Preschool-Kindergarten Writing

Children are best encouraged to engage in an activity when they see others participating in it. This is why it is important for educators of young children to model the writing process. Outlined below are a few ways in which this can be accomplished.

1. Many teachers like to begin each class with writing a short morning message. This message outlines what activities are planned for the day. As the teacher is writing she models the writing process. She might focus on how words make a sentence, stretching sounds to determine how they are spelled or the use of capitals and periods. This modeling is a very important component in a child’s learning process as it demonstrates to them that writing is an important means of communication.

2. Within a learning environment should be a safe and encouraging place where the children can develop this skill which would be the “Writing Center”. The “Writing Center” would consist of a table, chairs, paper, envelopes, pencils, crayons, felts, tracers, rulers, whiteboard, chalkboard and clipboard. The alphabet, in upper and lower case letters should be posted nearby at the child’s level. Plenty of print should be displayed within the classroom for the children to use as models for reading and writing. As a member of the Kinderplans website you will have access to hundreds of picture cards related to specific themes. Each of the cards have the words printed on them. These were designed to use for this purpose.

3. Writing develops at different rates. For many children in the younger years they draw pictures to convey their ideas. This begins with scribbling to something that resembles a picture. The educator (teacher) may ask the child to dictate what the picture conveys and print this in words and read it back to the child. This is another means of modeling the writing process.

4. Large classroom books can be made for the children to read. These books were designed around each child’s conveyed message. for example, if you are working on a “Colors Theme”, each child would dictate a sentence telling what their favorite color is. After, they would would draw a picture displaying the color. The teacher would include the printed text of what each child said below the picture drawn. This would be bound together to make a classroom book.

WRITING PROCESS

It is important to understand that writing is a process and each child develops at their own pace. The more support and encouragement provided the greater the success!

WRITING/CRAFT ACTIVITIES

In the link below you will find some suggested craft/writing activities that can be done together as a class.