Why Practice Writing

If you were amazed at how your child’s scribbles transformed into words last year, get ready for pure delight as your first grader learns to write full, meaningful paragraphs this year! While the bar may seem high for first graders, remember that this year’s work is a progression, starting with mastery of the alphabet.

A first grader may start the year writing “cac” for cake or “becs” for because. Dropping a word’s silent e at the end or middle vowel sound to spell it the way it sounds is known as phonetic or “invented” spelling. Children are often more comfortable using consonants and the sounds at the beginning of words because they’re more distinct than vowels or sounds at the ends of words. By using invented spelling, children are demonstrating what they know about letter sounds. Research shows that letting children use invented spelling (and not immediately correcting them) allows them to focus on the purpose of writing: communication. With time, your first grader should transition to conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns (e.g. bike, like, hike, and sing, ring, king and high-frequency words.