Panorama Park Elementary 24-25

At Panorama Park Elementary, our learners are engaging deeply with the Curricular Competency of English Language Arts Writing. Using a variety of strategies, students are learning to communicate and articulate their ideas effectively in written form. They demonstrate their understanding through oral, written, visual, and digital texts, with an emphasis on fostering agency, voice, and meaningful written output.

Our diverse learners connect to writing through targeted literacy and language arts experiences. Strategies such as read-alouds, story workshops, morning meetings, the writing process, brainstorming, imaginative play, “walk and talk” discussions, journaling, and Touch Chat are intentionally used to support and enhance student writing across the school.

Our English Language Arts Writing Cohort includes learners from Kindergarten through Grade 7. While the approaches to teaching writing vary by grade and class, a shared commitment to writing instruction and strategy use unites the team. A cohort of students is being monitored over the coming years to track growth and learning, providing a clear picture of student progress and school-wide impact.

Our work is guided by the following learning standards from the English Language Arts Curricular Competencies:

• Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create texts for a variety of purposes and audiences

• Use language in creative and playful ways to develop personal style

• Communicate in sentences and paragraphs, applying conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Our writing journey began in the 2023–2024 school year with a school-wide baseline writing sample focused on identity during Black History Month. This provided an opportunity for staff collaboration, resulting in a co-created rubric aligned with curricular standards. It offered clarity and consistency in assessment, while supporting a deeper understanding of student learning.

Black History Month: A Writing and Inquiry Focus

This year, our school-wide Black History Month initiative spotlighted the contributions of Black Canadians. Each class selected a prominent Black Canadian figure to explore, providing students with meaningful opportunities to engage with history and reflect on its present-day relevance. Teachers were encouraged to showcase student learning in personalized ways, with classroom bulletin boards serving as a central display.

For example, one class studied Rosemary Brown, the first Black woman elected to a Canadian provincial legislature and a pioneer in Parliament. Students explored her legacy, especially her impact on local communities in Vancouver. They then reflected on the theme of leadership by stepping into the role of a changemaker, capturing their insights through written “thinking bubbles” displayed proudly in their classroom. This initiative helped students make personal connections to historical figures while cultivating their creativity and voice through writing.

This experience also provided rich opportunities to develop key writing skills, including creative writing, research, and formative writing practice. Students learned to gather and organize information, develop ideas, and express their thinking in ways that were reflective, purposeful, and empowering.

Looking Ahead

We are excited to continue building on this work with more intentional, school-wide initiatives that elevate diverse voices and deepen student literacy across subject areas. Through this ongoing focus, Panorama Park Elementary remains committed to nurturing confident, capable writers who are empowered to share their stories and perspectives with the world.

Evidence Collected 

Writing Samples Over Time: Monthly school-wide writes have been collected and reviewed, showing clear improvement from early-year to mid-year and end-of-year in structure, detail, and editing. 

The Intermediate Speech Fest also provided opportunities for students to draft, revise, and edit their work. Staff have had access to multiple writing resources and strategies to support this growth. 

Rubric Scores: Rubric-based assessments show steady progress in key writing traits such as organization, sentence fluency, and conventions. 

Student Reflections: Learners have expressed increased confidence in their writing and a better understanding of their personal writing goals. 

Conference Notes and Observations: During one-on-one writing conferences, students are more able to identify their areas for growth and apply feedback independently.

We can confidently share that we have seen growth in our student writers. Our Indigenous learners have also grown in population at Panorama Park, and collectively, they are developing writers.

Areas of Focus Within the Classroom Context

At Panorama Park Elementary, our writing instruction is grounded in purposeful and creative approaches that align with the English Language Arts Curricular Competencies. Through targeted writing experiences, students build confidence, voice, and skill in expressing themselves. The following areas of focus illustrate our classroom-based work across a range of genres and strategies:

Focus: Descriptive Non-Fiction Story Writing

We began by exploring text features to build foundational knowledge in non-fiction. Learners used graphic organizers and writing templates to support their understanding and began integrating these tools into regular writing practice. Throughout the process, students engaged with all stages of the writing cycle: planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. By focusing on descriptive language and structure, learners crafted non-fiction stories with clarity and creativity, developing essential skills in organization, coherence, and voice.

Focus: Creative Writing with Loose Parts

At the start of the school year, we introduced loose parts: natural materials like pinecones, rocks, and seasonal items, to spark imaginative thinking and oral storytelling. These provocations helped students build oral language, collaborate with peers, and strengthen classroom community. As the year progressed, learners connected their storytelling to written form, developing narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end. With a growing focus on conventions, sentence structure, and grammar, students revisited and refined their stories over time, building fluency and ownership in their writing.

Focus: Narrative Writing

In our Grade One and Two classroom, students developed their storytelling skills through engaging, age appropriate strategies. They learned to craft simple narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end, using their imagination to build characters, settings, and plots.

We used focused mini-lessons to teach key elements of narrative writing, such as character, setting, and story structure and co-created class stories to model these skills. Students then practiced independently with support from peers and the teacher.

