Literacy

How you can support your child with their writing at home

Parents can play an important part in supporting their child with their writing. Many parents comment during Parent Teacher Interviews that their child is reluctant to share their writing, or other work for that matter, at home and this issue seems to magnify as they get older. There are plenty of methods that can contribute to children being more positive about sharing their writing at home.

The following suggestions are paraphrased from an article by Christina Baulch titled Healthy Parental Support of Student Writing. 

1. Release judgement and focus on the big picture. When your child is sharing their work, listen to it and comment without passing judgement. Treat the child as the expert on the topic. If you are wanting to comment, use an attitude of a collaborator rather than the expert on the topic and focus on the big picture parts of the text, for example, the storyline or the persuasive argument, rather than smaller things like grammar and spelling. 
2. Offer responsive feedback and ask questions. If your child is open to feedback, ask what they would like it about. Questions like 'What would you like me to listen for?' or 'How can I help you with this piece?' are good ones to use. 
3. Express heartfelt enthusiasm. Aim to be more specific than 'good job' with your feedback. Be specific with what impressed or delighted you about your child's work, for example, 'I really liked the way you described the main character' or 'I thought the ending of your story was very clever and well thought out'. 

If you are interested in reading the full article, it is attached below. 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/healthy-parental-support-student-writing/

Student Work - Information Reports

Throughout the year, most Levels learn about writing information reports. It is usually a highlight for students as they get to learn about topics of interest and display their knowledge in creative and interesting ways. Often Levels have a presentation time at the end of the term where students from other grades can go and see the work of their peers. Currently the Grade 1, 2, 3 and 4 students are looking at this genre of work. Below are some work samples from the different Grades. 

Grade 1

Numbats by Pratyush 1ZA

Grade 2 

Cheetahs by Katherine 2KL

Grade 3 

Canberra by Saachi, Jayden and Andy 3KY          

Whitsunday Island by Sereen and Alex 3KY

Grade 5

The Lady Penrhyn by Grace 4SD

Fortnightly Segments 

Comprehension Question 

This fortnight’s questions are:

• Does the setting in your story change? Can you explain where it changes. 
• What makes the main character the main character? 
• If you were one of the characters in the book, would you have acted differently? Tell me when, why and how. 

Writing Challenge

If your child enjoys their writing and is keen to write for enjoyment at home, below is a prompt that you could ask your child to write about. 

You dig the world’s deepest hole. What lies at the bottom?