Learning to Write

You may wonder why your child brings home papers occasionally with incorrect spellings that haven't been corrected or marked by the teacher's pen.

Do you remember when your child learned to speak? She/he probably made many "mistakes" 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.

I plan to help your child learn to write the way you helped them learn 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, 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 errors are corrected, as other children will be readihg the story. We study high frequency words and word family words for our spelling tests. I want my students to study the words to improve their writing, not just for a test. Therefore, all words tested in spelling become words which the students must spell correctly in their daily writing.

I hope this has clarified this issue for you. Please remember to celebrate all successes, no matter how small they may seem. Every success is a building block to the next!