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Parents of pre-primary children can now expect to see a more rigorous program developing. This, however, does NOT mean a formal program where students are expected to sit down for long periods of time doing worksheets or other formal tasks. These are inappropriate for kindy and pre-primary students. When children are forced into formal education too soon, their social-emotional development suffers. Many of them also become switched off school and learning.

Play-based learning within a rigorous program is expected. This means planned play activities with a definite purpose. To understand how to make play activities more purposeful, we need to have sound teaching knowledge about the content and sequence of learning. The Australian Curriculum provides much of this information, and there are, of course, many other supportive resources.

Here’s an example of play-based activity with a definite purpose:

We begin by using mat time to introduce students to some of the different forms of text that exist in our everyday world.

Lists and captions are two age-appropriate text forms that are easy to start with. We show examples, and highlight and explain the features that make these unique. Over time, the children learn to recognise lists and captions when they see them in real-life contexts. The different purposes for these texts are also discussed, and the children are frequently asked to talk with a partner about where they’ve seen a list or a caption, and what it was used for.

In the class writing corner, we add long strips of paper and a variety of photos. The children are encouraged to write lists for their own purposes and captions for photos or drawings. Those who choose to do this are invited to share their writing with another student or with the whole group. This encourages others to have a go.

These activities are not formal, yet they have a definite purpose, ie to educate the students about some of the different types of texts. Children who do not use the writing corner during this teaching focus have still been involved in the other activities, and can identify lists and captions.

It’s important to understand that scribble and letter-like symbols are an important part of early writing and should not be condemned. Gradually, as a child develops her awareness of sounds and letters through other literacy activities, they will start to appear in her writing, and the scribble and symbols will start to disappear. She should not be made to write words correctly letter by letter, even if she knows many sounds and letters. This is far too stifling. Of course, it’s fine to help her spell one or two words if she asks, or encourage her to fix the spelling of one or two words that you know she can spell, but it’s important to realise that many, many children are switched off writing at an early age simply because the significant adults in their lives focused predominantly on spelling, rather than on celebrating the message or content of the writing and the effort that went into producing it. Young children’s writing develops over time and each stage should be valued. Spelling in writing improves through other literacy activities, such as phonics and reading. Letter formation improves through handwriting lessons and practice.

It is far more important to focus on developing your five year old’s speaking and listening skills than on pressing her to apply letter and spelling knowledge that she doesn’t yet have. There is growing concern among educators that screen time is playing a far greater role in young children’s lives than talk time. They are being talked at rather than talked with. There is global evidence that kindy kids are starting school with increasingly poor oral language skills. Good speaking and listening skills are essential for normal social-emotional development as well as for literacy and numeracy development. Create some balance, and keep the iPad apps to a minimum. Spend lots of time talking together. Read lots of stories and talk about them with her. Build her phonological awareness by teaching her about oral sentences; oral words as part of oral sentences; oral rhyming words; syllables within oral words; and beginning sounds in oral words. Teach her about sounds and letters informally when talking or reading to her.

There are many resources that will help you get your young child off to a great start. The Early Childhood Australia website, for example, has the Everyday Learning Series, which shows how to create positive learning environments for young children, whether at home or at school. The Early Years Learning Framework also has good examples of play-based learning activities.

The student usually has good intentions of turning this “sentence spaghetti” into a better piece of work later, but once it is written down, frequently the only improvement it gets is a rewrite and a spelling check.

The resulting piece comes back with a low grade. The student often becomes less motivated with each subsequent writing task, knowing they are not magically going to become a B or an A grade writer.

So how do you go about helping your child to improve this sort of writing “system”?

There are two important stages that need to happen prior to the drafting stage. The first is discussion of the task and its requirements. The second is planning the piece of writing.

As a supportive parent, you can check with your child whether or not these stages have already happened at school. Have they been involved in active discussion about the task, or have they just been a recipient of the details? Have they then gone on to plan the task, working either individually or collaboratively? Can they show you a completed planning sheet?

Discussion of the task

Students are often unclear about the requirements of a writing task. Read the task description with your child and ask, “Can you explain what you need to do?”

