Your First-Grader and Writing
In Your Child's Classroom
What will my first-grader learn about writing?
First-graders write daily about different topics. Your child may write by himself, in small groups or with the whole class. He's likely to write creative stories, letters, poems and songs.
He learns that there are different reasons for writing, such as sharing information or persuading the reader. He may write a patterned book (in which the same words and phrases are used repeatedly) that is modeled after a book read in class, such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Or he may contribute a page to a book the class creates about a field trip.
First-graders typically write in a journal several times a week. This helps your child to build writing skills and develop ideas for stories. Children may write in their journals about any subject, such as a class science activity.
Nicola Salvatico, our consulting teacher and the 2005 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, notes: "Journal writing allows children to take risks where they do not need to worry about spelling, punctuation and other aspects. It is used to allow children to express themselves in a nonthreatening venue where they can also watch their growth through the process."
Your child is encouraged to connect her writing to her daily life and focus on things that are important to her. She may write about what she does after school - noting events in the order they occur - or about her pet.
Your child learns the mechanics of writing, such as spelling and handwriting, as he works. The teacher may model appropriate writing techniques and strategies such as how to use descriptive words or correct punctuation.
Your child learns the process of writing using these steps:
- Prewriting
- Drafting
- Revising
- Editing
- Publishing
- Sharing
This process helps your child with the organization and thinking required to write a story. Sharing pieces of literature is also a powerful technique to help children expand their writing. Discussing their ideas with partners during the prewriting stage can help children focus, improve the content and details in their stories and understand the writing process.
Salvatico explains: "First-grade writers share their experiences through their writing. By taking ownership of their topics, tremendous growth is seen in spelling, story content and conventions of writing. The student's voice begins to emerge, and writing for the reader becomes the focus. Authors are born!"
View examples of first-grade writing, in various stages of the writing process, from the Federal Way Public Schools in Washington state.
