Kindergarten Writing

In kindergarten, emphasis is placed on the idea – what each student wants to write not on how to properly write it. Both of my children attended a writer’s workshop, a risk free developmental writing process. Their writing pieces were not corrected by their teachers and they were encouraged to use both pictures and words to tell a story.

Kindergarten Writing Ideas

Let each student select their own writing ideas. If a child struggles with writers block, ask questions, e.g., what did you do this weekend? Our kindergarten teacher did not give either of my children topics to write about; instead, they were encouraged to select their own topics based on personal experiences.

My daughter independently completed the following writing samples (after a group lesson and modeling by the teacher, of course).

My daughter wrote, “I youst to liv in phlodfa it was fon in phlodfa in my old Home” Translation: I used to live in Philadelphia. It was fun in Philadelphia in my old home.

My daughter drew this picture which accompanied the following statement: “I no about sckowl sckowl is abat lerning. in sckowl you haf to be neys.” Translation: I know about school. School is about learning. In school, you have to be nice.

Assist your child in spelling unknown words. Each word should have a beginning, middle and ending. In the early stages, a child represents sounds with letters but may most likely misspell the words.

Kindergarten Writing Worksheets

By the end of kindergarten a child should grasp the use of upper- and lowercase letters. He should use an uppercase letter for the beginning of a sentence and lowercase for the remainder. In addition, she should be able to correctly write her name using both upper and lower-case letters. Help your child achieve this milestone, print their name in large letters and let them trace over the letters. Make sure your child is holding the pencil correctly as well as forming letters properly. Consider completing our handwriting worksheets for each letter of the alphabet.

Kindergarten Writing Activities

Both of our children initially preferred to use all uppercase letters. The following fun activities can assist a child in recognizing and forming letters correctly:

  • Play a game. If you are feeling creative, use a poster board or piece of paper and draw a path. Next, have your child fill it with the letters of the alphabet (both upper- and lowercase letters). Grab a die and pawns from another game and begin playing. When your child lands on the letter have him say the letter and if interested trace it with his finger or write it on a piece of paper for a bonus roll.

  • Write labels. Using the sentence strips have your child write labels for items in your home. We incorporated this technique while organizing our daughter’s messy bedroom. We purchased small bins. Our daughter made the labels for each bin (e.g. Barbie dolls, polly pockets, etc.).

  • Make a book. Have your child make an ABC book, each page represents a letter. Your child can write both the upper- and lower case letters and then illustrate each page by drawing a picture. Consider labeling the picture or adding sentences.

  • Make a shopping list. Have your child assist you with the shopping list. Have him write some of the items you need (e.g. eggs, milk and apples).

  • Practice writing using nonconventional methods. Have your child practice writing in shaving cream or pudding (on a piece of wax paper). Use a wet sponge or chalk, to form letters on the sidewalk.

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