While writing was not initially identified as a pillar of literacy by the National Reading Panel in 2000, it has since been identified as a pillar of literacy by literacy experts who agree that writing is aligned and connected with reading. In essence, writing reflects children’s understanding and knowledge of reading skills.
The development of writing in early childhood is a combination of both mental and physical progression. Mentally, children develop their skills of concentration, memory and language. Physically, they develop the fine motor skills necessary to use the muscles in their fingers and hands for writing and drawing. Early childhood writing skills are best developed when a parent or caregiver provides opportunities for practice, such as providing materials for making cards or writing notes. When provided with varied opportunities to explore and experiment with writing and they consistently see adults writing for authentic purposes, children learn that writing is a tool for communicating thoughts and feelings early on. When children are encouraged to experiment with writing, they begin to understand the connection between writing and thinking and that letters and words are used to express meaning.
Resources
28 Awesome Anchor Charts for Teaching Writing
These handwriting resources are from Handwriting for Kids:
Manuscript – “Make your own 8-line “text” worksheet. Customized 8 Lines Text Worksheet This interactive page lets you type in anything you like up to eight lines of text. (It does not automatically wrap around; so watch the length of text on each line.)
Manuscript Alphabet and picture word interactive worksheet generators. The interactive feature of this page is the mouse over activated animation of the upper case letters of the manuscript alphabet. The page can be print previewed and printed out for writing practice.
Click here: Basic Handwriting for Kids – Manuscript – Uppercase – Alphabet Animations
Click here: Basic Handwriting for Kids – Manuscript – Lowercase – Alphabet Animations
