1. Kid Writing Michele Thomas

2. Tips StepsExamples 3 What is Kid Writing? « A systematic approach to phonics, journal writing, and Writing Workshop « Helps children understand the process of sounding out words « Helps children learn the sound/letter relationships « Children see conventional writing during the underwriting phase « Mini-lessons are taught from the children’s work « Students share their writing with classmates

3. Tips StepsExamples 4 Benefits « Reading and writing are reciprocal processes, each strengthens the other. « As children become writers they: « begin to focus their attention on print in the environment « use their visual memory to write words

4. Tips StepsExamples 5 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 1: Emerging « Makes uncontrolled or unidentifiable scribbling « Level 2: Pictorial « Imitates writing « Draws somewhat recognizable picture « Tells about picture

5. Tips StepsExamples 6 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 3: Precommunicative « Write to convey a message; attempts to read it back « Uses letter-like forms and/or random letter strings « Prints own name or occasional known word

6. Tips StepsExamples 7 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 4: Semiphonetic « Correctly uses some letters to match sounds « May use one beginning letter to write a word « Usually writes left to right (may reverse some letters)

7. Tips StepsExamples 8 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 5: Phonetic « Represents beginning and ending sounds « Spells some high-frequency words correctly in sentences « Includes some vowels (often not correct ones) « Writes one or more sentences with spaces

8. Tips StepsExamples 9 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 6: Transitional « Correctly spells many high- frequency words in sentences « Uses vowels in most syllables (may not be correct) « Begins to use simple punctuation (may not be correct) « Writes more than one sentence

9. Tips StepsExamples 10 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 7: Conventional « Correctly spells many high- frequency words (more than one sentence). « Larger correctly spelled vocabulary:may use phonetic spelling for advanced words. « Usually using capital and lowercase letters and periods and question marks correctly.

10. Tips StepsExamples 11 Developmental Stages of Writing « Level 8: Advanced « Uses a rich, varied vocabulary « Mays still use phonics-based spelling for advanced words « Have mastered the spelling of commonly used words « Uses quotation marks, comma and apostrophes correctly « Usually organizes writing into appropriate paragraphs

11. Tips StepsExamples 12 Getting started in the classroom « Break into smaller groups « Sit around the teacher/aide/volunteer « Open up writing notebook to the next page « Date stamp the page « Pass out a bag of markers to each child

12. Tips StepsExamples 13 Steps in Kid writing « Think about the story you want to share « Draw a picture « Kid writing (guided phonics-based spelling) « The child writes the letter/sounds they hear. « Adult writing/Underwriting « Mini-lesson with the whole group

13. Tips StepsExamples 14 Helpers In The Classroom

14. Tips StepsExamples 15 Stretching Words the Right Way « Adults help children do the kid writing by: « slowly sounding out the ENTIRE word « exaggerating key consonant sounds « One key sound per word may be appropriate at the beginning of the year. « Encourage students to “write the letters you think you hear.” « Often children will write inappropriate letters and that’s okay for now.

15. Tips StepsExamples 16 Tips for Kid Writer Helpers « Ask the child to tell you about their drawing. « Repeat the child’s story back as one complete sentence.

16. Tips StepsExamples 17 “S-T-R-E-T-C-H” Words Say them slowly but DON’T break them down into individual sounds Say, “Watch my mouth and tell me what you hear when I say_____.” Have them write what they hear.

17. Tips StepsExamples 18 What if …. « The child has no idea what letter makes the sound? « Encourage the child to use a magic line. « (a horizontal blank line). « The child hears the letter but does not know how to write it? « Refer to the alphabet chart. « You are working with a small group and other children say the sound/letter to help out, « Say to the child writing, “Write what you hear.” « Say to the other students, “Thanks for helping.”

18. Tips StepsExamples 19 Praise the Child for Their Great Writing! « Underwrite the story in adult writing. « Point out any elements in the kid writing that matched the adult writing. « Read the story back with the child, pointing to each word as you read the adult writing. « Have the child read the story back pointing to the words as they read.

19. Tips StepsExamples 20 Cautions « Please be careful of: « Spelling « Printing clearly « Using capital letters ONLY where they belong PRAISE the child for their attempts and IGNORE the mistakes.

20. Tips StepsExamples 21 Examples of student work at different levels

21. Tips StepsExamples 22 Citations « Feldgus, Eileen, and Isabell Cardonick. Kid Writing. 2nded. Chicago, IL: Wright Group, 1999. « "At&t Labs." Text-to-Speech. 2 Dec 2007. Digital pictures taken by Michele Thomas « Feldgus, Eileen, and Isabell Cardonick. Kid Writing. 2nd  e d. Chicago, IL: Wright Group, 1999. Ā