Writing

Teaching Writing to Kids

Teaching children to write creatively is not something that you can complete at any one particular grade level. It involves a series of planned situations and activities that gradually lead to independent writing. From as early as preschool a child's writing begins to take shape as he learns to interpret print. As he grows his understanding of that print is translated into a greater command of the language. Essentially, as he progresses through the grade levels his writing unfolds as a more personal stamp. 

As teachers our goal is to develop the writing skills of our students. This means that we must slowly direct each child to writing independently. To do so we must model good writing, write with them collaboratively, guide their efforts and allow them to work on their own. 

These stages are summed up under the following headings:

1. Modeled Writing

In this initial step we must demonstrate to our students that writing is the capturing of thoughts. As we think aloud we can record what we actually want to say. Of course, conventions of spelling and grammar are very important, but these can be overlooked only to facilitate the free flow of ideas. Also it is rather helpful to students to generate a list of needed words on the chalkboard. As we model good writing behaviors we direct their focus on the importance of thinking through what we want to say.

2. Shared Writing

Shared writing allows the students to contribute ideas to create one piece with the assistance of the teacher as scribe. This allows them to view the behavior of writers during the writing process.

3. Guided Writing

In guided writing the teacher continually provides feedback to students to monitor the writing process. As students write the teacher asks questions that provoke thought and generate ideas. The teacher may look at writing conventions and word choice of students or even the completeness of ideas expressed. This guidance is what makes students become better writers.

4. Independent Writing

Students are provided with frequent opportunities to write independently. They experiment with language and tweak their writing skills to resemble good writers.

Moreover, writing includes so many other elements such as handwriting, spelling, syntax, grammar, paragraphing, ideas, etc. For the children in primary school the most important writing skills are mastering the alphabet, copying, handwriting, spelling and basic sentence formation. 

The three main stages of the activities are:

Lead-in: This introduces the children to the topic and focuses their attention. It helps them to start thinking about the topic and to practice some of the language they will be needed.

Organizing texts: This stage provides controlled writing practice in preparation for a free writing task.

Creating texts: This stage gives the children the opportunity to use the knowledge they have acquired in the previous two stages in producing their own text. The T provides a context and a reason for writing.

Some text organization techniques are:

1) Completion: The children fill in the blanks in a text or a crossword puzzle with an appropriate word or phrase.

2) Describing a picture: The children write a description of a picture.

3) Joining: The children join words or sentences using a linking word, such as “and” or “but”.

4) Matching: The children have to match the two separate halves of sentences which are written in the form of two lists.

5) Reordering: Sentences or texts are given to the children in muddled order and they have to rearrange them in the correct order.

Creating texts techniques:

1) Writing from a picture: The children use a picture as a starting-off point for creating a text.

2) Responding to a text: The children are given a text to read before they write, for example, a poem or a letter. The text acts as a source of inspiration.

3) Survey and report: Here a writing text is proceded by a speaking task, in which the children have to gather information from each other and use it to write a report.

4) Visualization: The children close their eyes and visualize a scene which the T. describes to them. They then write about the scene they have imagined.

This video can help you to understand more about teaching writing to children!

ACTIVITIES TO PRACTICE WRITING

1. Birthday cards: You can ask them to make birthday cards for their friends and family; this can be a creative way to show kids how writing can be something fun and helpful. They can combine drawing and writing to make special cards.

2. Say thanks in writing: Have the children write thank-you notes for their own birthday and holiday gifts, or when someone is especially nice to them. They can make lists for their notes, and they can also use them in special situations.

3. Letters to family and friends: If family and friends live out of town, ask the kids to write them letters to tell them about their day, week, or a special outing they went on. The kids have to have previous knowledge of the structure of letters. It is important that they can start writing for real situations that will be useful for them.

4. Write a story on a visual cue: Ask them to write a story based on a recent drawing they made. Alternately, you can choose a photograph and ask them to write a story based on what is happening in the photo. Also, Kids can describe what they see in the drawing or picture.

5. Try a crossword: You can prepare your own one or search for one related to the topic you have taught. Kids will find it funny, but at the same time they will be practicing writing and the use of letters.

6. Hangman: This may sound like a game, but it can be also a funny and interesting way to improve writing as you can try many options of this activity; In the vocabulary you will use to play this, you can include: days of the week, months, colors, action verbs, and you can also improve vocabulary.

7. Making charts: after teaching one specific topic, ask kids to make charts with different categories to classify words. The charts can be done in their notebooks or in different sheets of paper. (charts written by them)

8. Making advertisements: It can be done in groups or in pairs. Bring pictures or flashcards and assign one per groups for them to create something to promote what they have in their pictures. Let them be creative, and kids can also draw and color.

9. What do you like? Ask children to write down 3 or more things they like or they like to do, and then, share them with other classmates.

10. Fill the story
The teacher starts by writing out a simple story on the easel with dry erase markers. Example:

Once upon a time there was a ________ named _________. He was brave, smart and ____________. One day he found a magic ____________ and it started to ____________. He thought that is was amazing and ran to show his ___________. When he got home his magic ____________ disappeared! He looked for it every day but never saw it again.

Then, the teacher invites her/his writer to come fill in the blanks. The teacher reads it out loud and the child fills in the blanks. This activity helps children to develop their listening and writing skills at the same time.

Remember!!

Some strategies to use when students are to write:

1. Provide a list of writing prompts:

Sometimes when you ask students to begin writing, they have no idea what to write about. You can provide them with a list of prompts (maybe 3-5 at a time) that they could use to help them begin their writing.

2. Use a graphic organizer:

Graphic organizers are a really good way to get students planning what they’re going to write before they actually begin the task of writing. Graphic organizers are a visual representation of the information they would like to include in their writing. 

3. Pass it on

This is an activity you can use in small groups. It is best to use a template for this to guide how much students write. Each student has a turn to write an introduction. They then pass this on to the next student in the circle. He/she reads the introduction and then writes the middle of the text. Finally with the last pass around the circle, each student reads the introduction and middle and then writes a conclusion. The writing is passed back to the original writer to read and share with the group.

4. Proofreading and editing

Once students have finished writing it is always important to go back through the text to proofread and edit. 

5. Rapid/Rocket writing

The idea behind this is to get students to write down as much information as they can on a topic in a given time, without focusing on fixing spelling, grammar or other mistakes. Provide students with a time limit (such as 5 minutes). This could be the beginning of a series of lessons where you then focus on different parts of the rapid writing, such as cohesion, spelling, punctuation and grammar.