Writing is an important skill that teaches children how to effectively and clearly communicate information and is very important within any career field. Early writing activities should begin as early as preschool and kindergarten to help children become comfortable with expressing ideas.

Establishing consistent writing instruction at an early age is a great way to help children develop effective communication skills. These writing tips below highlight the most important writing skills for each grade level and activities to practice them.

Tip 1: Provide Practice with Writing and Tracing Letters

Mastering printing is a key steppingstone to becoming a writer. Providing lots of quality practice that includes writing letters and beginning words will allow children to become more comfortable with the writing process and reduce their frustration. Also, providing plenty of opportunities to practice tracing and writing letters will give children time to become comfortable with expressing their thoughts through writing.

Once children have mastered their upper- and lower-case letters, you can start to introduce one-syllable words such as “cat,” “run,” and “sit.” Have the children practice tracing new letters, words, and sentences before asking them to create their own.

Tip 2: Encourage Inventive Spelling

Sometimes young children are reluctant to write because they are unsure of spelling rules. Early writing instruction should de-emphasize spelling and encourage young children to use their own inventive spelling patterns in their stories. Inventive spelling patterns are children’s best spelling guess based on word pronunciation. There are no wrong or right ways to use inventive spelling. The more children learn their alphabet letters and sounds, the more recognizable their words will become. Using inventive writing allows children to focus on the purpose of their writing, which is communication. Celebrate each time they can sound out a spelling word.

In recent years, spelling instruction has been de-emphasized, but learning basic spelling patterns and high-frequency words is an important aspect of quality writing and helps children become comfortable with using words quickly and efficiently. Incorporating weekly spelling words into lessons and activities is an important foundational skill.

Tip 3: Give Pre-Writing Experiences Through Stories PreK–1

Good writing foundations begin before children can read or write. Helping children develop consistent writing habits can be as simple as reading aloud to them and practicing oral storytelling.

Introduce these fun activities at home to help your children learn to organize information:

• Read stories aloud.
• Ask them to tell stories aloud.
• Write down their stories for them and create memorable books.
• Create positive writing connections by celebrating their efforts.
• Ask them to draw stories.
• Have them practice writing, coloring, and scribbling with crayons or
• markers.
• Teach them to write their name.
• Observe and point out writing and letters in your environment.

Smart Start: Read and Write activity books for grades PreK-1 provide lots of colorful and fun activities for reading and writing to help children develop strong writing foundations. The stories and activities help create positive connections with learning.

Tip 4: Focus on Basic Writing Skills

The writing process officially begins in kindergarten and progresses with each grade level. Writing instruction is intricately blended with reading, spelling, and vocabulary. All of these elements support the writing process by helping your child become familiar and comfortable with expressing thoughts and ideas through writing.

Here are some simple writing goals for each grade level. It is important to note that every child progresses at a different pace. Reviewing skills in earlier grade levels will help children build confidence as they become more comfortable with the writing process.

Basic Writing Skills for Kindergarten

In kindergarten, writing goes from zero to sixty. Children begin the school year learning upper- and lower-case letters and then transition to dictating (or writing) simple sentences with inventive spelling.

Even though children cannot write long sentences or paragraphs yet, it is still important to help them learn to express thoughts, summaries, and information. One way to do this is through dictation. Children orally retell a story or provide an opinion on a topic. A parent or teacher will then write down their words so they can see their thoughts on paper.

The activity below helps children practice how to summarize and retell important information in order. Read books aloud and engage children with the following questions:

• Read books aloud and ask questions about it.
  
  • Ask who, what, when, where, and why.
  • Ask what three things your child learned from the book.
  • Ask what happened in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the story.
  • Ask them to recall information about a book read, such as the author’s name, the title, or the main characters.
  • Ask your child to form an opinion based on a reading selection.

Basic Writing Skills for First Grade

In first grade, children begin to consistently write simple and expanded sentences. By the end of the year, most children will be able to convey an idea, story, or opinion using multiple sentences. This is an important time in children’s writing, as they become more comfortable with writing new words and putting their thoughts on paper. It is a good time to focus on learning how to write a complete sentence, as well as how to organize writing.

Here are a few ways to help children master these skills:

• Identification of a complete sentence with its subject and verb.
• Word-choice exchanges. For example, trading simple verbs such as “run” for more descriptive ones such as “rushed” or “zoomed.”
• Guided writing activities that provide a sentence starter with a main idea.
  
  • Guiding children through the writing process provides lots of exposure to the structure of writing without the pressure of creating the main idea. Provide a topic sentence and ask them to write about it by providing details and interesting facts.

Teaching children how to write an interesting or expanded sentence is the first step to building children’s writing confidence and understanding. Many children want to focus on the proper punctuation and grammar (which should always be encouraged). However, early writing practice should really focus on the structure and word choice for writing, rather than on the mechanics.

Write a Super Sentence for grades 1–3 is a great resource to help children learn a pattern for writing more compelling sentences. It includes activities for brainstorming, oral sentences, and descriptive sentence writing, as well as hands-on activities.

Tip: Even though children are beginning to write longer sentences, it is still a good idea to practice oral storytelling and summarization aloud.

Help children bridge the gap between oral and written skills with frequent and focused practice. Regular discussions, consistent read-alouds, and fun writing activities are wonderful exercises to help children become excited about and confident in their writing abilities.

For additional writing tips and ideas check out: Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs: How to Teach Beginning Writing

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Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.