The most important thing we can do to support children’s beginning efforts at writing is to provide materials. (Schickendanz)

In the preschool classrooms, we have an area designated for early writing work (although it can occur almost anywhere in our classroom).  In Group B we refer to this area as the Writing Table. On the shelves nearby are a variety of tools to support early writing, including the development of fine motor strength, coordination, and control. Children know that during choice times, they can freely access these materials to fulfill their plans for creating with paper. Other materials we might include are, for example: a variety of markers – both medium and fine point; regular length and short “Pipsqueak” markers; standard pencils as well as soft lead pencils which create a dark line; thick and thin colored pencils (such as beautiful Lyra pencils that have a soft triangular shape and little circular grips cut out of the barrel); crayons; rulers; shape stencils; a variety of hole punches; different kinds of tapes; glue sticks; scissors; pattern scissors; and staplers. Each child has a “name card” that features their name printed in Century Gothic font, in both upper case and sentence case. There are also individual alphabet strips printed in both upper and lower case letters.

Here are some examples of the ways in which children might access the writing table:

Here, some children find their name cards to use as writing guides:

A lot of writing practice has been happening since children have been so interested in creating Plans this year! They choose from the pictured cards to record their intentions for the day. There is a wealth of learning tied to literacy (as well as social-emotional development) embedded in this work.

 

In the wider classroom, there are day-to-day opportunities for practicing writing in addition to the Writing Table area. For example, there are pencils and clipboards in the dramatic play area which are often used for creating menus, lists, maps, notes, stories, and signs.

 

There is always room for making larger marks at the easel.

These children are two older threes and one young four-year old. Their “scribble” marks are extremely intentional and filled with meaning.

There are usually materials available for drawing from life, for example, this week at the long table with the hyacinth. From a writing perspective, drawing from life challenges children to create different kinds of lines and shapes and to figure out how to arrange and connect these lines and shapes in space (on a page). It also provides experience with marking materials which may require a slightly different hand grip and a different amount of pressure than the ones they typically use.

Recently we offered letter-shaped beads and a compartmentalized tray on the small square table along with the name cards for assembling evenly spaced, ordered words.

On this week, we invited children to create birthday messages for a classmate along with word guides for writing “HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” “TO,” “FROM,” and “LOVE,” again in both upper and sentence case.

The Teacher’s Role

As teachers, we are always looking for that balance between responding to children’s interests and helping them become interested.  We are always looking for where children are developmentally and thinking about ways we might help them along on their journeys. Our daily work to support writing might include: segmenting phonemes for children who want to know how to spell and write letters in words that are important to them; demonstrating how to write letters; helping children find resources and strategies for guiding their writing; writing the words to a story based on a child’s dictation; and talking to a child about the marks on their paper – which ones they made first, which ones were straight and which ones were curvy – helping them reflect on their process. It might include encouraging a child who does not yet have the knowledge, confidence, or fine motor control to write letters, to print using cardboard straight lines and curves, or figure out how to form letters using the “Handwriting Without Tears” straight and curved wood pieces. It might include helping a child who wants to write a note to their family understand that the order of the letters in a word and the placement of the words on the page is important for the note to be able to be read. Or it might be simply pointing out the horizontal and vertical lines in a child’s easel painting.

 

 

 

 

To understand the approach to children’s early writing efforts that best supports them, their teachers might find it useful to think about how they consider children’s behavior in creating with paint or blocks…They understand children’s need to explore and experiment. A similar attitude of acceptance coupled with supporting development is also appropriate at the writing center… Of course the domain of literacy differs from the domain of art. Conventions must eventually guide much of our literacy behavior; we can take more liberties with art. Nevertheless, in the beginning stages, writing and other aspects of literacy learning are nurtured when children are given opportunities to explore and discover. It is not an either-or situation. There are also opportunities to help a child move forward. Teachers both notice and create the opportunities…(Schickendanz)