Boundary Park Elementary 25-26

Our Boundary Park Focus: Empowering Writers

At Boundary Park, we believe writing is more than putting words on a page: it is how students make meaning, show critical thinking, and communicate with purpose. This year, we are strengthening writing across grades by helping students develop the tools to: 

Our goal is to create a consistent, school-wide approach so students experience common language, shared expectations, and predictable routines that help them grow year over year. 

Why We Focus on Writing (Narrative + Critical Thinking): 

Our Focus Question: How can co-created writing criteria and ongoing formative feedback deepen students' understanding of quality writing and support growth over time?

Why this focus?
Through our school-wide writes and collaborative scoring using the BC Writing Performance Standards, we noticed patterns that helped clarify next steps:

This evidence confirmed that moving from a reading-comprehension focus into a writing focus is a natural next step: students are ready to use what they notice in texts and apply it to their own writing. 

BP’s Writing Roots: Qualitative Data Analysis 

As part of this writing process, we sourced qualitative data from our students about writing by having them complete surveys about their writing. We chose to have students in grades 2, 4, and 7 complete this survey. This visual represents a synthesis of the student surveys and self-reflections regarding their personal and creative writing journeys. By categorizing their feedback into a "Writing Tree," we can better understand the holistic needs of our K-7 learners through a lens that honors the First Peoples Principles of Learning. 

The Roots: The Tools That Help 

The foundation of our students' growth lies in the specific strategies and environmental factors that provide them with stability. This reflects the principle that learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.  

• Scaffolding: Students highlighted that structured supports like outlines, graphic organizers, and sentence starters are essential for getting started.  

• Collaborative Culture: Brainstorming with peers and asking friends or teachers for help are key drivers of student success, aligning with the principle that learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, and experiential.  

• Growth Mindset: Success is reinforced by learning from mistakes, building vocabulary through "triple scoop words," and maintaining consistent practice.

The Trunk: Core Competencies and Challenges 

The trunk represents the structural strength of a writer. This stage acknowledges that learning involves patience and time, as students build the stamina to overcome obstacles.  

• Developmental Milestones: Our focus remains on age-appropriate structure, specifically sentence building for Grade 4s and paragraph development for Grade 7s.  

• Technical Mechanics: Students identified spelling confidence, grammar, and punctuation as areas that significantly impact their writing flow.  

• The Creative Hurdle: Many learners noted that generating ideas and overcoming the "blank page" requires significant persistence, which is a core part of the learning journey.

The Leaves: The Joy of Writing 

The "leaves" are the flourishing results of our writing instruction. This stage honors the principle that learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, and the community.  

• Personal Connection: Students find deep value in personal narratives, specifically sharing stories about family, pets, and friends.  

• Creative Freedom: The use of imagination and creative expression allows students to feel a sense of calmness and self-expression.  

• Ownership: By sharing important things in their lives, students develop a sense of identity and take pride in their work. 

This learning plan was our school's first exploration into writing as an intentional, school wide focus. Much of this year was specifically focused on gathering our data to inform our staff of where we began, and where we want to go when it comes to Writing. As we intentionally shifted from reading, to writing, we gained valuable data around where our students currently stand with their writing skills, and how we can educate our staff for which teaching strategies and supports will be more meaningful in our practice, with the goal of student success, for 2026 - 2027. 

Our Next Steps for instructional strategies are:

1. Mentor Text Study (Reading Like Writers):
   

• Use short, high-quality narrative excerpts to notice author craft (leads, dialogue, pacing, word choice). 

• Co-create “look-fors” anchor charts that connect directly to your rubric language. 

2. Shared Writing + Co-construction:

• Build whole-class stories together (teacher-as-scribe) to model planning, elaboration, and revising. 

• Highlight the thinking behind decisions: “Why did we choose this detail?” 

3. Writing Conferences and Feedback Cycles:

• Move feedback from “fix-it” to “grow-it”: one strength + one next step aligned to the rubric. 

• Incorporate peer feedback routines using sentence stems and success criteria. 

4. Exemplars + Moderation (Deepening What We Started):

• Continue grade-team moderation with shared exemplars at multiple levels. 

• Create a small “Boundary Park exemplar bank” (student samples with annotated teacher notes). 

5. Integrate Critical Thinking into Narrative Tasks:

• Use prompts that require students to show thinking: character choices, consequences, problem-solving, perspective shifts. 

• Include reflection questions after writing (oral + written): “What choice did my character make and why?” 

6. Publishing for Purpose and Audience:

• Build in authentic audiences (buddy-class read-alouds, school anthology, family writing night, library display). 

• Add multimodal options (digital storytelling, illustrated narratives, audio narration) while keeping the writing goal central.

It is important to our school team to not only learn what these best practice instructional strategies are, but also what the plan of implementation looks like.

