Children need to see us writing for different purposes. Writing a list before we go to the store, jotting down quotes when we read from a favorite book, recording our feelings in a journal, and copying a recipe from a magazine. You can encourage your children at home to write by asking them to help with the grocery list, make a chore list, send grandma a note, and tell about the favorite part in the story you read to them. In the classrooms, teachers and assistants are constantly modeling writing and exposing children to a variety of books and authors so they can see and hear good writing. When your children enter our classrooms they enter a world where we believe we are all writers and believe writing is important.
Teachers record what children say on big chart paper.
This conveys that sounds have symbols, the printed word has meaning, and we value their ideas. Some teachers share their own writing with students and ask them for suggestions on how to make this better. It is exciting to listen to their ideas and watch the children's enthusiasm grow. The children critique each other's writing and make suggestions on how to improve it. Like anything in life, children do not develop their writing skills at the same rate.