Why Our Strongest Kindergarten Readers Are Not Always Our Strongest Writers: Straight from the Classroom

A Backstory:

A few years ago, I taught a kindergartener whose writing and reading abilities were noticeably out of sync with one another. When she entered school that year, she was already reading above grade level. She was one of those kids who read with fluency and expression and had strong comprehension skills, even with more mature texts. When speaking and interacting with her informally she was clear and confident. She would spend all of her independent reading time with her nose in her book, and would pore through one chapter book after the next.

During writing workshop, this same student struggled to put a sentence on the page. Her drawings were simplistic and included few details. When spelling an unknown word, she hurried through it without attempting to write a letter for each sound. Sometimes it took her so long to decide on a topic that she hardly even began before it was time to clean up. She disliked sharing her work with me and would often try to cover her paper when I came near.

After so many years of teaching kindergarten, this was truly not a surprise to me. However, it may be to a surprise to some, especially those who are not early childhood educators. There are dozens of reasons why a child’s reading ability may not match their writing ability, especially at the emergent level. I have tried to identify some here. I also welcome your thoughts on and experiences with this topic in the comments section below.

Here’s Why:

–Internal vs. External Production: Reading and comprehending typically begin as internal experiences while writing begins internally but is ultimately external. Writing requires a certain level of physical output and production. Not all children are as comfortable with creating and making things no matter the strength of their reading ability.

–Time Spent Writing at Home: Young children (and probably most children in general) spend more time reading and being read to at home than writing at home. Of course having strong reading habits at home is essential and incredible, but it is much less likely for a young child to have similarly strong writing habits at home, and may not have developed the same comfort level with writing as they have with reading.

–Decoding vs. Encoding: A child who can decode cannot always encode. A child who can look at letters to sound them out may have a very different experience when trying to hear the sounds in a word and organize them into letters or letter patterns on the page.

–Fine Motor Skills: A child’s fine motor skills may still be developing no matter the strength of their reading skills. Without fine motor skills it can be tricky for a child to draw and form letters, thereby challenging them in ways they don’t experience while reading.

–Confidence / Self-Consciousness: Not every child feels confident as a writer. Generating ideas for writing, drawing, spelling, collaborating, and sharing ideas, are all activities that can push some kids out of their comfort zone. If a child knows that a word they are trying to write is not spelled correctly because they’ve seen it written in a book and know that their version is not the same, it can truly inhibit them from trying to work. Some children who love to read get nervous or anxious when the spotlight is on them and suddenly they are the author, not the audience.

The Bottom Line:

A strong reader may be an emergent writer, and that’s absolutely OK! In fact, our job as teachers is to meet each and every child where they are. It can be tricky or confusing when there is a wide disparity between a student’s reading and writing abilities. The most important thing is that we don’t assume that just because a child is far along on their reading journey, that they should be just as far along on their writing journey. The skills and strategies that make a child a fantastic reader do not necessarily correspond with those that make them a strong or comfortable writer. While the two paths have some overlapping commonalities, they are most certainly not one and the same.