How I Use Writing Posters to Teach Sentence Writing (and Track Goals All Year Long)
If you’re looking for writing posters that actually do something in your Kindergarten or Prep classroom, you’re in the right place. In this post, I’m sharing exactly how I use my writing goal posters at two different points of the year — first to teach sentence writing, then to track individual student goals. Simple, visual, and low prep. Here’s how it works.
You know that moment at the start of writing time when you say, “Okay, off you go!” and half the class just… stares at you?
Yeah. Me too.
It’s not that they don’t have anything to say. It’s that they don’t know where to start. They need to see what good writing looks like – in words they can actually read, with pictures that make it click.
That’s honestly why I made these kindergarten writing posters. And I’ve been surprised by how much I reach for them – not just as a display, but as a teaching tool I use differently at different points of the year.
Here’s how it actually looks in my classroom.
Using the Writing Posters to Introduce Sentence Writing
At the start of the year, I don’t put all eight posters up at once and call it a writing wall. That would be way too much for little ones who are just finding their feet.
Instead, I introduce one poster at a time, slowly over the first half of the year, as we build our understanding of what sentences look like together.
So one week we might spend a few days just on capital letters. We go on a hunt through our books, notice them on the wall, and practise starting our sentences with a capital letter. Then up goes the poster.
The next week, it’s finger spaces. We laugh a lot during that one, “I like cake” with no spaces always gets them. The poster goes up beside the first one.
We keep building, one goal at a time, until the whole display is there and your students helped create it. (If you want more detail on how I structure those early writing lessons, I wrote all about it in 3 Simple Tips for Teaching Sentence Writing.) I also love to add student work samples to anchor the goals to real student work.
What I love is that the posters use simple “I can” language with a clear visual, so even students who are just starting to read can look at the wall and know what we’re working on. They start to say the goals back to you – “I need to check my full stop!” and honestly, that’s such a good feeling.
Writing Posters as Writing Goals
This is the part I get most excited about.
Once your students know the writing goals really well, usually around the halfway point of the year, it’s time to make things personal. That’s where the editable student name pencils come in.
You type your class list into the master name page, it generates a little pencil label for every student, and then each pencil goes up on the display next to the goal that student is working on right now.
So you might glance at the wall and see a cluster of pencils next to “I can use finger spaces between words,” a few next to “I can add describing words,” and one or two sitting proudly next to “I can use joining words to connect my ideas.”
It’s such a simple thing, but students genuinely love seeing their name up there. And it makes goal-setting feel real without being overwhelming. There’s no portfolio to manage, no checklist to remember. Just: this is my goal right now. My pencil is right there.
When they’re ready to move on, you move the pencil together. It’s a tiny moment, but it means a lot – a little “look how far you’ve come” before you pick the next one.
Whether you’re in Kindergarten, Prep, Foundation, or Grade 1, these writing posters are designed for the first year of formal school. They work beautifully as a writing bulletin board, alongside modelled writing lessons, in writing workshops, or as an independent writing reference during work time.
Low prep. High impact. A writing display that actually teaches.
Grab the Writing Goals Posters + Display here
