Sharing Good Practice
THE ESSENTIAL CHECKLIST FOR
DEVELOPING EARLY WRITING
BY GIANNA ULYATT
C
hildren mark make from a
very early age especially if
they have a good variety of
writing tools available, such
as; brushes, sponges, thick crayons,
chalk etc. These ‘scribbles’ are never
random because children can usually
tell adults what the marks mean, so they
are already recording their thoughts.
These marks are an intellectual journey
for children and show signs of deep
thinking. They help them make sense of
their world and support their problem
solving and new discoveries. Adults
must encourage mark making and
celebrate children’s efforts at all times.
Once children know what letters look
like and how to form them, they can
be taught how to use their handwriting
skills to express their new ideas. They
need to be aware of different writing
systems, for example, Arabic is written
from right to left and English from
left to right. Teachers must display
and illustrate very common and tricky
words on the wall, at child height,
using a different colour for the initial
letter. This will help to draw the child’s
attention to the direction in which the
word is to be written.
Provide clip boards and encourage
those who are reluctant to write, to
make check lists, notices and signs for
indoor and outdoor areas, for example.
Provide whiteboards, blackboards
and spare paper, where children can
have fun as they experiment writing
letters. Encourage children to write
notes to each other. Consider ways of
writing for different purposes across
different subject areas. In the writing
area, display simple sentences, at eye
height, with the last word missed out.
For example ‘I like the .....’ ‘Look at
the.....’ ‘Here is the .....’ Provide a range
of short vowel words illustrated with a
picture. Include words they know such
as dog, cat, rat, fox, cup, bag etc.
Writing more formally is very difficult
for most children, therefore any mark
making activity must be meaningful,
so children are inspired to participate.
Create situations whereby writing is an
important element of the activity. For
example, writing a card to a toy bear
who is in hospital, or writing a note
to the canteen supervisor, requesting
more fruit. Work with small groups
of about six children. Let them each
speak out a simple sentence, write
it for them and cut out each word
separately. Children then have to put
their own short sentence together and
copy it onto a card or letter.
The most important strategy is to
make writing fun, laugh a lot and share
children’s messages, so that writing
is a happy and positive experience.
Never forget that learning to write is
extremely difficult for most students.
Checklist
1. Make sure you have essential
resources including the following:
range of writing tools, paper,
white/blackboards,
clipboards,
notebooks, buckets of water
with brushes, sponges, etc, and
magazine pictures to cut out and
label.
2. Display simple phonic words and
tricky words at child height, making
sure children can read them and
find them independently.
3. Create a well-resourced, enticing
writing area and provide a specific
reason for writing.
4. Include simple writing opportunities
across the curriculum areas.
5. Make this difficult learning situation,
fun for all children.
(David, T. et al (2000) Making Sense
of Early Literacy: A Practitioner’s
Perspective. Stoke on Trent: Trentham
Books.
Matthews, 2003, p. 23)
Gianna has extensive experience as a teacher, principal, and inspector. She is a
consultant with expertise in KG and has spoken at conferences in Hong Kong,
Spain and the U.K. She sometimes works in the UAE. To connect with her, email
[email protected]
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