Good morning,
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and enjoying the last few moments of winter. Although, I sure am looking forward to warm weather! This week our classroom has been focusing on developing our writing skills. Many people have a preconceived notion that children's "scribbling" or the writing of unrecognizable letters is not a form of writing. However, Marie Clay suggests that the letter forms that appear in children's early drawing and scribbling are not just random lines, but have meaning to them which in turn will later develop into writing behavior. The scribbling children do at this age is a process of learning for them, they are learning details about letters and words and the act of writing itself. It is amazing to see the ideas that children are trying to symbolize through these scribbles and I have found that encouraging these forms of early writing attempts produces more confident learners as well as more confident writers.
These early attempts of writing are extremely valuable experiences for children and can reveal what they are learning about literacy. The best thing we can do as parents and teachers for our children is to provide as many opportunities as we can for children to develop their writing skills, in any form. Parents you can allow your children to help with making "to do lists" or grocery lists and encouraging their writing, even if it does not look "right". In order to encourage children's academic achievement and understanding of literacy, I have found that supporting children through a strength based lens is essential in fostering children's confidence. I believe that this means instead of focusing on what children cannot do, we need to focus on what children can do. We need to encourage and celebrate the fact that our children are writing, in any form! By focusing on the positives we are showing children that what they are doing matters, and encourages them to explore literacy in the ways that interest them right now. My goal in our classroom is to create an environment in which children feel proud about the things they are doing. By focusing on the positives of what our children are accomplishing we are inherently laying a foundation for children to form their identities as learners and writers.
These early attempts of writing are extremely valuable experiences for children and can reveal what they are learning about literacy. The best thing we can do as parents and teachers for our children is to provide as many opportunities as we can for children to develop their writing skills, in any form. Parents you can allow your children to help with making "to do lists" or grocery lists and encouraging their writing, even if it does not look "right". In order to encourage children's academic achievement and understanding of literacy, I have found that supporting children through a strength based lens is essential in fostering children's confidence. I believe that this means instead of focusing on what children cannot do, we need to focus on what children can do. We need to encourage and celebrate the fact that our children are writing, in any form! By focusing on the positives we are showing children that what they are doing matters, and encourages them to explore literacy in the ways that interest them right now. My goal in our classroom is to create an environment in which children feel proud about the things they are doing. By focusing on the positives of what our children are accomplishing we are inherently laying a foundation for children to form their identities as learners and writers.
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