Early Writing: Fifth Blog Post

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend, and has enjoyed the warm weather we were surprised with! This week our class will be focusing on developing their writing skills. A popular misconception people seem to have about young children's writing is that any "scribbles" or lines they make on a piece of paper is not considered writing. However, these early writing attempts represent children's attempt to communicate their thoughts and ideas with others. In order to encourage the development of children's writing, we as parents and teachers need to create as many opportunities as we can for children to practice their writing skills. As children learn to write, they are  learning about the meaning behind written and spoken words, as well as the understanding of the different sounds letters make. 

In the classroom this week the students will be working on their writing skills through 'shared' and 'interactive' writing. As an entire class and through smaller groups we will be composing and writing texts together. Through shared writing the students will create a story and I will be the only one writing the story down, then through interactive writing the students and I will "share the pen". It is important for children to feel encouraged about their writing and through these different writing opportunities the students will understand that what you say can be written down, these activities create meaning for the students. These writing opportunities will also provide the students with the ability to interact with the whole class and/or small groups which will allow them to receive support from their peers. I believe that children learn to see themselves as successful writers through active participation which can be achieved through shared and interactive writing. 

Children's writing development can be extended outside of the classroom through activities with you parents! This can be done through writing notes, helping to make grocery lists, labeling their drawings and much more. A great activity to do with your children is to make a book together. You can encourage your child to make a book by having them draw and prompting them with questions like "tell me about the pictures in your story" or "tell me about the last page." It is important to use the word make when encouraging your child with bookmaking because children may not see themselves as able to write a book at this age, therefore using the work make makes them feel more capable. When children add words to their books they are not only learning about reading and writing from left-to-right but are also gaining the understanding of how to place print and pictures on a page and understanding the idea of the spacing needed between pictures and print. 

Here are some fun activities you can do with your child to help further develop their writing skills:

• Kitchen Writing: Using sand or salt is a fun way for children to practice their writing skills 
• Shaving Cream: Shaving cream can be used for writing practice during bath time or even outside on an easel or table
• Gel Writing: Fill a zip-lock bag full of some hair gel as well as some food coloring and mix together. 
• Glue & Watercolor: Write your child's name in glue and then have them paint over the letters with watercolors