Writing

Along with the Lucy Calkins curriculum, students will also be learning to improve their sentences through the Framing Your Thoughts program. We start with the basics - a barebone sentence. A sentence, or a complete thought, can stand alone with a subject and a predicate. For example, Jimmy swims or The dog jumps. We also talk about the important elements that are needed to finish a written complete thought. Don't be surprised if your child begins to recite the jingle, "Every sentence starts with a capital and ends with a stop sign!" As we get more comfortable with our barebones, we begin to add elements that expand on the subject and the predicate in order to make complex sentences that include vivid imagery. 

Writing Tips 

Alphabet and Sounds

Writing becomes challenging when students do not know their letters or the sounds they make. Please review the alphabet daily with your child and think of words that start with the letters. Please focus mostly on the consonants as the vowel sounds will come as the year progresses. 

As your child progresses, you can challenge them by having them rhyme, delete or add sounds to words, or even make up their own nonsense words knowing the sound-letter associations. For example, 'naz', 'kuf' 'or 'dob'.

Stretching Out Our Sounds

You can help encourage your child to stretch out words as he or she writes for various activities. Please assist your child in writing notes or taking phone messages where they can practice stretching out words like a rubber band. They must listen and record what they hear. Here is a fun video with Stretchy the Word Snake of how to stretch out words. Have fun with it!