I am a huge fan of inviting young children to write all throughout the day. In order to get my students writing all through out the day, I have to fill my classroom with opportunities to write.
When I use the word “writing,” I am referring to anything that invites a young child to pick up a crayon, marker, pencil, or even their finger to write. draw, or make marks with…
To encourage writing all around the classroom, I am constantly looking for ways to provide different writing experiences. We keep a set of small clipboards on the back of this book shelf…
On most days, the boards are filled with blank sheets of white paper but on some days, I design a game or provide a drawing prompt on the boards. The above writing prompt was set out on a day we were making both real and pretend pizzas for taking pizza orders. On the photo below, each child was invited to complete a friendship quilt by asking each of their friends to color in a square on the quilt.
My students love charts, order forms, and other prompts for writing. There is no right way or wrong way of using the writing prompts. They are simply provided to encourage the children to make their marks…
But of course, providing blank sheets of paper for writing and drawing is a must do! My students love to take their clipboards all around the classroom throughout the day. Getting young children to want to write needs to be meaningful and fun!!!
Most of my students (ages 3 to 5) are not reading yet, but they are still able to make their marks, write most letter symbols, and almost all of the children can print their name. In the mornings, my students always sign-in on our sign-in board. We change up the sign-in sheet periodically throughout the school year, but the morning routine is always the same…
The children are always invited to write at our math table. Well actually, I didn’t invite them – the children just insisted that I keep paper and pencil at the math table so I have been happy to follow their interest…
Anywhere I can find an opportunity to slip in writing and drawing tools or processes, I will do so…
Any type of materials we can use to promote writing and drawing, I will use…
And any place I can set up for drawing, I will find a way…
Whether we are inside or outside…
Or in our outdoor classroom…
We always want to provide opportunities to write…
Links to Grow On
Ten Tips for Keeping a Journal in Preschool by Teach Preschool
Five Tips for Taking Journals Outside by Teach Preschool
Pizza Toss Drawing Game by Teach Preschool