A writing checklist supported self-reflection and revision, reinforcing organization, descriptive language, and conventions. Mentor texts like We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, The Smart Cookie, and One Day The End, were revisited multiple times to help students notice rich vocabulary and effective storytelling techniques.

This process built writing confidence and nurtured a love for creative expression.

Focus: Speech Fest – Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking

Our annual Speech Fest provides an excellent opportunity for learners to explore persuasive writing and public speaking. Students begin by examining the difference between conversational, written, and spoken language, using models such as TED Talks and youth speeches. With guidance, the class co-constructs a model speech, emphasizing the structure of introduction, body (three main points), and conclusion. Teachers model delivery techniques, including pacing, tone, and body language.

Learners then research self-chosen topics and draft their persuasive speeches. Midway check-ins and one-on-one conferences support revision and growth. Final presentations take place in class, complete with peer feedback and Q&A. This process strengthens critical thinking, writing fluency, and confidence in public speaking. Next year, we look forward to expanding this into a month-long celebration of student voice and advocacy.

Focus: Narrative Writing Process

The narrative writing process encourages learners to develop story elements such as character, setting, and plot. Learners begin with simple story structures (beginning, middle, end) and build from there, using their imaginations to create engaging narratives. Descriptive language, grammar, and punctuation are reinforced through mini-lessons and modelling. Books such as The Plot Chickens by Mary Jane Auch serve as engaging mentor texts that help introduce storytelling concepts in accessible and humorous ways. Through this process, learners grow as writers while discovering the joy of storytelling.

These areas of focus reflect our school’s commitment to nurturing confident, creative writers who see themselves as authors, storytellers, and communicators. Across genres and grades, our students are learning to express their ideas with clarity, imagination, and purpose.

Analyzing Student Writing Data & Identifying Strengths

As we analyze data gathered from our learners, several strengths consistently emerge. Our students:

• Can clearly articulate their writing when it connects to personal identity and experience

• Learn writing strategies and successfully apply them to their work

• Engage in school-wide writing initiatives that provide authentic opportunities to write and share generate original ideas

• Demonstrate the confidence to share their thinking

• Recognize that brainstorming helps organize and refine their writing

• Benefit from supports such as word banks, visuals, and videos, which stimulate and inspire writing

• Engage in meaningful conversations with peers, which encourages creative thinking and idea development

These strengths provide a strong foundation for the next steps in our writing journey.

Next Steps in Our Writing Journey

As we move forward, our goal is to continue nurturing and expanding our learners' writing abilities through intentional practice, reflection, and targeted instruction. Based on both formative and summative assessment data, the Student Learning Plan at Panorama Park will continue to focus on English Language Arts Writing.

Goals: Our Learners will begin to:

• Set clear, personalized writing goals, such as improving grammar, expanding vocabulary, or developing storytelling techniques

• Read regularly across genres to build awareness of style, structure, and voice, and to spark creativity

• Write consistently, through journaling, creative writing, or nonfiction activities, as daily practice improves fluency over time

• Improve grammar and conventions by learning editing skills and applying Canadian writing standards

• Build vocabulary to express ideas with clarity and imagination

• Revise and edit their work using checklists, peer feedback, and teacher guidance to polish and finalize writing

Commitments at Panorama Park

At a school level, we will:

• Continue monitoring a cohort of learners over the next few years to track long-term growth

• Use ongoing formative assessment to inform instructional practices and compare with summative outcomes

• Participate in a school-wide professional book club to align language, strategies, and instructional approaches across grade levels

Next Steps in Specific Areas of Writing

Focus: Descriptive Non-Fiction Story Writing

As learners explore non-fiction writing through cross-curricular projects, they will:

• Conduct research and extract key information

• Use tools such as Venn diagrams to compare and analyze findings

• Begin drafting their descriptive non-fiction pieces by organizing and interpreting facts

• Continue to develop their ability to plan, write, revise, and edit their work, working toward polished, publishable texts

Focus: Creative Writing & Literary Paragraphs

Next steps include:

• Using loose parts and writing prompts to inspire ideas

• Enhancing their writing with descriptive language, including adjectives, vivid verbs, and transition words

• Utilizing graphic organizers, brainstorming tools, and editing checklists

• Focusing on sentence quality, clarity, and conventions

• Engaging in revision to strengthen the impact and coherence of their work

Focus: Narrative Story Writing Process

Learners will continue to:

• Brainstorm and plan narrative ideas using outlines and story maps

• Draft their stories with a clear structure (beginning, middle, end)

• Revise for content and organization, ensuring the story flows logically

• Edit for grammar, punctuation, and spelling

• Finalize their stories for sharing, publishing, or presenting, and celebrate their growth as storytellers

Through these next steps, Panorama Park will continue to foster confident, capable writers who express themselves with clarity, creativity, and purpose. We are committed to supporting their growth through thoughtful instruction, targeted strategies, and a school-wide culture that celebrates writing.