For young kids, writing is the most complex subject they will cover in preschool. While a simple sentence might seem straightforward to you, there are a lot of components that go into your little one translating their thoughts to the page. In a 2012 study on the early stages of writing, researchers concluded that there are four distinct steps that take children from aimless doodles to complete, grammatically correct sentences. No matter what stage of the writing process your child is, there are strategies you can implement at home to facilitate their learning inside the classroom.

Drawing & Scribbling

Teach Your Child How to “Write” Their Name

When your kid is in the early stages of learning how to read and write, their greatest asset is their own name. Teach them as early as possible how to write their name and have them write it everywhere. While at first, they may not understand that the shapes they are drawing are letters, they will soon understand that when they draw that exact “doodle” that it means that they’re saying their name or that the paper they write it on belongs to them. This understanding is key to later efforts in writing.

Write Out Stories in Their Drawings in Words

Ask your kids about what they’ve drawn, and write down what they describe next to their doodles. If they see “lion” written underneath their drawing of a lion enough times, your child will soon begin to associate the two in reading and later writing.

Letters & Letter-like Forms

Help Children Sound Out Letters Within Words

This stage of learning to write is the biggest obstacle for kids because they understand that words have meaning, but they don’t yet associate specific letters with specific sounds. Help them begin this association process by reading together and challenging them to sound out letters within words.

Provide Writing Prompts That They Can Respond to With Writing/Drawing

Giving a prompt will guide children on what to draw or write. Have kids write about subjects in their immediate vicinity, either about themselves or things in their lives that mean something to them. Creating this connection will develop a level of pride in their writing that you won’t see when responding to a story you just read them. The task can be writing a word they see around the room, adding a caption to a drawing, or even writing a formal sentence. Writing in these different situations also shows your kids that writing is all around us and has many purposes. 

Salient & Beginning Sounds

Use Developmental Writing 

The real “aha” moment for most kids in writing at the preschool level is when they recognize that letters come together to create words, which go together with spaces between them to create a sentence. Foster this realization through developmental writing and have your kids write words how they think they’re spelled by sounding them out.

When writing “what,” for example, most kids at this age will write “wut” because they hear the sounds associated with those three letters. This can be most difficult for kids who excel at writing because they know they have seen the correct spelling before, and what they’re writing isn’t that spelling, but they can’t figure out the correct letters to use. 

The important rule as a parent here is not to worry if your kid doesn’t spell certain things correctly when they are first learning to write. The phonetic understanding of letters within words is more important at this stage than teaching them the vast number of instances where they don’t occur. 

Beginning & Ending Sounds

Expose Them to a Rich Vocabulary

Even as 5-year-olds, regular use of a complex vocabulary when talking strongly translates to a kid’s writing. The challenge of using big words like “obstacle” or “inventive” in their daily life will encourage them to spell out their fancy words as well. When your child tries to tackle big words, they also tend to master smaller words with non-phonetic spellings, as the short words seem easy to remember in comparison to these big ones.

Instill Confidence Through Constant Practice

While preschool has low expectations when it comes to initial writing ability, you must instill that confidence in writing early to help your child succeed later in school. Since writing is the most complex subject your kids will learn for the first few years of their education, providing opportunities for them to practice is crucial to their understanding and mastery of it. The more they practice, the more confident they are in their ability to convey their thoughts through writing, and the more willing they are to experiment and evolve their craft. 

 

To set your child up for future success in writing and beyond, make sure they get a head start in preschool at Merry Manor School of Childhood. As one of Lincoln’s premier day cares, they ensure that your child will experience enriching, engaging education programs that allow them to learn while having fun and building friendships. For more information, call (402) 466-2215 or visit their website.