Oral history is a method to learn about past events from the spoken stories of people who lived through them. When students conduct oral history research with members of their families or community they are participating in active learning rooted in the student’s own experience. Students are actively engaged in collecting data when they do oral histories. Not only are they learning history, they are learning to be historians.
The “paragraph hamburger” is a writing organizer that visually outlines the key components of a paragraph — topic sentence, detail sentences, and a closing sentence.
Persuasive writing is a form of writing where the writer attempts to convince or persuade the audience to adopt a particular point of view or take a specific action through the development of logical arguments and a cohesive summary. Young children can be guided through a series of simple steps in an effort to develop their persuasive writing skills.
This paper presents six principles designed to prevent writing difficulties as well as to build writing skills: (a) providing effective writing instruction, (b) tailoring instruction to meet the individual needs,(c) intervening early, (d) expecting that each child will learn to write, (e) identifying and addressing roadblocks to writing, and (f) employing technologies.
An effective way to begin the writing process is to focus on prewriting, which involves organizing ideas, setting goals, and exploring topics. Learn about technology-enhanced strategies to help students create a “road map” that can guide them through the writing process.
In this overview, learn how early literacy benefits from both print-to-speech and speech-to-print instruction, creating connections in the brain that link new knowledge about the alphabet to what children already know and are continuously learning about words.
Calendars help young children learn the basics of the days of the week and the months of the year. Your family calendar offers opportunities for other learning as well, including vocabulary, sequencing, and math.
RAFT is a writing strategy that encourages students to write creatively, to consider a topic from a different perspective, and to gain practice writing for different audiences.
Students must be taught to write and then be expected to write for a variety of purposes to a variety of audiences, including in mathematics, science, and social studies. As part of building the writing prowess of students, they must write routinely, both short and long pieces. As part of a comprehensive writing curriculum, students’ writing fluency should be fostered, students should participate in lessons designed to build their composing skills, and students must learn to write from the sources that they read.
From handwriting to personal stories to persuasive writing to explaining how to do something, writing is a critical skill. Developing good writing skills strengthens a child’s vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling skills.
In this special Reading Rockets video series, experts answer real questions from families about reading and writing, and how to support their children’s literacy at home.
In this special Reading Rockets video series, experts answer real questions from families about writing and how to support their children’s literacy at home.
Give your child lots of opportunities to read aloud. Inspire your young reader to practice every day! The tips below offer some fun ways you can help your child become a happy and confident reader. Try a new tip each week. See what works best for your child.
