with Mentor
Text/Teacher mentor text, Come on,
Rain, by Karen Hesse.
Writing:
Before she begins
reading, she will
remind the students to
look out for words in
the story that help
them picture what is
really going on,
whether it’s how
something looks, how it
feels, how it smells,
how it tastes, or how it
sounds.
While reading the book,
the teacher will stop
occasionally to ask the
students what words
they are hearing that
are helping them
picture what is going
on in the story. The
students will respond
back with words such
The teacher will model
writing a paragraph for
the students. While she
is writing, she will stop
every sentence to think
about the word choice
she is using in her
sentence.
The sample paragraph
will be:
Yesterday was a cold
day. Even though I was
wearing my coat, I
couldn’t stay outside for
very long. When I came
back inside, I got under
a blanket until I was
warm again.
The teacher will stop at
every sentence to look
at the tired words she
is considering using.
For example, the
teacher will write
Yesterday was a, then
she will stop and say, “I
wanted to say
Once the students have
looked at the paragraph
together as a class and
picked out words the
author used to portray
his writing, they will
take out their writing
from the previous day.
The students will
exchange their writing
with another student
and then they will work
in partners to pick out
what words the author
used to make their
writing come alive.
For example, two
students will exchange
paper. They will read
each others’ paragraphs
and then they will talk
together and tell each
other what
parts/words they liked
best about their
paragraph on a hot
summer’s day.
The teacher will take
out a stuffed animal
and place it in front of
the class. As a class, the
students and teacher
together will write
about this stuffed
animal. The teacher
will start by writing the
first sentence about
this stuffed animal.
The teacher will write a
sentence about the
stuffed animal that uses
tired words. She will
then ask the students if
this is a good sentence.
When, the students say
no, the teacher will ask
why. The students will
say that there are tired
words in the sentence
and then make
suggestions to change
the tired words to
better words. The
teacher will do this
On the board, the
teacher will have the
beginning of a piece of
writing that is about a
holiday being spent
with the writer’s
family. It will have just
a few sentences in the
beginning, but the
sentences will be very
descriptive and allow
the reader to use their
five senses to see and
feel what is happening.
The teacher will read
this piece to the
students and ask the
students to turn to a
partner and talk about
what they can tell is
going on in the story.
After the students talk
to each other the
teacher will ask for
volunteers to share
with the class. Then,
the teacher will ask
Guided
Practice:
as “endless heat,”
“parched plants,” and
“skid to a stop.” When
the students respond
with words that are
helping them picture
the writing, the teacher
can ask them how it
would be different if
the author used tired
words instead.
Yesterday was a cold
day. But cold seems
like a tired word. Let’s
think of a word we can
say besides cold. Does
anyone have any
suggestions?” The
teacher will take
suggestions from the
class and put one of
their suggestions in
place of the word cold.
She will do this same
thing for each sentence
for the words coat,
blanket, and warm. We
will either change the
word, or put in more
detail on the word so it
is more descriptive.
For guided practice, the
teacher will hand out
the same paragraph to
each student. This
paragraph will have
many weak verbs and
tired words in it that do
not help the students
picture the story
clearly. The students
will be asked to rewrite
the paragraph and
change out the tired
words for stronger,
more sensory words
instead. The students
will have to make sure
that they still rewrite
For guided practice, the
teacher will give the
students a topic to
write about. For this
day, it will be their
favorite summer day
and what they did that
day. She will tell the
students to write about
this day much like we
did on the board.
When they are writing
and they think to
themselves that they
are about to use a tired
word, they should think
of something else to
use instead. If the tired
As I said before, the
teacher will have many
books/mentor texts out
for the students to
choose from. Each
student will choose a
book. They will look
through the books and
find a sentence, a page,
or just a part in the
story that sticks out to
the student. This part
should use
sensory/descriptive
words that help them
picture what is
happening in the story.
It should have many
same thing for the first
few sentences. Then,
she will allow the
students to make their
own sentences for the
rest of the paragraph.
what words they read
in the writing that
make them feel like
they know what is
happening. The
students will give
examples of words
from the passage that
they felt like were very
descriptive.
The teacher will take
out another stuffed
animal, or object, and
the students will now
have to write their own
paragraph on it. Their
writing should include
descriptive words and
words that help the
reader picture what it
looks and feels like.
The students will have
time allotted to free
write; once they are
finished, five students
can sign-up to share
their writing on the
stuffed animal.
After seeing the
beginning of the
holiday paragraph in
the section before, the
students will be asked
to work on their own
piece during guided
practice time. The
student can pick any
holiday they would like
and they must write
about it. They must
make sure their writing
contains descriptive,
sensory details that
will help their reader
picture what is
happening. They will
the paragraph in a way
that it still
encompasses the main
ideas and meaning of
the original paragraph.
After the students have
finished editing their
paragraph, they can
sign up to share with
the class how they
changed the paragraph
with their strong
words.
We will have a sign-up
sheet for students to
write their name on if
they would like to
share each day. Today,
five students will be
able to share.
word they are using is
one that we did
replacement words
with our pocket chart,
they can use one of the
words the class thought
of.
Once the students have
written their
paragraph, they can put
their name on the signup sheet to share if
they would like. We
will have three
students share today.
descriptive words, and
words that help the
students see, taste,
hear, smell, or touch
what is going on in the
story.
They will write out this
part of the story in their
writing notebooks and
then explain why they
picked this part and
what it made them
picture or feel.
Three students will
share the parts they
picked from their story
and what it made them
feel like with the rest of
the class.
also be reminded to
talk about what it
smells and sounds like.
They must include
details from all five
senses in order to
really make the reader
picture what is
happening.
They can use their
resources from earlier
in the week, such as
their pocket chart with
replacement words,
and other pieces of
writing they have
worked.
Five students will signup to share their
writing about their
holiday they wrote
about.