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Common Core ELAKindergartenWriting

W.K.1: Draw, Tell and Write an Opinion

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.1 · Cluster: Text Types and Purposes.

Get an Opinion PromptAll 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).

Common Core State Standards, Kindergarten, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What W.K.1 Means in Plain English

Kindergartners name a book or topic and tell how they feel about it, using a picture, words an adult writes down, and any letters they can manage. A drawing of the wolf in the pot labeled “My favorite book is The Three Little Pigs” counts as a finished piece.

No reason is required yet: naming the book and the feeling is the whole job. A child who adds “because it is funny” is already reaching for 1st grade (W.1.1), where a reason and some sense of closure join the opinion.

W.K.1 I Can Statements

  • I can tell which book I am writing about.
  • I can say how I feel about a book.
  • I can draw a picture and write words for my opinion.

W.K.1 Worked Example

One read-aloud prompt, two kindergarten pages, and only one of them gives an opinion.

Prompt

We read three stories this week. Which one is your favorite? Draw it and tell me about it.

Not Yet(Drawing: a wolf puffing at a straw house.) The wolf blew the house down.A true sentence about the story, but it retells what happened instead of saying how the child feels, and it never names the book. A reader can’t tell this was the favorite.
Meets the Standard(Drawing: the wolf sliding down the chimney into a big pot.) My favorite book is The Three Little Pigs. I like it when the wolf falls in the pot!The first sentence names the book and gives the opinion, and the drawing shows the part the child means. The second sentence says which part, which is more than kindergarten asks for.
Moves to Use
Point to the cover and say the title before drawing.Draw the part of the book you like best.Start with My favorite book is or I like.Read it back to an adult and check the title is there.

Common Mistakes with W.K.1

Retelling instead of giving an opinion

“The wolf blew the house down.”

Try this: Ask “Did you like that part?” and scribe the answer, so the page says what the child thinks, not just what happened.

An opinion about “it”

“I like it. It is good.” with no title anywhere on the page

Try this: Keep the book covers on the ledge and have the child copy the title from the one they point to.

Copying the teacher’s example

Half the class writes “My favorite book is The Three Little Pigs,” the title on the model page

Try this: Model the frame with a book the class did not read this week, so children fill in their own choice.

Where W.K.1 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.K.6Say thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly out loud, which is where an opinion starts before it is drawn.
AlongsideRL.K.6Name the author and illustrator of a story, so the opinion can say whose book it is.L.K.2Capitalize the first word and the word I, and spell simple words by their sounds.
Comes NextW.1.1Write an opinion with a reason and some sense of closure, mostly in the child’s own writing.

Practice W.K.1

Writing Prompt GeneratorFree ToolAn opinion prompt from the K to 2 bank, printed with a picture box for the drawing and lines underneath for the words.OpinionGrades K to 2Picture box
Make a Prompt
Sentence Tracing GeneratorFree ToolType “My favorite book is” and print it as dotted letters. Children trace the frame, then write or copy the title after it.My favorite book isTrace the sentenceKindergarten
Make a Tracing Page

Quick Check

  1. In the strong response, which sentence names the book and gives the opinion?
  2. Why is “The wolf blew the house down” not an opinion?
  3. A child dictates “I like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The baby bear is sad.” Does that meet W.K.1?

W.K.1: Other Names

W.K.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.1

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.