Our Implementation Plan Involves: 

School-wide Writes (Continue + Refine):

• Complete at least 2 school-wide writes (e.g., fall baseline, mid-year check-in, spring post). 

• Use a consistent prompt type and common conditions (time, supports) to make data comparable. 

Common Rubric + Shared Language:

• Use the co-created grade-team rubrics aligned to the BC Writing Performance Standards. 

• Tighten “look-fors” so students and families can understand what growth looks like. 

Portfolios (Evidence Over Time)

• Maintain writing portfolios (digital or paper) including: 

• baseline sample 

• drafts showing revision 

• final/published pieces 

• student reflections tied to the rubric 

Professional Learning (Collaborative & Ongoing) 

• Use staff meeting time for: 

• calibration/moderation 

• sharing anchor lessons and mentor texts 

• reviewing samples and identifying next-step instruction 

• Lunch and learns with the school team, such as our Story Boards Loose Parts Lunch and Learn focused on Diversity

How We Will Measure Growth:

To make the plan measurable and meaningful, we will look at multiple sources of evidence: 

1) Performance Standards Data (Common Assessment Tool):

• Baseline → mid-year → end-of-year shifts in:

2) Student Self-Assessment and Reflection :

3) Classroom Evidence:

Targeted Support for Every Learner:

To ensure every student at Boundary Park reaches their full potential, our next steps focus on providing targeted, flexible support that meets learners exactly where they are.

A key part of this strategy is the work of our Learning Support Team (LST). The LST department plays a critical role in our school by providing small-group instruction specifically designed to help our developing writers build confidence and strengthen their communication skills. This focused attention is incredibly important because it allows us to break down complex tasks, give immediate feedback, and help students find their unique voices as authors.

Additionally, we are proud to be part of an exciting district pilot program this year. This initiative allows us to provide specialized, "pull-out" language support in small groups for English Language Learners (ELL) who are at the expanding, bridging, and consolidating stages of their language journey. By focusing on these specific learning levels, we can ensure that our multi-language students receive the exact tools and guidance they need to thrive academically and socially. Together, these collaborative efforts reflect our commitment to an inclusive learning environment where every student is supported, valued, and set up for success.

Our Plan: Writing Progression 

At Boundary Park, we are working to strengthen student writing through a developmental progression that moves from oral language and idea generation to increasingly structured, purposeful, and independent written expression. Across grades, teachers are using co-created, grade-appropriate writing rubrics to help students understand what quality writing looks like, reflect on their own growth, and set goals for next steps. 

Writing Progression:

1. Creative / Playful Writing (Year 1 goal)
Students begin by generating ideas through oral language, drawing, storytelling, and imaginative writing.
Focus: voice, ideas, confidence, risk-taking

2. Descriptive & Personal Writing
Students describe people, places, events, and personal experiences using more detail and clearer sentence formation.
Focus: vocabulary, details, sentence expansion

3. Procedural / How-To Writing
Students explain steps, routines, or processes in a clear and logical order.
Focus: sequence, clarity, organization

4. Personal Response & Reflection
Students respond to texts, experiences, and learning by sharing opinions, feelings, and connections.
Focus: making connections, expressing thinking, reflection

5. Informational / Explanatory Writing
Students communicate ideas and information about a topic using facts, supporting details, and structure.
Focus: main idea, organization, supporting details

6. Opinion / Persuasive Writing
Students state an opinion and support it with reasons that are clear and relevant.
Focus: audience, reasons, structure, purpose

7. Analytical Writing
As students become more confident writers, they begin to compare, explain, and support their thinking with evidence.
Focus: deeper thinking, evidence, clarity, organization

Next Steps for Staff - Big Ideas and Deeper Questions

Teacher Inquiry Questions – Writing:

• How are we creating regular opportunities for students to write with purpose and choice? 

• What instructional strategies are most effective in helping students organize and expand their ideas in writing? 

• How are we explicitly teaching revision and editing as part of the writing process? 

• In what ways are we supporting students to develop voice and confidence as writers? 

• How are we using formative assessment to inform the next steps in writing instruction? 

• How do we differentiate writing instructions to meet the diverse needs of learners? 

Equity & Inclusion Lens:

• Whose voices are being heard through writing, and whose might still need support or alternative entry points? 

• How are we valuing students’ cultural identities, languages, and lived experiences in writing tasks? 

• What barriers might be limiting student engagement or confidence in writing, and how are we addressing them? 

Impact & Reflection: 

• What evidence do we see that students’ writing is becoming clearer, more detailed, or more purposeful? 

• How are students able to talk about their own growth as writers? 

• What does successful writing instruction look and feel like in our classrooms?

All of the work during the year, culminates in our final Analysis of the Results:

In the late Fall, and Spring, we analyzed evidence from our school-wide writes and to identify trends. 

We looked for evidence that students are increasingly able to: 

This analysis will inform instructional next steps, targeted supports, grade-team goal setting, and inform our learning plan for our 2026-2027 school year.