How Can I Help My Child With Writing?

[Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV]

 

  • Make time to show your child that you value reading and writing for yourself, and share reading and writing with them. Reading teaches children many things about writing and experimenting with writing helps children develop their understandings about reading.
  • Take children to the local public library and encourage them to select their own books. Lead by example.
  • Share simple picture storybooks whenever you can and wherever you can. Talk about the pictures and story and relate events or characters to your child’s experiences. Encourage questions and predictions about the stories. A child's natural curiosity is encouraged and fostered.
  • Read and sing nursery rhymes with children. Use as many action rhymes as possible, such as “one little piggy went to market” or “pattyacake…”
  • Read books which feature rhyme and repetition. Sometimes point to the words as they are read. Encourage children to join in and to predict which words come next.
  • Talk about the events of the day encouraging children to join in. Often children do not always understand world events.
  • Talk about print in the environment, e.g. stop signs, use of humour in advertisements, catchy slogans "roll up the rim...". 
  • Show children how you use writing. Write messages, shopping lists, telephone messages, letters and greeting cards in front of the children and talk about what you are doing. It may sound simple but is part of our daily routine.
  • Provide a special place for children to write. Equipment such as a small table or den, an easel-type blackboard and a notice board for displaying writing plus a range of writing materials such as scrap paper (lined, colored or plain), used greeting cards, crayons, bank forms, mail order forms, envelopes and little note-books would provide an excellent environment for children to experiment with writing.E-mail and the internet could be discussed if it is part of your daily routine.
  • Find opportunities to display children’s names. Exposure to print is vital. Perhaps create a word wall.
  • When children ask about letters of the alphabet, call the letters by their names not the sounds they may represent.
  • Talk about alphabet books and answer children’s questions. Turn off secondary noise if possible.
  • Provide magnetic or plastic letter tiles for children’s play. Often they can be purchased at a dollar store at little expense.
  • Allow children to use a word processor to play with and write messages. They may discover some letters from their name. There are many on-line interactive games to purchase for computers or free on-line.
  • Write messages for children to read, e.g. Please feed the cat, Tom. Please phone Jessica.
  • Play rhyming games like “I spy with my little eye...”
  • Respond positively to the message in your children’s “writing” rather then the letter formations or spelling. Celebrate children’s efforts and encourage them to have-a-go at writing. What is the message attempted?

References:

Education Department of Western Australia . (1994). Writing Developmental Continuum. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann Press