How children learn to write

Learning to write well is a process that begins early in a child’s life. Although the first scribbles and pictures may seem far from what we adults think of as formal written language, they are in fact your child’s first prose. Following is a breakdown of how most children develop as writers and some of the ways teachers foster their skills in the classroom. Bear in mind that each child develops at a different rate. The descriptions for the grades indicated do not necessarily apply to every child.

Emergent writers (preschool to first grade)

During the early elementary years, the goal is to encourage children to believe in themselves as writers and to help them understand that writing is an important way of communicating. For this reason, every attempt by a child at writing is applauded. Beginning writers will use marks, scribbles, drawings and symbols to represent ideas and information. As children become more skilled writers, they will begin to label their drawings with letters or words. A lot of time is devoted to experimentation with print in the primary grades — children are encouraged to write about their ideas, to mimic the writing of their favorite authors and to try their hand at different types of writing (i.e., thank-you notes, letters to friends, fairy tales, poetry).

Beginning writers (second and third grade)

During these years, most children can string together words in sentence format and will repeat familiar words and names throughout their writing. They will use simple, repetitive vocabulary and sentences in their writing and may mimic sentences they have seen in other text. Children will begin to write on topics of their own choice (although they may also imitate story ideas they have heard in books and other places). Children will also be encouraged to keep journals, to write to each other and to family and to write their own books. Invented spelling is still a part of children’s writing at this point, but they will be encouraged to pay more attention to punctuation, structure and grammar.  [top]

Independent writers (third, fourth and fifth grade)

As children become more independent in their writing, they will come up with a theme or main idea that they can write about with detail. Their sentences will alternate between very simplistic ("The dog ran") and somewhat more detailed ("The brown dog caught the ball"). The independent writer will begin to use descriptive words and may show signs of a personal style or way of writing that is unique. At this level, children should be confident in their ability to write for a variety of purposes — for personal reflection, to communicate ideas about specific topics, to request more information, to entertain and express their own ideas.

Experienced writers (fifth grade and beyond)

As they move out of the elementary years, children will have begun to make connections between their own ideas and similar or related ideas. They will use detailed writing in more varied ways, such as to express a point of view or to describe a character. At this point, children’s language and sentences will be more sophisticated. They will each have a writing style that is uniquely their own and will understand what type of writing to use for different situations (formal, business-like correspondence, informal notes to friends, writing for class assignments).

Raising a world-class writer

• If you want your children to view writing as important, make sure they see you write. Talk with them about what you are doing as you write out a phone message, cards to friends or checks to pay bills.  [top]

• Write with your children. Have them see you make mistakes and revise your writing. Through this, they will see that writing takes time and patience (even for adults) and that rewriting is sometimes necessary.

• Set up a weekly calendar with space for all family members to write daily reminders about activities and events.

• Instead of buying birthday, thank-you and other cards, have your children create their own and write special messages.

• Ask for your children’s help when making a grocery list. Talk with them about a few items you want and have them make their own list of items they will be responsible for remembering during your outing (remember, this list might be pictures, symbols or squiggles with beginning writers). Discuss what they have written and make a point of referring to their list throughout the shopping trip.

• Encourage your children to keep a journal or scrapbook of mementos and photos along with their own writing about what happened and why it was important or fun.

• Provide your children with alphabet tiles or magnetic letters for the fridge. Young children will likely use these to recite letters, to make simple words, and even to sort them by color or shape. Older children may enjoy a set of magnetic words (sold in toy stores and bookstores) to create sentences and stories.

• If you have access to a computer, have your children use e-mail to write letters to friends and family.

• Make a game of finding the letters of your child’s name on signs, food containers, books and magazines. This is a great supermarket or travel game. With older children, try a word scavenger hunt. Have them record the letters or words that are on their clipboard or notebook.  [top]

Reading resources: books for children

• Word Wizard by Cathryn Falwell. Anna is delighted to realize how the letters in her alphabet cereal can be rearranged into several different words.

• Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One by Kate Duke. What makes a really good story? Aunt Isabel and her niece Penelope know there are many ingredients: a heroine, a hero, an exciting time and place, a little romance . . . and maybe a scary villain or two.

• If You Were a Writer by Joan Lowery Nixon. Melia wants to be a writer just like her mother. With a few helpful suggestions and lots of encouragement, she is soon on her way.

• From Pictures to Words: A Book About Making a Book by Janet Stevens. Author writes and draws herself into this innovative explanation of how authors and artists create picture books.

• What Do Authors Do? by Eileen Christelow. A lively text and colorful cartoon illustrations follow two creative people and a talkative dog and cat step-by-step through the writing process.

Reading resources: books for parents

• Meet the Authors and Illustrators: 60 Creators of Favorite Children’s Books Talk about Their Work, Vol. 1 by Deborah Kovacs and James Preller.

• A Caldecott Celebration: Six Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal by Leonard S. Marcus Profiles.

Giving your child the tools of writing

Following are some readily available, inexpensive (even free!) and portable items to have available for writing exploration:

• A variety of pads of paper (doodle pads, paper with printed lines, colored paper), scrap paper, used greeting cards, mail order forms, small notebooks or journals).

• Clipboards with paper attached (these are great to have in the car for writing while in transit).

• Washable markers, crayons, pencils and pens selected based on your child’s age and ability.  [top]