Entries Tagged 'Elementary Ages' ↓

Writing doesn’t have to be “all work and no play.” By adding a dose of fun to your child’s writing time, you can actually turn an assignment into an eagerly anticipated experience!

Create a Costume Closet

Some children are delighted with the idea of theatre and acting. They might enjoy their writing time a bit more if they can dress up as their main character.

If your child likes this idea, assemble a Costume Closet or other place such as a suitcase or laundry basket.

Costume Accessory Ideas

• Shirt and dresses
• Suit jackets, vests, and trench coats
• Funny shoes
• Neckties and bowties
• Shawls, scarves, and feather boas
• Costume jewelry and eyeglass frames
• Hats and wigs
• Animal costumes or headbands
• Bits and pieces from old costumes such as a cowboy hat and holster, nurse’s cap and toy stethoscope, or eye patch

To find items to add to your Costume Closet, you and your child can visit some yard sales together, take a trip to a thrift store, or raid Grandma’s closet.

When your child is ready to work on his story, encourage him to choose several accessories and dress up like his character while he writes. Your costume closet might also help inspire him to create new characters. Then sit back and watch as writing time becomes an adventure!

 .  .  .  .  .

“Costume Closet” is just one of the many fun and creative activities WriteShop Junior will use to add spark to writing at the elementary level. This game appears in WriteShop Junior Book D, which is scheduled for release in Spring 2011.

Young students are often bursting with ideas. Most likely they can talk your ear off, but getting them to write those ideas down is another story altogether.

Where Did It Go?

The act of capturing a fleeting thought and pinning it to the paper is a challenge. We think it sounds so easy to “just write what’s in your head,” but the reality is that many children simply aren’t mature enough to put all the pieces together.

First, a thought must formulate in a child’s mind. Then, it has to travel all the way down his arm to the pencil. But by the time he starts wondering how to spell this word or punctuate that sentence, the once-delightful idea has at best been reduced to three dull words, or at worst, vanished completely.

Children 10 and under often need more help with writing than we think they should. We expect them to be able to think of an idea all on their own and then write about it. But in truth, many kids

• Struggle to come up with writing topics.
• Forget what they want to say.
• Get overwhelmed by perfectionism.
• Complain that their hand hurts.
• Fear making mistakes.

Even if they don’t learn with difficulty, writing can throw them into a tailspin.

Start Them Young

Too many students approach junior high strongly biased against writing—either because they were never taught how to write and now fear it, or because of negative experiences with writing as younger children.

But by starting them while they’re young, your children can actually look forward to writing and learn to approach it with joy. This happens when you create a safe, warm, nurturing atmosphere and offer writing activities that teach—yes—but that are also infused with fun.

One of the reasons I’m so passionate about WriteShop Primary (and the upcoming WriteShop Junior) is the focus on letting your children ease into writing. As the parent, you gently guide, rather than push or force. Definitely not the sort of program where you give an assignment and leave them to their own devices. Instead, you’re encouraged to share in the entire process—including the actual writing.

How Much Help Should You Give?

If you wonder how much of the writing you should take on, the answer is: As much as it takes for your children to feel successful. And if you ask how much of the writing your children should be doing? Only as much as they are able. It’s very simple, really. If you sense their frustration at ANY point along the way, recognize that this is their cry for help—and your signal to take over a bit more.

Depending on your children, you might:

• Provide them with writing ideas and prompts.
• Encourage them to write about topics they love or that tickle their fancy—horses, sports, chess, Legos, gardening, etc.
• Use a personal experience or familiar story as the basis for a new story. They don’t always have to come up with something unique—it’s totally fine for them to retell a familiar story in their own words.
• Do some or all of the writing while they dictate to you.
• Let them write the words they know while you write the words they can’t spell yet.

Instead of worrying that you’re failing your child, enjoy the realization that you’re modeling and teaching. Meanwhile, your little sponge is absorbing, processing, and sorting everything into his mental filing system.

