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What is writing?
What is writing?
Writing is the skill of putting words and ideas down on paper or a screen in a clear and organized way. It involves forming letters (or typing), spelling words correctly, and arranging sentences to express thoughts, communicate ideas, share messages, or tell a story.
What is the alphabetic principle and what is phonics?
What is the alphabetic principle and what is phonics?
Each speech sound or sounds connect to different letters of the alphabet (e.g., the letter “p” makes the “puh” sound in “paper” and the letter “a” makes many sounds including the “ă” sound in “apple” and the “ā” sound in “snake”). This is called the alphabetic principle. We teach children how to make these connections between sounds and letters through phonics lessons. It’s important to know the sounds letters make and what letters look like. Some letters look similar such as ‘b’ and ‘d’ or ‘p’ and ‘q’ or sound similar such as ‘b’ and ‘v’ so start with easier sounds and letters to learn, such as f, m, n, r, and s.
What are spelling skills and why are they important?
What are spelling skills and why are they important?
Being a good speller means that a child has figured out that words are made of separate sounds (phonemes) and that letters stand for these sounds. As they practice more, they start to see patterns in how letters can be put together at the beginning, middle and endings of words. Spelling can be difficult for some children, especially if they haven’t yet learned many of the spelling rules.
Spelling skills are also important because they are related to both reading and writing. If a child can spell a word, they can usually read it. If they can spell more words, a child can focus more on the ideas they want to write, rather than spending energy focused on spelling an individual word.
What are the basics of writing?
What are the basics of writing?
Writing is a very complex process that involves many skills which need to be directly taught. These skills include:
Handwriting: involves printing letters properly and pencil grip.
Punctuation: knowing when to use periods, commas, and question marks.
Grammar: includes understanding parts of speech (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) and sentence structure (how we put words together to make complete thoughts). For example, the sentence "I saw the boy go to the store" is a complete sentence while "I saw the boy go to" is not.
Choose the right words and sentences: use descriptive words or specific vocabulary. For example, using the word "gigantic" instead of big to describe a hurricane or using science terms when writing a report (e.g., microscope or experiment)
What are the more complex writing processes?
What are the more complex writing processes?
We just focused on some of the more basic skills of writing, such as handwriting, punctuation, and grammar, and choosing the right words and sentences. This section focuses on some of the more complex skills, such as organizing your thoughts in an order that makes sense by coming up with a plan before you write and writing knowledge (understanding your audience and different types of writing).
Putting thoughts into words: choose the right words and sentences, and add details to make writing easy to understand for readers. Try:
Mind Mapping: create a visual map of ideas to see connections.
Free Writing: write for a set time without worrying about grammar or sentence structure to help come up with ideas.
Questioning: answer the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how in your writing.
Create a plan: put ideas in the right order that makes sense & check work. Try:
Graphic organizers: use visual aids like story maps, sticky notes or diagrams to help organize thoughts before writing.
Sentence starters: provide writing prompts to help begin a sentence or story (e.g., “What I like most about summer is…”).
Chunking: break writing into smaller parts, such as brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing to make writing easier to manage.
Revising: read out loud to catch errors!
Use the POWER (Plan, Organize, Write, Edit, Revise) mnemonic to help remember the process.
Writing knowledge:
Know your reader: who is the audience? For example, the words and tone of your writing would be different if you're sending a text to a friend or writing a book report.
Types of writing: writing includes poems, stories, letters, reports, and tip sheets, each with its own style. Students can practice by matching examples to their type or genre, like fairy tales being stories and thank you notes being letters.
Resources
Resources
Alphabetic Principle.pdfAlphabetic Principle
Spelling.pdfSpelling
Basic Writing.pdfBasic Writing
Advanced Writing.pdfAdvanced Writing
For more and information and resources, please see:
References:
References:
Bear, D. R. (2022). Literacy activities that highlight emergent and beginning literacy development. The Reading Teacher, 76(2), 211–222.
Byrne B. The learnability of the alphabetic principle: Children’s initial hypotheses about how print represents spoken language. Applied Psycholinguistics. 1996;17(4):401-426.
Copp, S. B., Cabell, S. Q., & Invernizzi, M. (2019). Kindergarten teachers' use of writing scaffolds to support children's developing orthographic knowledge. Literacy Research and Instruction, 58(3), 164–183.
Chung PJ, Patel DR, Nizami I. Disorder of written expression and dysgraphia: definition, diagnosis, and management. Transl Pediatr. 2020 Feb;9(Suppl 1):S46-S54.
Ehri, L. C. (2000). Learning to read and learning to spell: Two sides of a coin. Topics in Language Disorders, 20(3), 19–36.
Gehsmann, K.M. and Mesmer, H.A. (2023), The Alphabetic Principle and Concept of Word in Text: Two Priorities for Learners in the Emergent Stage of Literacy Development. Read Teach, 77: 156-166.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Improving the Writing Performance of Young Struggling Writers: Theoretical and Programmatic Research From the Center on Accelerating Student Learning. The Journal of Special Education, 39(1), 19-33.
Hebert M, Kearns DM, Hayes JB, Bazis P, Cooper S. Why Children With Dyslexia Struggle With Writing and How to Help Them. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2018 Oct 24;49(4):843-863.
Mather, D. S. (2003). Dyslexia and Dysgraphia: More Than Written Language Difficulties in Common. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(4), 307-317.
Piasta SB, Wagner RK. Developing Early Literacy Skills: A Meta-Analysis of Alphabet Learning and Instruction. Read Res Q. 2010 Jan;45(1):8-38.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
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