Tips for parents and carers to support the development of their child's writing through the primary years. Developed by Jo Padgham for National Literacy and Numeracy Week when principal of Turner School, 2016.
TIME
- Every child loves special time with the significant adults in their lives, so make a regular time in your family routine to talk, read and write with your child.
- Children get better at writing by writing. They need sustained periods of time to engage in the writing process. This is true for inside the classroom and at home. Having time to revisit a piece of writing is important so encouraging them to write and revisit their writing, sharing it with you will support their development in writing.
PURPOSE, AUDIENCE AND RESPONSE
- When children have a real purpose to write and an audience to write for, their engagement and motivation to write increases. Talk to your child about who they are writing this piece for and once they know that, it supports them to know what needs to be written.
- Consider relatives and friends for whom a regular email can be exchanged.
- Have your child write invitations, letters or perhaps a family collection of jokes to share at family gatherings.
- All writers need a response to their writing so encourage family members to write back to your child or thank them for their message or list.
CHOICE
- Choice promotes engagement. Let your child follow their interests and passions through books, magazines, comics, websites and what they want to write and how they want to write.
- Encourage your young child to write lists, messages, cards, signs, letters and emails.
- It is helpful to expose children to different text genres, authors and fiction and non-fiction as these can provide the models for writing when they need to write in that genre.
VOCABULARY
- Building your child's oral language and vocabulary is a cornerstone to their success as a literate young person equipped to manage the complex language landscape operating in their world today and tomorrow.
- Read books with rich literary language and talk about the words, have fun with the language and linger over the wonderful words, phrases or sentences writers have chosen. These are an 'author's gift' and worth collecting with your child.
- Perhaps your child could have a Writer's Notebook at home where they collect these 'author's gifts'.
PLAY
- Puppets, drama, drawing, poetry and games are all ways to ignite a child's interest in wanting to write and to build their vocabulary and deepen their understanding of characters and stories. All members of the family can act out a story and you can make your