Supporting the Home / School Connection: Straight From the Classroom

The Context:

As I gear up for my next round of parent / teacher conferences next month, I’m beginning to think about the kinds of supports I might suggest for parents who wish to work on writing with their children at home. Since I now teach pre-k, and before that kindergarten, my knowledge base is focused around emergent writing. Some of these suggestions could apply to early elementary students too.

As a Teacher:

Sometimes parents are not familiar with early and emergent writing and do not actually know that their four, five, or even six year old child is already a writer! They typically want to know if they should work on neatening up their child’s handwriting, or if they should tell them the correct spelling of a word when asked. But supporting parents with the writing work that they could be doing at home needs to start with some background knowledge and information on what writing is, as well as what their child is already doing well.

Parents are often surprised when I tell them their child is a great writer, despite their challenges with things like handwriting or spelling. Perhaps their child’s strength is in generating ideas, composing a sequential narrative, or adding meaningful details to their drawings. Maybe they are really strong at telling a story orally or they have excellent writing stamina. There are so many things that a young child CAN do even before they are able to write with legibility and accuracy. It’s our job as teachers to help parents recognize their child’s writing strengths, in addition to their areas of growth.

The Details:

So where do I begin?

Writing Space: One idea is to suggest carving out a writing space at home supplied with paper choices (with and without lines), pre-stapled books, a journal, pens, pencils, markers, tape, post it notes, a stapler, an alphabet chart, a word wall, and anything else that they could use there. It can mimic what the child has at school, but it need not be identical. It really just needs to be a space where the child knows that they can write for a variety of purposes.

Authentic Writing: I then typically tell parents the most important thing is to find authentic opportunities to infuse writing into their home life. This could incorporate some of the following:

• Stories: Just like they do in school, your child can tell a story and draw it across one or more pages. They can label the pictures and write sentences.
• Lists: Ask them, “What should we get at the grocery store? What do you want for your birthday?” Then have them write it down.
• Menus: Make a menu for pretend play. Or better yet, make a menu for that evening’s dinner or a special occasion!
• Recipes: Re-write a recipe into kid-friendly language. Your child can be responsible for writing the list of ingredients, or even the steps (“how-to”). Then actually use the recipe to make something.
• Letters: Has it been a while since you wrote a letter and actually mailed it? There’s no better time to say hello to your long lost cousin, or even your next door neighbor. You can provide envelopes and real (or pretend) stamps for added fun.
• Cards: Who doesn’t love a handwritten card? I do.
• Instructions: How do you play that game your child just invented? Ask them to write it down!

It’s also very rewarding for children to share what they made or wrote with you at school. Encourage parents to have their children bring their work and make a special effort to engage with them one-on-one whenever possible.

Storytelling: There are endless opportunities to practice storytelling at home–at bedtime, in the car, on a nature walk, and much, much more. One way to have fun with storytelling is to tell a story “around the circle” (or table, couch, rug, or wherever you may be). The first person tells the first part of the story, and then each person adds on another part of the story until everyone has had a turn or until someone finds a way to end it. It can be very open ended, or you can provide more structure by pre-selecting characters and a setting. While it can be a very silly game, it also helps to develop creativity, a sense of narrative, and the ability to compose (or rehearse) language orally.

The Bottom Line:

Parents want to support their children with writing at home, but often do not know where to begin. Whenever you have these conversations, try to name their child’s strengths and areas of growth and provide some concrete ideas they can actually try. They will walk away with a clearer picture of who their child already is as a writer when they set out to implement your helpful suggestions on their own.