The good news is this: You won’t handicap your child by supplying him with writing topics; he won’t become a writing failure if he lifts a story idea from a sibling; and prompting him with questions and dialog won’t create overdependence on you. It may take awhile for him to really get it. Just know that your participation with him is an important key.

Shoot the Writing Rapids—Together

As the mom of a once-reluctant, writing-phobic son, I speak from experience. My daughters were more “natural” writers who fairly sailed down the rapids of writing.

My son, on the other hand, couldn’t stay afloat in the raft! Our journey was hard, and we experienced more than our share of frustration, so I can completely relate to your struggles. 

From the time we began homeschooling in kindergarten until Ben was 14 or 15, I stayed very involved with his writing, whether it meant helping him with ideas, prompting his writing with questions and dialog, or letting him dictate to me while I wrote his words down. Sometime around 10th grade, the pieces FINALLY fell into place for him, and by the time he graduated from high school, he had become a strong, independent writer.

So hang in there! Don’t be afraid to hop into the writing boat with your son or daughter. Help now, as much as your child needs you, and believe that independence will come one day.

Copyright 2010 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

Photos courtesy of stock.xchng

Intrinsic motivation means children write without any additional outside incentive. No bribes. No treats. No money.

But the truth is that few children are motivated by the sheer love of writing. So—short of paying them off with cash or candy—what can you do to inspire them?

Writers Need an Audience

Having an audience takes your child past the point of writing for a “requirement” or a grade—and it certainly takes him beyond writing just for his normal, everyday audience of one: you. 

Importance of an Audience

You can spark renewed interest in writing by guiding your child to think of ways to broaden his understanding of what an audience can be. Help him experience how others can find pleasure in reading his work. He’ll be rewarded with increased joy and confidence, and I think you’ll begin to see his writing blossom as he takes more pride in his efforts.

Seeing Their Works in Print

When I taught writing classes years ago, we always ended the year with a Writers’ Tea. Our students invited friends and family, dressed up for the occasion,and recited poetry. At the end, we passed out class anthologies featuring samples of each student’s best writing.

As they pored over the stories and poems in the spiral-bound booklets, it was clear how much the children enjoyed seeing their works in print and sharing the anthologies with their parents and grandparents.

Thinking Outside the Box

An anthology is just one of many ways to publish. Below are some other suggestions for expanding your kids’ writing audience or showcasing their writing through their published projects. When they polish a story or poem so that it’s the best it can be—and when they go beyond the traditional “final draft” to create an interesting published project—they’ll be much more likely to write for the joy of it. Here are some ideas:

Publishing Stories

• Shape Books: Cut out shapes that match the story’s theme (e.g., house, car, seashell or animal shape). Use cardboard or heavy cardstock for the top and bottom cover and grade-level lined paper for the pages. Staple edges, or lace the pages together with yarn.
• Puzzle: Glue a photocopy of the child’s story to a piece of cardstock. On the back, have her draw a picture about the story. Cut the cardstock into 8 or 9 simple puzzle pieces that a friend or family member can assemble.
• Board Game: Suggest that your child create a board game about his story. Play the game with the family.
• Journaling Notebook: Assemble your child’s journal pages into a special notebook.
• Cards and Letters: Help your child create a card on the computer. Or provide her with scrapbooking papers, punches, stickers, and other supplies so that she can make a fancy card for publishing her friendly letter or invitation letter.
• Comedy Night: Have your child write & illustrate funny story. Host a special family Comedy Night. Start by having your young author share her humorous story. Then choose a funny cartoon to watch or a stack of silly books to read. Invite everyone to tell their favorite jokes.
• Suitcase Story: For a story about a travel or vacation experience, make a suitcase out of a 12- x 18-inch piece of brown construction paper. Fold the paper in half and round the corners with scissors. Cut two handles from yellow or tan paper and tape them in place. Staple the child’s final story inside the suitcase.

