Literacy

Writing at home

We learn to write by writing and most children love to write as this is an opportunity to express their ideas!  However whilst supporting your child to read at home is much clearer, parents often ask how can I help develop my children’s writing at home.

Here are some suggestions to help support and engage your child in the writing process:

• Set up a place to write with writing supplies
• Explain that writing has a purpose including to share feelings, inform, persuade or entertain
• Daily reading improves writing. Children will take inspiration, structural guides, vocabulary and language devices from previously read text and incorporate these into their writing
• Write to each other by creating a ‘post box’ or leaving notes in lunchboxes
• Have your child write instructions for taking care of the family pet. These will be useful as you plan your summer holidays!
• Write a letter or thank you note to a relative. Talk through what your child wants to say before writing begins.
• Make a shopping list before going to the grocery store.
• Write an online review of a book or an item you recently purchased or a recipe you tried.
• Write a speech for a leadership position in 2024
• Write stories to share with younger siblings
• Find a picture in the newspaper and write an article to accompany it.
• Start keeping a personal diary, a household guestbook, or a baby book for a younger sibling.
• Try a daily writing prompt and aim to write a sentence, a paragraph of even a whole text in response to the prompt. 
• Try a story starter like this one from Scholastic
• Ask your teacher for handwriting sheets to practice placement, sizing, and formation

Sarah Watkins

Learning Specialist - Literacy