If you don’t get a clear understanding of the task from their explanation, it’s because your child doesn’t have a clear understanding. In this case, read the description again and discuss your interpretation of it with them. You will find that this may elicit more information from them. Come to an agreement about what is expected, and let your child know that if there is a problem at school because you have misinterpreted some of the requirements, you will support them by talking with the teacher and explaining your discussion.

Planning the piece of writing

When your child has a clear understanding of what is expected, it’s time to start planning the piece of writing. Planning not only helps students formulate and organise their thoughts, but also encourages them to consider the structure and layout, and visualise the finished product.

Both primary and secondary school students are frequently provided with planning sheets for writing tasks, and these can be very helpful, not just for them, but for you, as the support person. Even if the planning sheet for the current task has already been completed at school, be aware that it may have been a rush job. Some students just fill up the boxes without much thought…”just to get it done”.

If your child has a completed planning sheet, ask them to explain each heading and what they’ve written under it. You will soon see whether or not they have thought about it.

If they have a sheet that hasn’t yet been completed, discuss each heading with them and ask them to think about what they will say. When they have explained their thoughts to you, they should jot down at least three dot points under each heading. If you see your child writing sentences, remind them that the planning stage only requires thought and dot points.

If they have no planning sheet, it’s easy to draw up a simple one for them. It should suit the task, so revisit the task description for ideas for headings. Then discuss what will go under each heading, and ask them to add their dot points. Tell them to keep the planning sheet to hand in with the draft because it will be valued by the teacher as planning is a very important part of writing.

By going through these stages with your child, they will be in a much better position to write a draft. Yes, it does take time to do this, but it is time well spent. You are supporting (perhaps even modelling) the correct planning procedure for long term writing success, not just for this one task. If you want to support your child in developing better writing skills, this is the best way to start because this is where most children have difficulty. Sometimes teachers either don’t have or don’t allow enough time for discussion and planning, sometimes they do. With your help, and with practice, you will find that your child becomes more engaged with writing tasks, enjoys discussing them with you, and produces a much higher standard of draft work.

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However, there are problems at kindy!

More and more children are arriving with very poor pre-literacy skills.

Although most parents try to make sure their children are ready for school and focus on what they believe are the right things, they are missing out on some elements that have become increasingly important because of societal change. They know their children’s lives today are very different from when they were kids, but may not yet realise the effect this is having on early literacy.

Here are some of the great literacy-builders that most parents already do with their pre-schoolers:

• They talk and play with them
• They read to them and encourage them to look at books, apps etc (including some alphabet or phonic ones)
• They encourage them to participate in a wide range of play activities, both with others and alone
• They take them to a wide range of different places and build their experience in handling different environments and situations

What is it that they may be missing then?

Involving their children in extended talk!

This means giving them time to think and say more about a particular topic of conversation. When you ask an extra question or two, you can encourage them to think more deeply and say more. You can also say what you think and ask other people what they think.

These days we’re all caught up rushing here and there to meet our commitments, and seem to have have less and less time to have extended conversations with our own families. In fact, only 20% of families now sit down together for a meal each day. Of those that do, only some make sure there is no media input at the same time. TV, radio, phone calls, texting or electronic games all interrupt the flow of conversation, and so many families are actually losing the capacity to converse together. Meal times used to provide young children with a regular opportunity to hear and be part of extended conversations.

What happens when a young child doesn’t hear extended conversations or have enough appropriate talk time?

• They may not greet people spontaneously
• They may not respond to simple questions, or may only give one or two word answers
• They may just run away when they are spoken to
• They may have a very limited vocabulary
• Their brains may be developing fewer language connections

Exploring the sounds in spoken language!

Parents tend to focus on teaching their pre-schoolers the alphabet and the sounds the letters represent. As adults, we know that the alphabet is a code for the sounds in spoken words, and we often make the assumption that children understand this too. Many young children don’t, however, because they haven’t explored spoken language enough yet. If they are not given the opportunity to do this, they may end up ‘knowing’ the alphabet but not understanding what it’s for, and so be severely hampered when it comes to learning to read and write. This is easy to avoid when you know how.

