Do you remember when you child learned to speak?  S/he probably made many "mistakes" (or approximations) in speech, and they didn't bother you much.  You may have corrected a few, laughed at several, but mostly you included the child in the events of everyday life, encouraged the child to speak and enjoyed the conversations.  You probably knew, as parents do, that children learn to talk the same way they learn to sit up, crawl and walk ~ they learn to talk by talking!

Learning to write works the same way.  For example.....in September of last year, one child wrote:

Some developmental stages in writing come before this one, and others come after.  From this sample I saw that the child knows the following:

• print proceeds in a straight line from left to right across a page
• print is made up of letters
• letters come in upper and lower case
• letters stand for sounds in the words he wants to write.

Since writing the earlier sample, this child has learned that:

• written language is made up of words separated by spaces
• each word between spaces stands for one word in speech.
• written words are made up of a number of different letters
• there are a number of letter/sound combinations in each word. (both beginning and ending sounds are included in this story)
• when you "know" a word (the), you spell it the same way every time
• if you don't "know" a word you can use what you do know about the letters and sounds to say what you mean until you learn the "correct" way.
• you self correct your own writing when it doesn't look right to you, just as children self correct their own speech.
• punctuation is a part of written language.

I plan to help your child learn to write the way you helped them to speak.  If we put all our energy into correcting temporary spellings, children get discouraged and lose a natural desire to write.  They learn from heavy correction that meaning is less important than spelling the words right.  If we invite them to use their oral language in their writing, even though they can't spell all the words correctly, we free them to say what they mean.  In fact, as the examples show, they learn a lot about writing in general, and spelling in particular, from the risks they take along the way.  Children learn to write by writing, and we are most helpful to them when we appreciate and encourage their best attempts.

Is there a time for teaching particular points of spelling, grammar and punctuation?  YES!!  When a child publishes a story, all spelling, grammar and punctuation is corrected, as other children will be reading the story.  Also, as children develop and naturally start to spell words from memory, they will receive a word card.  This word card lists the top twenty words used by children in their writing.  Once a child receives a word card, they are then responsible for spelling those twenty words correctly.  We will also be starting spelling later in the year.  We will be studying high frequency words for our spelling tests. ( Words like: the, what, where, when, said)  I want my students to study the words to improve their writing, not just for a test.  Therefore, all words tested on in spelling, become words in which the students must spell correctly in their daily writing.

I hope this letter has been of some help.  Please remember to celebrate all successes, no matter how small they may seem.  Every success is a building block to the next.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mrs. Gail Gregory
 

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