Publishing Factual Reports and Book Reports

• Lapbooks and Flap Books: These make great avenues for displaying facts, photos, drawings, and short reports. They work well for factual reports as well as for explaining the steps of a process. Here’s just one of many lapbooking websites to help get you started.
• Mobiles: Mobiles are a fun way to publish a report or book report! You can attach index cards or paper shapes to a length of string or yarn and hang them from a coat hanger or the rim of a paper plate. On one side of each card, have the child write facts about his topic or details about a book’s characters, setting, or action. On the back, he can illustrate.
• Trivia Game: This is a great way to publish a younger child’s short factual report. On the cover of a manila file folder, have the child write five questions about her topic and then staple the report inside. Let family members or friends try to guess the answers. Then they can open the folder and read the report to see if they were right!

.  .  .  .  .

Most of these fun and creative activities come straight from the pages of WriteShop Primary, an early elementary writing program that incorporates clever publishing ideas into every lesson of Book A, Book B, and Book C.

When assigning writing to your children, you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel with a brand-new lesson. Sometimes it’s fun to approach a familiar assignment in a fresh new way. For example:

• Tweaking an existing lesson instruction by adding different elements.
• Having your children revisit an earlier composition—either a recent story or one they wrote a year or two ago) and changing it up somehow. 

Here are some simple ways to add variety to your children’s writing by using lessons you already have lying around!

Change the tense

Using the same composition they wrote before, have students rewrite it, changing the tense. If it was written in past tense, ask them to write it in present, and vice versa. If the story was written long ago, you may also want to have them increase the length, add more sentence variations, or expand description.

Change the point of view

Have your child rewrite a story from a different point of view by writing as another character in the story. For practice, have him retell a familiar story such as David and Goliath, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, or a fable or fairy tale. Have him “become” one of the characters in the story and rewrite the story in first person. A younger child can do this exercise orally.

Describe a food

Instead of describing a food, students may write a restaurant review in which they vividly describe an assortment of foods—from appetizers to dessert. Expect this composition to be several paragraphs in length.  Suggestion: Visit a restaurant and have students take “brainstorming” notes as they sample various foods.

Describe a place

As an alternative to describing a place, your child can design travel brochures about a favorite vacation spot, famous landmark, city, country, or geographical region she would like to visit. Include text and pictures.

Write a biography

Every student writes biographies at some point. To change it up a bit, have your kids write an autobiography of a famous individual instead (autobiographies are written in first person) as if they were that historic person. Alternatively, you might ask them to assume the role of an historical figure and write one or more journal or diary entries or letters. Any of these exercises should be historically accurate, perhaps fitting in with a current topic of study.

Create a newspaper

A newspaper format lends itself well to a history unit. Why not have your child write an entire newspaper about a historical era? Include a wide assortment of the following:

• Local, national, and international news stories
• Advertisements
• Comic strips
• Entertainment
• Doctor’s column
• Literary news
• Sports
• Travel
• Vital statistics (births, deaths, marriages, crimes)
• Editorials/opinions/letters to the editor/exposés, etc.

This newspaper activity should be spread over a longer period of time. Some research will be required to ensure historical accuracy. This also makes a wonderful group project, with all your students contributing to one newspaper.

Encourage your children to take their writing in new directions by trying some of these simple ideas. It won’t be long before you—and they—are thinking up different twists all on your own!

Here’s a great idea for your 4th-8th graders: Challenge them to write 100-word stories! Not only will this activity appeal to your more reluctant writers, it helps drive home the importance of writing descriptive, concise sentences.

Directions

1. Read a few familiar folk tales, fairy tales, or fables together.
2. Have your children choose one of their favorites and place it in a new setting (in the past, the future, outer space, or a laboratory, for example).
3. Next, have them add characters such as a robot, scientist, detective, or superhero.
4. Instruct them to write a story that has exactly 100 words. It must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
5. Try doing this exercise several times. Then, ask your children to pick one of their stories and turn it into a polished final piece. At this point, feel free to let them use more than 100 words, but only as long as they don’t repeat main words and the extra words are really necessary to the story’s success.

Alexis Ronari is joining me today as a guest blogger here at In Our Write Minds. Alexis blogs for onlinedegrees.org. I know you’ll enjoy trying this activity with your pre-writers.