Here are some of the easiest ways to start developing the essential phonological awareness (awareness of the sounds in spoken language) that all children need in order to avoid later problems with literacy:

If you think your child doesn’t know that speech is actually made up of individual spoken words, you can show them how to step out the words in a spoken sentence, and then hold their hand and get them to do this with you. Of course, you would start with a very short spoken sentence, such as ‘I like apples.’ This is something to keep developing through frequent practice.

If you think your child doesn’t know how to listen for the first sound – not the letter – in a word you say aloud (eg /b/ is the first sound you hear in the word ‘bird’), you can work on this by telling them that you’re going to say a word very slowly, and asking them to listen for the first sound they hear coming out of your mouth. After modelling this for a while, they will start to get the idea. You should keep practising this with lots of different spoken words over time, and as a FUN activity.

If you think your child doesn’t recognise rhyming words, you can introduce rhyme through nursery rhymes, rhyming books, songs etc, by explaining rhyming words as ‘words that sound the same at the end’. You’ll know that a child is on the right track with rhyming when they suddenly tell you that something rhymes with something else as you read to them. Children naturally relate to rhyme and frequently make up nonsense words that rhyme in their play. You should encourage this and talk about their rhyming words.

If you think your child doesn’t know that words are made up of syllables, you can introduce this idea by showing them how to clap the correct number of syllables as they say the names of family members, eg Jody (2 claps), Mum (1 clap). Names are easy to start with, and then you can extend to clapping the syllables in other words.

None of these strategies involves anything other than speaking and listening, but they are all essential in getting children off to a great start in reading and writing at school.

It can be difficult to know whether your child’s writing is progressing as well as it could be. School report comments are usually limited by space and can’t possibly tell you the whole story. If you wish, you can become more proactive and assess your child’s writing progress yourself.

How to assess your child’s writing progress at home

1 Compare earlier work with recent work

You probably see your child’s homework books on a regular basis, but only see his schoolwork when a book is completed, or at the end of the year. The information in his school books is extremely valuable, however, as it allows you to compare earlier writing with recent writing. The work is usually dated. Your comparisons will tell you whether your child is progressing or not.

Once a term (or whenever you feel you want to check your child’s progress), write a note to his teacher to ask if you can bring home ALL his workbooks and writing books for the weekend. It’s best to give a few days’ notice and make it very clear that you’ll return them first thing on Monday morning. (And don’t forget them when Monday comes!!)

Firstly, look to see if there is a writing book, and if the work inside is dated.

Look at your child’s recent work and compare it with his work three months ago. Draft writing provides the greatest information. ‘Good copies’ will probably not reflect your child’s true level of writing as it is likely to have had input from other sources (teacher-corrected, spell-checked etc).

Here are the most important things to look for and compare:

• Does your child do any planning for his creative writing (diagrams, dot points, evidence of discussion etc)?
• Does he write texts using full sentences, and do the sentences flow in a logical sequence?
• Are his sentences becoming more complex, and is he making an effort to use a broader vocabulary?
• Is he writing some different types of text, (at least a few of the following in the early years: recounts, lists, procedures, stories, reports, retells, reviews/opinions, diary entries, answers to comprehension questions, surveys, expositions/ads; and more complex versions of an increasing range of these in the later years)?
• Is he writing for some different purposes and audiences?
• Is he editing his own work (eg fixing some spelling errors, moving words or sentences around with arrows)?
• Is he getting written feedback about his writing, and are the comments helpful and positive?

Now find his spelling work (probably in a different book) and look at this as well. Is it also dated?

• Is he applying any of the spelling patterns and words he learned three months ago in his recent writing?

• Is his handwriting legible? I put this last  because it’s more important to address content skills first. However increasingly sloppy handwriting may indicate increasing lack of interest in writing. If this is happening, it means he needs more writing for real purposes and more feedback about the content of his writing. Then he will value writing more and probably start caring about his presentation.

Next, look at his other workbooks. There will probably be further examples of different types of text in these, eg procedures (Science/Art), surveys & reports (Society & Environment/Health). They may also be dated. Use these as extra writing samples to continue your overall assessment of his progress.

