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Some children will write before they ever read. This is okay. There is no set 'order' to reading and writing. We often find that the skills children use to help with reading, help with writing as well and vice versa.
Some reading strategies that help with writing are:
Stretchy the snake (stretch out each sound while writing the letters)
Lips the fish (get your mouth ready to make the sound and write what you hear)
Chunky Monkey (break the words into chunks and write the chunks). The ability to actually break a word down into syllables or chunks helps readers decode unfamiliar words, this in turn, helps with spelling.
Spelling sometimes slows children down once they begin to write a little more. Encourage children to think about the word they are writing and try the word even if they get it wrong. Children may be encouraged to do the following before writing an unknown word:
Have they seen it before? Can it be found around the (class)room (word wall, in a personal dictionary, etc.)?
Is the word a short word or a long word? This will help determine how many letters the word may have.
How many syllables (sounds) does the word have? Sometimes we clap out the sounds in words like, ladybug. This word has 3 sounds. We count the claps or some children place their hand under their chin and count how many times their chin lands on their hand.
Say the word, picture it...have they read or seen it somewhere before? Try to spell it.
Use word families to help spell other words (for example: I know how to spell like so I can spell bike, spike, trike, Mike, etc.)
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