Learning To Write

May 03

Learning to write as a small child is a complicated thing to do. Learning to read is much easier for most kids. The main reason why is learning to read includes a child decoding (or sounding out the words as well as reading the words they know already) and comprehending what they just read. Writing includes making up your story you are going to write, thinking about all those sounds you already know, putting the sounds together to get them on the paper and then being able to write the letters just as a start. And did I mention they have to be able to remember that story they thought of in sequence to make sure they are getting the whole thing down on paper. Writing is a harder and more complicated skill to learn. For that reason alone I hope you will let writing with your child be an experience  and not worry about it until they start Kindergarten.  I will include the six beginning stages of writing at the end of this post so you know which stage your child is in and what to look for next. But only to give you information for the future school year. My suggestions for you in writing before the new school year starts include only a few things to do, while hopefully  making writing an enjoyable, fun experience.
•  Make sure your child can recognize (or read) and write their first name. If they can write their last name too, great. If not, we will work on it mid-kinder year.
• Give your child opportunities at home to write on paper and pretend they are writing stories. Lots of paper, markers, crayons, pencils, etc. are always fun.
• Give your child an opportunity to read their writing to you.
• Continue to point out writing features in books you and your child read together.
Make sure they are pretending and enjoying writing and that it is a big deal in your home. So, as promised here are the six basic stages of writing that children go through during their first years of school.
• First stage – writing as scribbles and marks on the paper
• Second Stage- scribbles on the paper begin to look like lines , rows, and circles.
• Third stage-your child will begin to make mock letters or letter-like forms on their paper.
• Fourth stage-your child will make strings of letters in a row. Or even all over the page of paper.
• Fifth Stage- Your child will write using inventive spelling. This inventive spelling will usually include a lot of beginning sound of words as they go through their story.
• Sixth Stage- Your child will use inventive spelling which will include beginning, middle and end sounds as well as some small sight words.

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