On the path to inspiring our children to love reading and writing, we often overlook the fact that there was a time when stories were generated as oral traditions.

Stories were created and then passed down through the generations without the use of written language. Our modern writing and story-telling techniques were inspired by these traditions.

Even before our children are of an age to read or write, they have stories to tell. They often regale us with tales of how their day was spent, or will imagine elaborate adventures starring their favorite fictional character or stuffed animal.

Tap into that creative energy and follow these simple steps to help them develop their own fictional work.

What you’ll need

• An audio recorder
• A variety of art materials: construction paper, glue, markers, magazines with pictures and scissors to cut them out, etc.

Steps to creating a masterpiece

1. Brainstorm.

Tell them that you’re going to help them author their own book. Then, help them brainstorm ideas for a story. Write the ideas down on a piece of paper. Help them develop a rudimentary outline. Don’t direct too much. Let them develop their own concept.

2. Write the book.

Get out the recorder and record them telling their new story. Play it back once and let them make any changes they want. Then, get out the construction paper, separate the story into sections, and copy it onto the paper. (Discuss ahead-of-time what type of pictures they might want for each section so you can organize the book as you go. If they want to add more pictures or change things up, go with it.)

3. Decorate and design!

Help them use the art supplies to draw/paste pictures into the book. Design a cover or chapters if you want . Pretty much anything goes.

If you encourage your children to develop their story-telling skills early, writing will come easily to them. Writing is really about conveying information in a clear manner. Learning this process can be a fun experience for everyone!

Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at onlinedegrees.org, researching areas of accredited online degrees. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

If your child struggles to choose the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence, do this fun exercise together to help him learn what each punctuation mark sounds like when spoken aloud.  

1.  Write the following words, phrases, and sentences on index cards or pieces of paper, one per card.

All done?      All done.     All done!
I did it.     I did it!
Ready?     Ready!
Turn left.      Turn left!
Yes.     Yes!     Yes?
Okay!      Okay?     Okay.
Tomorrow?      Tomorrow.     Tomorrow!
Be careful!     Be careful.
Grandma is here?     Grandma is here.     Grandma is here!
Right!     Right.     Right? 

2.  Sit side by side so your child can see the cards. Explain that different ending punctuation affects the way that a word or phrase can sound.

• A period ends a calm or matter-of-fact statement. We use a normal speaking voice.
• A question mark comes at the end of a question. When we ask a question aloud, we usually lift our voice at the end.
• An exclamation point shows strong emotion. We use a louder or more excited speaking voice.

3.  Read each card aloud, dramatically using your voice to show how each punctuation mark sounds when it is used.

4.  When finished, invite your child to read the cards aloud by himself and practice using his own voice to show how each punctuation mark sounds.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

In this little series on Editing and Evaluating Writing, we began by looking at ways to evaluate your K-3rd graders’ writing efforts. Today, let’s take a look at how you can give helpful feedback to your older elementary kids’ writing as well.

You’ve probably already discovered that, as a rule, your child is perfectly happy to give her paper a quick once-over and declare that, yes, it’s perfect. Not only that, she expects you to gush over it and give it an A.

But as a parent, you have different expectations. When teaching writing, your goal is not to pave a smooth road for your child; rather, it’s to help her become a proficient writer who can communicate effectively on paper.

Teaching your student how to evaluate her own writing is a key to helping move her toward this goal. Sounds good on paper, right? But how do you get her to do this—especially since she wants you to accept her first attempt as a final draft?

The Importance of Self-Editing

You’ll be relieved to know that there are, in fact, a few ways to get your child to evaluate her own work—honestly and competently—using simple self-editing techniques.

Why Self-Edit?

• Self-editing teaches your child to look for her own errors. After all, proofreading is an important lifelong skill.
• No author ever turns in a first draft to the publisher! Self-editing lets your child make changes and revisions before submitting it to you. The more attention she gives to self-editing, the better the final draft. 

