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Most parents
understand that reading to young children from a very early age is one of the
best ways to encourage a lifelong love of books, as well as teach them about the
sounds, rhythms and structure of our spoken language. However, an equally
important, yet often overlooked way of learning about language comes from the
writing that we do with our young children.
"Write with my
toddler?" you might ask. "He doesn’t even have the words to ask for
a glass of juice. How on earth can I expect him to put his thoughts down with
pen to paper?" According to Linda Carr, Early Literacy Coordinator for the
Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), writing with
your young child is easier and a lot more fun than you might think.
"Helping your
child become a writer can be as simple as providing them with a piece of paper
and a chunky crayon to scribble with," says Carr. "The key is for
parents to understand that their child’s early scribbles, pictures and strings
of letters have meaning to the child and carry a message, albeit a temporary
one."
When it comes to early
writing experiences, Carr recommends that parents temper their desire to correct
their children’s work. Certainly a parent should model the "right"
direction a letter should face or the correct spelling of a word, just as a
parent models the correct pronunciation of a word when a child is learning to
talk. However, parents should be careful not to overwhelm their child and make
writing a tedious task.
"For young
children, simply being allowed to experiment with writing, their own writing,
can be a wonderful way to learn about the relationship between letters and
sounds, as well as be a way to express themselves creatively," says Carr.
"If they learn that what they try their hand at early on is praised and
valued just for what it is, then they will be more likely to take risks when it
comes to expressing themselves with writing later on."
Writing
for the joy of it
Carr says that just as
with reading, young children develop their ideas about the importance of writing
from what they are exposed to at home. For this reason, she suggests using
everyday activities such as the following to help encourage your children’s
understanding of the value of printed words and to give them practice with
writing:
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Talk with your
children about what you are doing as you write out a phone message or make
note of an important family event on the calendar.
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Enlist your
children’s help in making a grocery list. Talk with them about a few of
the items that you want to buy and have them use their own writing (with
young children this may be squiggles, swirls, symbols or pictures) to make
their own list of the items they will be responsible for remembering
during your outing. Take the time to discuss what they have written and
make a point of referring to the list throughout the shopping trip.
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Make a game out
of finding the letters of your child’s name on signs, books, magazines,
labeled food containers, etc.
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Provide your
child with a set of alphabet tiles or magnetic letters. Very young
children will enjoy sorting them by color and exploring the different
curves and lines of their shapes. With older children these can be used to
make more formal words and sentences.
Giving
your child the tools of writing
Some children like
having a formal writing space where they can write; others prefer to write when
the spirit moves them. The following are some readily available, inexpensive and
portable items to have on hand for writing exploration, regardless of where your
child finds her/his muse:
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Newsprint, scrap
paper, used greeting cards, mail-order forms, envelopes, small notebooks
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A variety of
washable markers, crayons, pencils and other writing tools (use your
child’s age and ability level to determine the variety and relative
safety of the types of materials they have access to).
>
Back
For
permission to reprint this article, please contact the
Capital Region BOCES Communications Service at (518)
464-3960.
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