Writing Practice

Write a Survey

Teaching Kindergarten was such a great learning experience. I have so many flashbacks of memories that remind me how much children enjoy the simple things. One simple thing my Kindergarteners loved to do was go around the room and take a survey of information; their favorite survey seemed to be likes and dislikes.

Pick something that your little one might want to find out or ask your little one what they want to ask. Brainstorm with them….”Do you want to find out how many people like Fireworks? Or how many people like sparklers? Or how many people like party hats?”

1. Click on the following like, and print out the sheet (or make one like it if you dont have a printer). Like/Dislike Chart

2. Pick one topic and model writing it into a question at the top of the page in the space provided.

3. Place the page on a clipboard. My kids loved this because it made them feel so professional. Here are some fun ones I found on amazon:

4. Have them go around the room and survey family members, friends, or even stuffed animals or dolls pretending that they are responding.

5. Allow them to record this info ANYWAY they choose: checkmarks, x’s, a Y for “yes” and an N for “No”, etc.

Do the first one with them 🙂

This is a great way to teach organization skills because it is formatted as a chart, and it can even incorporate counting skills and more or less if afterwards you help them add up to see whether or not the majority of people liked or disliked the given topic.

As always, have fun!

December 31, 2010 by Jessica | 0 comments

Writing Readiness

If you have determined that your child may not yet be ready for writing activities, then I want you to allow your little one to have a lot of practice simply doodling or coloring to gain control, coordination, and strength in their hands to write.

Playing with playdough and various other fine motor skill activities will get your little ones READY to write by developing the necessary motor skills.

I have my little two year old make likes and circles on paper when he is coloring and writing but he likes to attempt to trace so I made this:

A VERY basic activity for pre-writers who are not yet ready for tracing defined shapes and figures.

Pre-Writing Template

December 27, 2010 by Jessica | 0 comments

Toothpick Writing

As the title states, today you are going to let your little one poke out a letter using a toothpick.
Safety first on this one ya’ll…if you dont feel comfortable letting your little one use such a tiny, sharp tool, then use a pen/pencil even a mechanical pencil.
Nonetheless, you are going to use the “Tracing the alphabet” template from “Formation, Formation, Formation” to trace and then use a toothpick to poke through all the holes that make up the letters. This is a great way to reinforce the letter formation because children spend a lot of time concentrating on each letter so it really helps them to recall the letter forms in the future.
Make sure you talk about each letter so that they attach the letter name to its shape.

Tracing the alphabet

December 22, 2010 by Jessica | 0 comments

Shared Writing

If you read the post “Read the Playroom” you sat back and learned from your child’s abilities to “write.” Today, you are going to do the writing while your little one dictates/tells you what to write. This process is called shared writing and teachers use this all the time to model handwriting and introduce concepts of writing.

Put a poster on the wall at your child’s eye level and tell him/her that you want to make up a recipe together, maybe even one you could pretend to cook after. You need the titles Ingredients and Directions: Let your little one come up with the ingredients and the directions as you write them out. But the key here is to TEACH while you write. You are displaying their words for the household to see so you have that platform to teach while you model the writing process.

Teach them:

1) To start writing on the top, left side so that you will not run out of room. A lot of times I ask my students before I start writing “Should I start on this side (pointing to the right side)? What about down here? Why not?” to get them thinking about why we start writing at the top left.

2) To write one word at a time, leaving nice-size spaces between words.

3) To listen for the sound at the beginning of the words.

Each time you do a writing activity like this with your child, it instills a foundation of print concepts and extends their understandings each time.

I will talk about more print concepts to teach for the writing process in a future writing post.

December 16, 2010 by Jessica | 1 Comment

Formation Formation Formation

I recently went to an “Arty Party” in which the teacher gave us step-by-step instructions on creating an original piece of artwork that she showed us in advance. Throughout the party, the instructor came around and guided us in our progress to ensure that we were on the right track. Before the party, there was no way I could have created the landscape of a sunset on a horizon with trees near and far, but now that I have experienced the process with the steps modeled for me, I think I could re-create it if you asked me to.
I share this story because it is the same for children when it comes to letter, number, and shape formation. They need a visual representation of what it will look like as an end result, and then they need the steps modeled for them, and guidance to walk them through it.
Today, I am going to attach a link I have made for your child to trace the ABC’s, but I don’t want you to give them a pen and walk away wishing them well. I want you to sit down with them, talk about each letter, make it first, and then allow them to trace it. I actually encourage moms and dads to write on a “my turn, your turn” basis with their children so you can model step-by-step what you are doing and they can Xerox what you have just done.
If you want you can search for letter formation poems, songs, and chants online but if you don’t want to overwhelm yourself in a cyber-search simply read the following for your own understandings and then get busy.
Each letter falls into a height scale. Some letters are tall (“touching the sky”), some letters are short (“only reaching the picket fence”), and some have roots (“going underground”).
Each letter has a different shape. Some letters have curvy lines, some letters have straight lines, and some letters have both.
Start at the top when making your letters and “pull down”.
So, to put that all together, if you make an A you would start at the top, pull down straight, go back to the top and pull down the other way, and then draw a line straight across at the picket fence.
You can explain the process however you would like, being as creative or direct as you would like, but try to incorporate some of the formation concepts listed above because it will help your little one learn the letters in their appropriate proportions.

tracing alphabet