🎨Drawing is the first draft of writing for young children, and this 4-week unit teaches it that way. Children learn to draw with shapes across 20 step-by-step daily lessons, then use those drawings to tell stories and support their writing, with two levels so every child in a K–1st classroom can join in.
You'll check out and download on Teachers Pay Teachers. Prices there may include a sale.
This 4-week illustration unit gives kindergarten and first grade children a way into drawing that starts with shapes they already know. Over 20 step-by-step daily lessons, children learn to draw with shapes, then use drawing to tell stories and support their writing. The unit runs for about a month and comes in two differentiated levels throughout, so the same lesson fits different drawers.
Each daily lesson follows the same shape: a teaching point, materials, a teacher model, student practice and share time. Eight anchor charts support the lessons, covering drawing with shapes, building a person, faces that show feelings, hairstyles, a coloring checklist, craftsmanship, real versus creative colors, and adding a setting. Shape activities, a shape hunt and a cut-and-build person activity give children hands-on practice before they draw on their own.
The heart of the unit is 48 directed drawing activities, 24 at each level, across 24 subjects from a person and a house to a rocket, a snowman and a castle. At Level 1 children trace a dashed model, name the shapes in it, then draw on their own. At Level 2 they follow six numbered steps, add a background and write a sentence. Drawing practice at two levels covers feelings faces and self-portraits, plus showing a feeling and an all-about-me head-to-toe drawing.
Storytelling pages turn drawing into writing: children draw then tell about a home, an animal and a place they love, and put together a story in three pictures. A 5-star drawing checklist and an illustration rubric help children check their own work, family letters keep the work visible at home, and a crown, an award and a bulletin board banner close the unit with a celebration.
📖 Teaching guide · 13 min readTeaching Directed Drawing with Shapes: A Four-Week Illustration Unit for K–2Read the guide →The unit treats drawing as a skill you teach, not a talent you wait for. Shapes give every child a starting point, the two levels keep the same lesson within reach for different drawers, and the move from drawing to storytelling makes illustration a real step toward writing.
It is written for kindergarten and 1st grade, with review value for 2nd grade. Two levels run through the whole unit, so the same lesson fits different drawers.
Four weeks, with 20 step-by-step daily lessons. Each lesson has a teaching point, materials, a teacher model, student practice and share time, and the packet includes a daily lesson schedule.
At Level 1 children trace a dashed model, identify the shapes, then draw independently. At Level 2 they follow six numbered steps, add a background and write a sentence.
Yes. There are 48 directed drawing activities across 24 subjects, from a person and a house to a rocket, a snowman and a castle, plus drawing practice, storytelling pages and anchor charts.
✂️
Created byActivity ExpressEight K–2 Thanksgiving crafts in one bundle: fold-out turkeys, gratitude wreaths, a disguise-a-turkey project, a mug craft and a kindness wreath.
🍁
Created byActivity ExpressA turkey bulletin board for PreK–4th: giant THANKFUL letters, a photo turkey craft and thankful writing in two levels.
🔮
Created byActivity ExpressBuild a snow globe craft for grades PreK–6: winter, Christmas and Three Kings Day globes with writing at three levels.
🎖️
Created byActivity ExpressA Veterans Day craft and thank-you letter set for K–2: build-a-service-member craft, branch poster, vocabulary, leveled writing and a bulletin display.