Maryland ELA W.K.5

ELAKindergartenWriting

The Standard

With modeling, guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Children share a drawing, label, or sentence with a classmate. With help, they answer a question or consider a suggestion, then add a detail that makes their work clearer.
What Mastery Looks Like: A child can answer a partner who asks, “Where is the dog?” by saying, “At the park.” They add a park detail to the drawing or words and point out what they changed.
Common Misconceptions: Some children think they must use every suggestion, even if it does not fit their work. Others answer a partner out loud but forget to add the detail to their drawing or words.
How to Assess It: Have each child show a drawing or sentence to a partner. The partner asks one question, and the child adds an answer to the work with teacher help if needed.

Lesson moves

Have children draw and label a recess scene; partners ask one question, and writers add a picture or word that answers it.
Ask partners to share a sentence about a favorite game and ask each other, “What else do you want to know?”
Play Ask and Add: show “I saw a dog” with a drawing, have partners ask where, and let writers add the answer.
Write an invitation to a class event; a partner checks for when and where, then the writer adds a missing detail.

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