2 Ask some probing questions

Find out what your child knows and thinks about in writing by asking about a couple of pieces of work of different text type. Be calm and interested, and ask these questions in a conversational tone of voice.  It’s not an interrogation!

• Did you write this by yourself?
• Why were you writing it?
• What type of text is this? How do you know?
• What did you do first? (or How did you start?)
• What’s your favourite part (or sentence or word) in this piece of writing? Why?
• Is there anything you’d change if you were starting again?
• Did you write this for someone in particular? Who else do you think might like to read it?

3 Talk with the teacher

After looking at your child’s work and talking with him about it, you may want to meet with his teacher. Book your meeting in advance, letting the teacher know what it’s about.

Your meeting may be to say that you’re very happy with his progress, and ask how you can give more support at home to keep him moving forwards. Or it may be to voice a concern based on your recent assessment. If it’s the latter, ask specific questions relating to what you’ve noticed, and how you can help your child progress.

How do we know that we are actually helping our children if we allow them to predominantly use computers and other devices?

Can we really say that children are well-educated if they can’t write using pen and paper?

Is it because technology-based writing is widely lauded through the media that pen and paper writing is becoming more and more unfashionable?

Laura Dinehart, an assistant professor of early childhood education at Florida International University, researches the development and early academic outcomes of children from 0 to 5 years and believes “that early writing skills can serve at least as an indicator of later achievement.”

In a study of over 3,000 preschoolers in Florida, Dinehart has discovered that 4-year-olds with well-developed handwriting skills are more likely to excel academically in elementary school.

Their ability to copy letters, numbers and shapes as pre-schoolers significantly predicted their results in standardised tests in second grade reading and maths, although the reasons for this as yet remain unclear.

The study is continuing to investigate why.

“We think it could be attention. We think kids that have greater attention skills could also have greater writing skills because they’re able to focus and they’re able to copy,” explained Dinehart.

Personally, I would expect also that many of these children’s families value education very highly, and that their parents or caregivers have provided them with strong support in all learning areas right through to the second grade. It will be interesting to see what the research shows.

I think Dinehart’s advice for parents of young children is excellent.

She advises them to provide their children with as many opportunities to engage with physical writing tools as possible, and to avoid getting swayed into thinking that electronic devices are more fun or educational.

She recommends providing a range of writing materials at home, such as paper, pencils, crayons, chalk & easel, and encouraging children to use them inside and outside, especially as part of imaginary play – eg, as ‘doctors’ writing prescriptions or ‘mums’ going shopping with a list.

She also stresses the importance of parents being good role models for writing – eg writing lists and notes for friends or family members by hand.

And she clearly states that if a child doesn’t want to write, they shouldn’t be forced to. Parents should keep providing the opportunities and the encouragement, and keep modelling.

Dinehart reminds us that what’s important here is the actual act of writing. We should not be talking about horrible handwriting or inaccurate spelling with little kids, but rather helping them develop a love of writing by writing for fun.

Writing help for 7-11 year olds

Their current quests revolve around designing toys that bridge offline play with online apps, and designing interactive and educational toys that involve “playful learning.” Both of these will contain elements that focus on teaching children of all ages to work as part of a team and collaborate.

Microsoft’s Games are hoping that

“…new experiences through interactive games with the Kinect gesture interface can enhance family interactions.”

So does this mean…

• There are findings that kids who have been swallowed up in digital media for years have lost the ability to communicate with their families?
• There is now enough concern about this and about kids’ other social issues for some technological giants to take action to try and address them?
• One of the best ways to address family and social issues is by educating kids using more digital media products?

Here’s an interesting statement from Microsoft’s Games:

“Learning through games or interactive media should improve children’s problem-solving skills, which is a break from today’s educational system of transferring information from teachers to students.”

If technological giants are now trying to share the load in our kids’ education & social skills development, but are actually unaware that today’s educational systems do not focus on transferring knowledge from teachers to students, but rather on building well-rounded individuals who have the capacity to meet future challenges and problem-solve for themselves, then maybe, just maybe, it’s all about…you guessed it.

Writing help for 7-11 year olds