Newsletter – 28 November 2019

Supporting your child with writing

Like all skills, children learn to become better writers through regular practice. Many children develop a dislike of writing as they are slow to record their ideas in written form and worry they are making mistakes. Regular writing increases both speed and the ability to develop more sustained texts.  It is also important to let children focus on the ‘authorial’ aspects of writing first and the ‘secretarial’ aspects later. In other words, allow children to record and develop their ideas and ensure their writing makes sense before focusing on correcting the spelling and punctuation. This not only builds confidence but allows children to fully focus on organising their ideas and accessing their creativity before switching focus to the mechanics of writing.

Some ways you can support your child’s writing are:

• Encourage your child to keep a Writer’s Notebook, scrap book or journal and make entries after significant experiences eg., a family day out, holiday, trip to the cinema, sleepover etc. Children could also copy their favourite lines or words from books or songs into their journal.
• Buy your child attractive stationery to record their ideas and thoughts as a gift. Fun and appealing stationery act as an writing incentive as many children love to experiment with different pens, pencils, paper and personalise their belongings.
• Encourage your child to write lists eg., My Favourite Foods, My Best Movies, Favourite Holiday Places, Things to do on the Holidays.
• Encourage your child to write and decorate birthday or thankyou cards or invitations. Most people are truly touched to receive a handmade card or invitation which also celebrates and acknowledges your child’s writing.
• Write in front of your child and tell them the purpose for your writing. Eg., I am writing a message to Grandma and Grandpa who are on holiday in New Zealand about our weekend at the beach.
• Encourage your child to send postcards or write captions for a photo album or on social media.
• Support your child to reread their writing aloud to check it makes sense and improve it. Adults can also model this for children to show that even adult writers reread their writing continually to adjust and improve it.
• Help your child note interesting words encountered in reading or overheard in conversation. Encourage your child to use new words in a sentence or write a paragraph using the new word.
• Read widely. Immersion in quality literature and reading material exposes children to interesting words and varied writing styles. Research indicates that avid readers tend develop more extensive vocabularies which they can draw on in their writing.
• Play games such as Scrabble or Boggle as a family to encourage word play.
• Engage your child in regular conversation and discussion to expand their ideas and thinking. Research shows there is a strong correlation between oral and written language skills. By talking through ideas at length, children can draw on prior knowledge, make connections and expand their ideas and understanding.

Finally, remember success and encouragement breeds persistence and effort. Celebrate your child’s writing and focus on what they do well. The worst thing you could do is to be highly critical of their writing by focusing on spelling mistakes or missing punctuation so the child learns to dislike and avoid writing. Ensure that writing is an enjoyable experience and your child should be well on the way to being a successful, motivated writer.

• Kerron Worsdell
• Teaching and Learning Coach