Writing Workshop for parents Tuesday November 2013 ‘The writer is an explorer. Every step is an advance into new land.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson The 'Four Candles' Sketch

At Elworth, we would like our children to be creative, excited and enthusiastic writers. The purpose of this workshop: To gain an understanding of how children’s writing develops. To understand how we teach writing at Elworth. To know how we teach some of the technical aspects of writing. To give you some practical ideas about how you can support your children at home with their writing.

Reflection time… ‘The most proficient writers in any class are always the readers.’ We need to stimulate an interest in words and sentences because they lie at the root of all writing If you want to be a writer then read, read, read Meagre reading produces thin writing Writers read deeply We only write when it matters to us personally Writing is about who we are. It is particular and personal and individual Should writing be a form of formula fulfilling or a form of creation? Without talk, there would be no writing

What the Department for Education says about the purpose of writing: To communicate to others To create imaginary worlds To organise and explain information To explore experience Writing =Transcription and Composition Transcription = Spelling and Handwriting Composition = Planning Drafting Evaluating Sharing Revising and editing Sentence combining Summarising Writing for a purpose and an audience Grammar and punctuation

Early writing This begins with young children ‘pretending’ to write by making marks on paper, and progresses, with the learning of letter sounds to more accurate representations.

Underpinning all writing – oral rehearsal and oral revision Think it Say it Hear it Like it? Write it Read it

Mr Rogers accidentally crashed his car into a huge tree. Words – the building blocks of writing adverb verb noun adjective preposition pronoun Word Types

When writing, the choice of words is important: Ben went to bed vs Slowly, Ben lowered himself into the soft, cosy duvet What we look for V - vocabulary C - connectives O - openers P – punctuation

The success of children’s ability to write is based on:  A rich talking environment.  Experience of many stories that have been read and told to them.  Being able to join in with stories and adding their own ideas.  Practising and developing their own story language - ‘talking like a book’.  A range of engaging speaking and listening activities related to drama.

Simple sentence Hugo lived inside the station Compound sentence (Simple sentences linked with ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’) Hugo lived in the station and he had no parents Complex sentence (has one or more subordinate clauses which don’t make sense on their own) Hugo lived in the station, which was difficult for him as he had no money, and had to steal food.

Workshops: Class 1 – Introduction to SPAG test for year 6 Class 2 – Using picture books to develop character Class 3 – Mini Big Write Class 4 – Grammar Class 5 – VCOP Class 6 – Genres Class 7 – VCOP (KS1) Class 8 – Sentence structure Class 9 – Talk for writing Class 10 – Phonics and early writing Mrs Steele – reluctant writers (Meeting room) 20 minutes each session