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Writing Practices K-3

Writing Practices K-3

A young child writing in a notebook at a white desk

Why write at home?

Writing helps students learn about letter formation and the relationship between letters and sounds. It also supports spelling and grammar. Children learn how to develop ideas through writing.

How To Support Writing at Home

A young child writing in a notebook at a white desk

Make an “office” for your child.

Develop purpose.

  • Give your child different kinds of paper, pencils, and crayons.
  • Provide ideas and reasons to write, such as grocery or to-do lists.
  • Encourage story writing, or have your child describe how to do different activities, like make a bed.

Talk about sounds and words.

Build vocabulary and teach letter sounds in words.

  • Ask what your child is writing about.
  • Be ready to answer his or her questions about words, sounds, or ideas when writing.
  • Help your child with forming letters or matching letters or letter patterns with their sounds.

Have fun!

Develop motivation for writing.

  • Each day, show your child things that you write, like grocery lists or instructions for the babysitter.
  • Write stories together with your child.
  • Have your child write in different ways, like writing stories, journal entries, or observation logs.

Read!

Good writers read - a lot!

  • Provide your child with different kinds of reading materials and talk about the text and what he or she has learned or noticed. Help
  • Help your child use newly learned words in his orher writing.

For more information:

The contents of this page were developed for the Michigan Department of Education under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the Office of Program and Grantee Support Services (PGSS) within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), by the Region 8 Comprehensive Center at ICF under Award #S283B190013 in September 2021. This contains resources that are provided for the reader’s convenience. These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses, and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information included in these materials. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, enterprise, curriculum, or program of instruction mentioned on this page is intended or should be inferred.