If anything ever was more frustrating to me as a kindergarten teacher, trying to teach my students to write and enjoy it has long outlasted that memory. Have you ever tried to get a group of 22 – 24 kindergarteners to sit still, attend to a lesson about writing, and actually walked away feeling successful? Me either…until now!
As a homeschooling mama of 5 year old triplets, I wanted a format that would allow me to teach these little people to learn to love writing straight out of the gate. I searched, read, researched, and finally decided on this book.
Day 1
I may not be the “normal” homeschooling mother. I have structure to my day and routines play a huge roll in that. Teaching Writing in Kindergarten suggests that the school day should begin with writing. This was a huge struggle for me. I have always – in traditional school settings and the homeschool setting – begun my day with calendar. Why? Because calendar is cross-curricular and I love starting my day touching so many different areas of learning.
However, if I was going to use this format, I better follow her advice…at least until I found out it wouldn’t work for us, right? So, I took 20 years of a teaching schedule and changed it for the love of writing.
Guess what I found! Beginning my day with writing was also cross-curricular; and, more than that, my children were responding to the lessons with enthusiasm. The first day we drew a detailed picture and labeled it. We were finished in about 20 minutes. On day 2, they headed into our classroom ready to pull their journals and begin writing, and it has been that way every day since.
Format
Randee Bergen has a fabulous layout in this book. It allows you to pick up the book the weekend before you begin to teach, and enter the room on Monday ready to implement the first section. You do not feel the need to read everything at once as you may with some manuals.
Her structured approach allows even the beginning teacher to plan and implement a solid lesson.
Our Progress
My children are truly enjoying writing! This makes the teacher in me happy, and the mama in me proud. I would, and do, highly recommend this book to all of my teacher friends in the classrooms and at home.
My children have, in less than 2 months, progressed from a single word label to simple sentences. We use inventive spelling when needed, but they are able to unlock (AKA decode) many words.
Below I have several samples of their work. The first one is from one of our very first lessons. Detailed drawings are very important to future writing because children learn to attend to the details and transfer that to their writing at a later time.
My children enjoy tapping into their creative side. This writing structure allows children to be individuals in a corporate learning setting. I feel this plays a huge role in keeping them excited and happy during writing.
These next two samples show how we use inventive spelling and our ability to unlock words in our writing each day. We have a word wall for reference, daily phonics instruction, and phonemic awareness which allows them to write their sentences without frustration.
Take note of the inventive spelling for juicy. This isn’t a word they are able to unlock as of yet.
Going Forward
At present, we are still in the “I Do, You Help” portion of the gradual release model. As the months role on, we will quickly move into the “You Do, I Help” portion. I believe I will post an update on their progress at that point. Would that be something you would like to see?
Until then, I highly recommend you grab your own copy of this book to use with your students. Classroom teachers will love the detail she provides in the area of instructing every child. Homeschool parents will appreciate the easy instructions and structured approach that will allow you to implement the day after you receive the book. Concerned parents of struggling early childhood writers can even use this book to beef up writing at home with a 15 minute mini-writing lesson.
