Kidwriting in Kindergarten
Beginning on day two, kindergarten students begin to perceive themselves as writers and illustrators. Within the context of writing, it allows the teacher to systematically assess and reinforce phonics instruction so children quickly learn to apply decoding skills.
Drawing and writing experiences in a stimulating environment are meaningful and motivating for the young child. Your children get challenging yet achievable beginning literacy tasks, such as printing their name and the names of others during our Special Student of the Day activity.
We know that accomplishing this relevant task will begin building their confidence and ability to express their voice as a writer. Instant recognition of a growing collection of high-frequency words is explicitly taught and celebrated.
I am always amazed at the power of daily writing to develop kindergartners who love to write — and writing teaches reading.
Kidwriting Information for Parents
1. Picture - "Tell me the story about your picture." OR "What's
happening in your story?" If child can't think of anything, point to
part of the picture and say "Tell me about this part."
2. Repeat the child's story back as one complete, simple sentence. Get
the child's OK on the sentence. (As the child progresses, try to vary
the sentence structure.)
3. Stretching process - "Watch my mouth." Emphasize (louder and longer)
the sound that the child is to write. DO NOT separate the sound from the
rest of the word. Ask, "Do you hear any letter sounds?" Allow the child
to write what he/she thinks the letter(s) are. DO NOT tell the child
what letter to write.
4. If the child has no idea what letter makes the sound, encourage the
child to use a magic line (a horizontal blank line) in place of the
unknown letter(s).
5. If the child hears the letter sound but does not know how to write
the letter, refer to the alphabet chart. ("You can find letter t under
the toothbrush.")
6. Word Wall - If you come to a word in a child's story that is already
on the Word Wall, say, "Where can you find that word in our classroom?"
***Do Not Praise kids for accuracy during their writing. Just remind
them to write what they think they hear. Praise will come when you get
to the Adult Writing step.
***Do Not stress over capitals and punctuation in their writing. They
will see it in the Adult Writing.
7. Adult Writing - It is important to use proper letter formation during
your Adult Writing and use capitals only where they belong.
Using your finger, point out and praise anything that the child has
written that is accurate or close to accurate, WHILE you do the Adult
Writing. ("Great, you heard the t in top, and you figured out the p at
the end of top.") Ignore their mistakes, praise their successes!
Read the adult writing back to the child twice as you point to it.
Encourage the child to join in.