Writing

What does writing look like in primary?

The stages below show the development of writing. Keep in mind that all stages overlap and children progress at different rates.

What is the routine in the classroom?

  1. Oral language: discuss the topic, think about and speak what you want to write

  2. Model or co-create: together we write an example, think of different sentence starters, choices for how to start

  3. Words: the walls of the classroom are built up over time with students so they know where to find words, sounds, and visual dictionaries. When a word is unknown students are encouraged to say the word slowly and write down what they hear (invented spelling).

  4. Share: students need the opportunity to share what they wrote. It is about communication, after all, and without an audience there is less purpose. Plus, when students read back what they wrote they are faced with the natural question – did that make sense?

  5. Resist the urge to edit: the eraser is not your friend. Students will write more, more often, and with more enthusiasm if the goal is communicating a message rather than spelling, punctuation and letter formation.

 

Printing

Writing and printing are two different things. We do still teach printing but cannot spend as much time on it as we’d like. The way we teach letter formation is below with the exception of the lower case q – we finish with a sharper line.