Do you recall the texts you selected when completing the “Types of Questions” assignment from the last unit? For this assignment, you will need to select one of those texts and create one activity for your students that will develop their skills as writers as well as in spelling. You are designing an original activity and not creating a lesson plan for this assignment.
The Development of Reading
According to Bromley (2011), young writers construct meaning by:
But what does that writing “process” look like? Reading & writing go hand-in-hand. You may have heard the saying, “Good writers are readers and Good readers are writers?” It is true! The skills used in one domain often transfer to the other. And children learn skills for both while they play. For example, they “write” speeding tickets, restaurant orders, homework for their pretend students, etc.
Remember earlier, when I alluded to the fact that children were writing on the walls long before they are reading a book? Think about the progression of those marks.
Marks on the wall —> stick figures of family & pets —> small sentences —> stories
Take this picture, for example.
It was painted by a three-year-old little girl. When asked about what it was, she shared an impromptu story entitled “Hearts and Rainbows”. The image and the story had a deep, personal meaning to this child. She painted it the morning of her mother’s funeral.
Pay close attention to what children communicate through their pictures. Give children time and space to draw. It is a form of communication, too! Over time, young children discover that words are just as powerful symbols that we can use to convey degrees of meaning.
Write with your young learners, so that you are modeling the correct formation of letters and the structure and organization of sentences. Let your students write together! They are strengthening their communication skills and deepening the value and meaning of their work collaboratively.
Please take a few moments to review the following resource, that describes a child’s early attempt at writing and provides strategies for parents (and teachers) to support children in this process. Please focus your attention on pages 5-20.
“Learning to Read, Write, and Spell”
http://www.tokenekepto.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/K-Reading-and-Writing-Powerpoint.pdf (Links to an external site.)
How To Prepare Young Children to Write
Invite children into your world of writing (pretending to write an email, sending texts, sending a letter). When the mail arrives, share advertisements with them to hold and look over – letting them trace over the letters that are already there.
Encourage play with manipulatives to build fine and gross motor skills – strengthening stamina for actual writing. Encourage (not force) conversation to strengthen the natural act of discussion and collaboration when writing.
Be aware that by preschool, children are focused on the process over the final product. They will not be satisfied with your saying that it is “OK" if a word is misspelled. When they ask for help on how to spell something or if they continually ask if their writing “looks” OK, be sure to give them assistance and feedback. Also, give them flexibility when they choose to (at this stage) employ invented spelling.
What is Invented Spelling?
Howcast. (2011, June 16). What Is Invented Spelling? | Reading Lessons [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs88DIpz4RQ
Encourage Kindergarten students to use capital and lower case letters and to write as much as they are able. Although it is appropriate to dictate words (for example on artwork) for a child, in preschool, you want children writing as much as possible and not becoming dependent on someone else communicating for them.
For students in Kindergarten-third grade (and beyond), educators must create an atmosphere that fosters writing. Students must be given as many opportunities as possible to demonstrate they can author outstanding writing!
Educator and author Brian Kissel (2008) states that we can help elementary-aged students become effective in their writing skills in the following ways:
Types of Writing
As you think ahead about the types of writing you would like to work on with your students, be aware that your state will have writing standards in place that you will need to ensure that you cover in your instructional planning. The Common Core Standards encourage various types of writing at different grade levels. You can find more about this, by taking a look at the standards on the Internet — http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/introduction/ (Links to an external site.)
Informational and Explanatory Texts and Writing
Early childhood literature is informational (expository), narrative, and poetry. With this type of reading and writing, we are asking students to focus on and report “the facts” based upon textual evidence. Students become familiar with tools, such as a glossary, table of contents, and data charts to read interpret information. Other skills our students will need to know, to better understand an expository text, are detailed in the following article:
“Expository Text Structure”
As students read expository text, they can use a graphic organizer to record the information. Here are some examples of common graphic organizers used in the classroom.
“KWL Chart”
Teachings in Education. (2018, January 21). KWL Chart: Teaching Strategies #4 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8ZhucZczxE
“Venn Diagram”
colorincolorado. (2013, August 16). Comparing two texts with Venn diagrams [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pgYIqm1Guc
Functional Writing (a form of Informational Writing)
“How-to” writing is also informational writing!
Narrative Texts and Writings
When you are teaching language arts, it is good to have solid “mentor texts”. What is a mentor text? It is a piece of literature you and your students can read, enjoy, and refer back to over and over for various purposes.
Children’s literature makes for great mentor texts. Here are some other suggestions for mentor texts:
Madeline (Bemelmans, 1939)
Curious George (Rey, 1941)
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Johnson, 1981
I Know an Old Lady (Hoberman and Westcott, 2004)
Are You My Mother? (Eastman, 1960)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle, 1969)
“Using Mentor Texts Effectively”
Reading Rockets. (2013, July 10). Using mentor texts effectively [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM0paVzgGHI
Narrative Writing
Narrative writing is typically fiction with a beginning, middle, and end.
The writing will often follow the familiar pattern of (1) A setting, at the beginning, that introduces the characters, time, and place; (2) A theme, which is the problem or goal the main character focuses on; (3) A plot that shows the steps the character takes to solve their problem and/or work towards the goal; (4) A resolution where the problem is solved or the goal is reached —> And then the story ends. An excellent way to practice narrative writing is to give students the beginning of a story or a story up though the announced conflict, and then have them finish.
Descriptive Writing
This style of writing encourages students to use their senses to paint an image with their word choice. A teacher could encourage descriptive writing by having students bring in an item to describe as if someone had never heard of the item before. This type of writing is one way to build word choice and (obviously) writing descriptively.
Persuasive Writing
Persuasive writing is an excellent opportunity to remind students of the importance of solid informational text and research to support their opinions. This style of writing, accompanied by effective research skills, will help students begin to understand that opinions and facts are not synonymous.
Writing Poetry
This style of writing is yet another opportunity to demonstrate the meaning of words to students. With younger children, the class can write a piece of shared poetry (often on chart paper). Older students might want to try their hand at formula poetry. Formula poetry are those styles that have specified patterns (the number of words/syllables per line). For example, cinquain, diamante, haiku, etc.
Journal Writing
Journal writing helps develop confident, fluent writers. While giving students a writing prompt is an acceptable way to help prime their creative minds, children need to be given the freedom to be imaginative and take risks as writers. When students journal, allow them to use pictures (drawn, cut out), either for illustration or for emphasis on their words. When possible, allow them to use colored pencils and pens, so that they have the opportunity to create an entry that is uniquely their voice and their look. If you decide to allow students to share from their journals, be mindful of sensitive entries and never force students to read aloud if they are uncomfortable.
Writer’s Workshop
Students become better writers as they are given frequent opportunities to improve their writing. Writer’s Workshop is one avenue for teachers to guide students in developing skills as writers as well as to have a set time, each day or week, to practice different styles of writing. View the clip below to see a kindergarten writer’s workshop in action.
“Writer’s Workshop”
Mesquite ISD. (2011, September 1). Writer’s Workshop [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI2LBpCwyOE
Did you notice that the teacher was spelling words incorrectly? Did that bother you at all? Why do you think she did this?
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more
Recent Comments