Introducing Self-Editing to Your Child

• Children should begin using a checklist as a guide to help them identify errors in content, style, and mechanics. A checklist takes the subjectivity out of self-editing by offering specific expectations to meet.
• Work closely with your child when she’s learning how to self-edit. When you work together, you can prompt her with questions or steer her in the right direction. For example, she may not readily spot repeated words at first, but you can gently point out that you notice she used the word “car” four times and encourage her to find a couple of synonyms.
• Ask your child if her paper has a beginning, middle, and end (or introduction, body, and closing). Encourage her to add more details if needed.
• As she compares her piece of writing to the checklist, she can make simple corrections and improvements to content and mechanics. 
• Have your student use colored pencils, which will help her more easily identify particular errors.
• Her revision—written or typed on fresh paper—should show definite changes from the rough draft.

Tips for Evaluating Elementary-Level Writing

You Don’t Need to Make Guesses

Parents often flounder when the time comes to evaluate their children’s writing. A rubric helps, but you’ll be relieved to know there are definitely some things you can look for when evaluating your elementary-age child’s writing assignment.

• Ideas – Are her ideas clear, focused, and well supported? Or are they confusing?
• Organization – Is there a smooth flow of ideas from beginning to end, or is it hard to follow your child’s train of thought?
• Voice – Is the writing flat and uninteresting, or lively and engaging?
• Word choice – Are the words precise, interesting, accurate, and colorful; or dull, incorrect, or overused?
• Sentences – Are sentences complete, smooth, and varied? Or are they choppy, fragmented, or never-ending?
• Mechanics and Grammar – Do multiple errors muddle meaning and understanding? Or did your child use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation?

Keep It Positive

Include positive comments and praise along with helpful suggestions. Upbeat, encouraging feedback goes a long way in helping your children improve their writing.

• Even when a piece of writing looks rather hopeless, search out the positive. There is always something worthwhile to say about the paper.
• Bless your child’s efforts, creativity, word choice, or sentence structure.
• Offer gentle suggestions that encourage growth without squishing her spirit.
• Never make hurtful statements like: “Not very interesting” or “Aren’t you learning ANYTHING?”

If you find the need to sit side by side with your fourth, fifth, or sixth grader during editing, that’s okay. View it as training and preparation for those junior high and high school years where independent work habits will be much more important. For now, your time together can be a warm, nurturing, encouraging time in which your child learns that self-correction can yield rewarding results.

When my children were young, I participated actively with them during writing time. I found that asking questions was a wonderful way to help them come up with ideas and choose stronger vocabulary words. 

Try it with your own kiddos. This exercise works with both reluctant and articulate writers of all skill levels—it’s a great way for them to develop the ability to learn, think, and explain.

1.  Ask specific questions about your child’s writing.

• How did that happen?
• How did that make you feel?
• Can you tell me more about…?
• What are some other words you could use to describe…?
• Where were you?
• Who else came to the picnic?

2.  Draw out responses.

Take advantage of dialoguing with your child to draw out information and story details. This time of questions and answers is especially helpful when he can’t think of what to say. 

As he responds to your initial questions, you can then rephrase and extend your child’s words, ask a clarifying question, or model more complex vocabulary or sentence structure.

3.  Ask open-ended questions.

Try not to ask questions that require a one-word answer or a yes or no response. If you ask your child, “Was he wearing a hat?” the conversational exchange is over and done with when he says yes or no. Instead, try asking an open-ended question: “What was he wearing? What else can you tell me about that?”

