In his classroom's writing center, four-year-old Max writes a letter "M" at the bottom of his paper and then gets to work. Max draws a stick figure with circles for glasses. "That's my daddy," he announces to his friend Quinlan.
Quinlan replies, "I'm going to make my daddy."
After drawing his dad, Max begins to add lines and irregular circles to his paper. His teacher sees what Max is working on and says, "I see that you are writing, Max. Can you tell me about it?"
"I wrote my daddy." Max points to his lines and circles. He hasn't written any letters, aside from M, but Max has made several critical connections:
- Writing is different from drawing,
- Writing consists of icons separated by spaces, and
- Writing can represent thoughts.
Together, Max and Quinlan have also demonstrated that writing is social.
Creating a Classroom Writing Culture
Writing development does not begin with writing or learning to write letters. A path to successful writing begins with understanding the writing of others. As children are read to, and observe others writing, they make connections. Children learn that writing represents thoughts, feeling, and knowledge. It can become an outlet for communication, expression, and creativity, even for children who lack alphabetic knowledge (Gerde, Bingham, & Wasik, 2012).
There are strategies that teachers can use to create a rich writing culture for emergent and early writers. Each strategy benefits the act of writing and other domains of learning, such as physical science and number concepts. Here are nine ways to integrate writing across early childhood education:
- Read—a lot. Read to children multiple times a day using a variety of genres. Exposure to letters and words can expand children's understanding of the concept of using writing to communicate.
- Kick lines to the curb. Children can work wonders with a blank paper. But, children (particularly preschoolers) may become frustrated or confused when presented with lines or boxes for writing if they are not familiar with left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientation (Clay, 2002).
- Talk it up. Self- and parallel-talk require little planning and integrate into any lesson (Gerde, Bingham, & Wasik, 2012). As teachers write, they can talk through letter formation or representation (Kissel, Hansen, Tower, & Lawrence, 2011). This could be as simple as describing how to write the letter L. "Down, across." Or, teachers may talk through sounding out words for inventive spelling. "I hear /k/ in the cat, so I am going to write c for cat." Teachers can also talk through what children are writing by simply asking, "What are you writing about?" (Gerde, Bingham, & Wasik, 2012).
- Write it down. As children describe art or other work, transcribe their thoughts. This strategy requires only writing a letter, word, or phrase to represent the child's thought (see Figure 1 for an example).
- Incorporate writing into STEAM. Science, technology, engineering, art, and math provide great opportunities for writing (Gerde, Bingham, & Wasik, 2012). After an experiment, teachers can use a T-chart to record children's ideas about the outcome. Or, as children enter the class, ask how they arrived (e.g. bus, walk, car). Have children write their names on a sticky note and place it on a bar graph drawn on chart paper.
- Provide time for journaling. Journaling time can give children quiet, dedicated time for daily writing while providing teachers opportunities to coach children (King, 2012). Journaling can include a daily prompt, but children should be allowed to write about anything, as long as they are writing (and drawing) (Dyson, 1986).
- Keep it low-tech. There is evidence that physically writing letters and numbers helps with both reading and arithmetic success in preschool and elementary (Dinehart, 2014; Johansson, 2005). Though technology shouldn't be thrown out, it also shouldn't overshadow the writing development process.
- Make writing social. Just as Quinlan realized he could draw his daddy like Max had, other writing instruction can be social. Consider a daily Write-n-Tell, instead of Show-n-Tell, where one or two children share their journal entries with peers (King, 2012). This strategy reinforces the purposes of writing while building positive self-talk and expressive language.
- Add sparkle. What works for the dramatic play area in your early childhood classroom can also work for your classroom's writing center. Consider supplementing this area with fun materials like glitter pens, dry-erase markers and boards, or non-drying clay to press letters and shapes. Fold paper to make mini-books. These materials can encourage writing and provide teachable moments! Of course, when all else fails, add stickers.
Figure 1. Writing from the Same Child at Ages 3 and 4
and
Figure
Figure 2. Use of stickers in preschool writing instruction
A lifetime of written expression and academic success begins with understanding the purpose of writing and the mechanics of putting crayon to paper. Why not make that effective foundation fun, engaging, and developmentally appropriate? And remember—when struggling with an emerging writer, you have a few tricks (and lots of stickers) up your sleeve!
