Kindergarten Writers

Kindergarten is off to wonderful start as the students quickly made new friends, explored new classrooms and outdoor spaces, as well as the Lower School and Abington Friends School community. During the beginning days of school, several children were heard exclaiming, "This is the best day ever!" Wanting to dig a little deeper to further understand the excitement of the start of school, the first topic for our first writing workshop emerged. 

After a classroom discussion of the many "likes" of  being kindergartners, each writer had to narrow down the many likes and loves of their new grade to just one for our first kid-writing experience. This was a hard task, but the students were reassured that as the year progressed writing ideas could be expanded upon and more than one idea could and would be shared.

To hone in on the one idea, each writer began kid-writing by drawing a relevant picture of their one "like" of kindergarten, even though many "likes" were still swirling around in the heads! At the start of the school year, the students then copy writing prompts to begin their first writing sentences. This helps to model and support new writers as they develop an understanding of leaving spaces between words, printing proper letter formations and to practice using some beginning sight words.

After the writing prompt "I like to...", the word or words to follow were written by using the process called kid writing. The budding authors stretched out the words and then printed the letters they heard and could identify. Kid writing is used to strengthen the ability to connect letters and sounds as this process helps to develop and strengthen phonemic awareness- the ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds in words. As part of the reading process, students need to develop an awareness of how sounds in words work. As writers develop, readers are also developing! 

Throughout the year, kindergarten students will engage in a variety of writing activities to reflect upon experiences, write letters and create classroom books. Be sure to stop by the bulletin boards outside the kindergarten classrooms to see just a few "likes" our kindergartners have shared through their first writing activity of the year as new writers.