Writer’s Workshop
March 24, 2021 | Bridget O'Dowd
Writing can also be a few letters. The students are first challenged to label their pictures. In writing the word “me,” the students are asked only to write the sounds that they hear. Some students may only hear the /m/ sound, while others may hear both the /m/ and /e/ sound. Both are developmentally appropriate forms of writing in kindergarten.
Writing may look like a string or a line of letters. As their writing has developed in organization, students are beginning to write sentences at the bottom of the page, just like books do. Many students include initial and ending sounds and are beginning to incorporate medial sounds and vowels!
Since the beginning of Writer’s Workshop we have seen the children grow in confidence. We are beginning to hear children claim writing as a favorite part of the day, and notice that they are reluctant to put their work away when our writing time is done. This enthusiasm provides an excellent buffer for both present and future writing challenges. The children are encouraged to write about topics they are an expert on, themselves! In the pictures below you will see how the children’s work has changed since the last writing post. Many students are forming sentences and using strategies to sound out words. All of the students are working hard and developing meaningful writing habits.
As your child shows interest, you can help your child write at home as well:
- Encourage your child to draw detailed pictures to tell fictional or real-life stories.
- If your child is interested, he/she can label items in the picture. Be mindful that “k,” “cn,” “ktn,” and “kitten” can all spell the word kitten in Kindergarten.
- Great questions to ask are, “What sounds do you hear in that word?”or “Can you show me how you stretch out that word?”
- This is not the season for correcting spelling patterns. The aim is for the child to become confident in his/her understanding and power over the written language, which will provide him/her with the confidence to enter the world of reading. (Too much “pressure” can serve to create a negative self-concept in regards to reading and writing.)