Here’s a sample dialogue* to give you an idea of how to encourage more response:

You:     I like your idea about Sabrina Sea Bass and the kelp beds. How could we start the story?
Child:   Sabrina Sea Bass went to the kelp beds.
You:     Yes, she did. But before she got there, she had a problem. What was the problem?
Child:   She got lost trying to find the kelp beds.
You:     Why did she get lost?
Child:   Because it was her first time going by herself and she went the wrong way.
You:     That IS a problem! How could we use that information to start the story?
Child:   It was Sabrina Sea Bass’s first time to go to the kelp beds all by herself.
You:     Let’s write down that sentence.
You:     Now you can start to tell about the problem. What went wrong?
Child:   Well, instead of turning left at the coral reef, she turned right.
You:     Good way to introduce the problem! Let’s write down that sentence.
You:     Then what happened?
Child:   Soon she swam into a dark, dark cave.
You:     Ooh, that’s good! Let’s write that down. Soon she swam into a dark, dark cave.
You:     How did she get out?
Child:   She asked a friendly octopus which way is out.
You:     That’s a good question, but maybe it would be better if she told him where exactly she wanted to go. She asked a friendly octopus . . . what?
Child:   She asked a friendly octopus, “Which way are the kelp beds?”

Keep your questions and dialogue going like this until your child has organized or written his story. Eventually, he will learn to ask himself similar questions on his own.

. . . . .

*This sample dialogue comes from WriteShop Primary Book B, Lesson 8 (Problem and Solution). All WriteShop Primary books contain loads of practical, age-appropriate prompts and dialogue samples that will help you promote stronger writing skills in your younger children.

Editing does not need to be a negative or intimidating experience for your K-3rd grader. When children learn at a young age the value of gentle correction and self-improvement, they will come to see editing as a natural part of the writing process.

Determining Your Goal

Your main goal is to help your child learn to look for ways to improve her story or short report. The amount of editing will increase as writing skills progress and the child matures.

Don’t overwhelm your first grader with too many expectations. But by the time she’s in third grade, she should learn to self-edit for story details, organization, and simple mechanics, and should be able to use tools to help edit spelling as well.

Helping Your Young Child Edit and Revise

At this age and stage, keep editing and revising as simple and non-threatening as possible. Sit together with your child and read her story together. Then help her take the first steps to learn how to self-edit her own work.

Just remember: Start small! If your child is still in kindergarten, you’ll only want her to revise the simplest and smallest of errors (Did we begin each sentence with a capital letter? Is there a period at the end of every sentence? Does our story have a beginning, a middle, and an end?) As she grows in both age and skill, you can begin adding more editing elements to your short list.

Most second- and third-graders can begin including any or all of the following as you edit and revise together.

1. Search for the good.

• Give your child a highlighter pen. Encourage her to look over the story by herself and highlight a difficult word she spelled correctly.
• Next, ask her to look over the story by herself and highlight a sentence she wrote correctly by starting it with a capital letter and using the correct punctuation. Praise her for a job well done.

2. Discuss the details of the story together.

• Identify the main character and setting.
• Ask your child if she would like to add more details about each one.
• Discuss ideas for improvement.

3. Talk about the story.

• If the story includes a problem, does your child write the beginning, middle, and end in such a way that the problem is solved?
• If so, does the problem get solved with a satisfactory solution?
• If not, discuss ideas for improvement.

4. Circle any misspelled words together, but only if the child is at least in first grade.

• Look up each word in a children’s dictionary; or
• Create a spelling word wall containing her most frequently misspelled words. She can refer to it as she writes and edits.

5. Help your child revise her writing.

• Write the corrections in between the lines on the paper.
• Your child may rewrite her corrections on a new paper if she chooses.

What If She Resists?

Do the editing on a different day. This removes the child from the freshness of her writing and she will feel a little less emotionally attached to the story and its flaws.

Make a photocopy of the child’s story. She’ll be more willing to mark her paper if she knows she the original will remain untouched.

Type her story. Another way to help a reluctant editor is to type her story for her (always double-spaced), leaving all mistakes intact. Again, the more removed the marked-up version is from the child’s original, the less emotion she’ll attach to it, which means the more willing she’ll be to make corrections.

Try a checklist. You can do these editing exercises orally, of course, but if your child balks, she may need to use a typed checklist and work by herself.

Once your editing time is over and the child has made simple changes to her story, have her “publish” it in a fun way, such as attaching it to a paper kite, turning it into a scroll, or making a giant comic strip—knowing that she’s publishing her very best work to proudly share with others.

Copyright 2010 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.