How Can I Help My Child with Writing?

• Buy books as presents
• Play games such as Scrabble that focus on letter patterns
• Take an active interest in TV programs watched by children
• Talk with children about their interests
• Take delight in children's use of new words and encourage them to use the words in conversation
• Try simple crosswords with children
• Encourage children to write riddles, puzzles or letters for the children's pages of newspapers
• Encourage children to write postcards, letters, lists
• Help children to contribute to writing family shopping lists
• Ask children to underline any words that they think are misspelled in their writing
• Let children see that adults consult dictionaries
• Encourage children to read a variety of functional material eg simple recipes, TV guides, newspapers, how to make...
• Show children how adults spell a difficult word eg write it two or three times and choose the one that looks right
• Be patient and supportive
• Encourage children to make up plays for the family (children may write the script)
• Buy puzzle books that include word games
• Talk about informational books like atlases or street directories and how they are set out eg contents, index, glossary, headings, diagrams, graphs etc
• Talk about ways to remember the spelling of tricky words eg the word "here" is in "there"
• Take children to see suitable "live" theatre performances
• Help children see relationships among words
• Help children make generalisations about spelling
• Encourage children to write stories or books for younger brothers and sisters
• Talk about the layout of newspapers
• Write family rosters
• Be prepared to talk through homework tasks so that children clarify their planning and thinking
• Talk about writing tasks undertaken at school
• Provide a quiet study area for children
• Be prepared to discuss writing tasks with children
• Encourage children to continue to read and write for information and pleasure
• Discuss current events
• Talk about the mass media and its influence on society
• Encourage children to use writing to get things done eg letters to politicians, newspapers etc
• Encourage children to use writing to express their feelings and respect their privacy if they choose to keep personal diaries or letters
• Play word games, talk about word meanings
• Encourage children to use dictionaries and thesauruses independently
• Understand that the process of writing and refining writing for publication takes time
• Understand that writing is for different purposes and audiences
• Understand that different types of writing require different language, setting out and special vocabulary eg a business letter is not the same as a letter to a pen pal