Welcome to Royal Oak Intermediate
Ideas for Family Writing Activities
Children become better readers by writing, and better writers by reading! Writing, like reading, is best learned when you have something real to write for a real purpose. You can find plenty of opportunities at home for your children to write.
Lists: Families make these all the time: shopping lists, to-do lists, invitation lists, holiday packing lists. Encourage your children to make lists of their own.
Ideas: birthdays of family and friends, chores, school assignments, top-ten lists.
Notes: Encourage your children to jot notes to family members and capture special moments in writing.
Ideas: saying goodbye to grandparents after a summer vacation, the taste of a chocolate chip ice cream, a booster message for a sibling facing a challenge, a love note to a parent, a thank you note.
Journals and diaries: In the process of writing, journal writers often come to deeper understanding of their lives. The journal becomes a precious keepsake as the journal writer continues through life. Make a diary or journal an annual essential of Christmas giving.
Dialogue journals: These are a written conversation between a parent and child, usually in a notebook passed back and forth at different times of day. This is a way for a parent to develop a deeper relationship with a child – questions, answers, encouragements, apologies, and words of affection can be written that might never be spoken.
Letters and e-mails: Letters can help children stay in touch with distant family members. All children love getting a letter or e-mail back. Getting into the habit of letter-writing can become a lifetime pleasure.
Birthday and special-event books: Provide blank books for family members and guests at birthday parties and special events so they can write personal notes and wishes. These become treasured archives of people and occasions.
Parodies: Make it a family thing to write spoofs of songs, poems and advertisements to mark special occasions or achievements.
Home-based writing should be enjoyable, real and frequent.
Make the writing an authentic part of everyday life. Avoid making it overly instructional. Give a quick response to requests for help rather than subjecting children to a lengthy ordeal of explanations or looking up words or
Don’t be overly concerned with grammar and spelling. Pointing out children’s shortcomings will discourage them from writing. Keep a dictionary close to hand and let your children see you using it to check a word in your own writing. Your attitude to spelling and grammar will naturally influence theirs without your having to make correctness a bugbear that takes away the pleasure from their writing.
Always have writing materials available – pens, pencils, coloured markers, paper and staplers. Visit stationery shops to find attractive paper clips, stickers, notebooks and blank cards. The family writing kit should include envelopes, postage stamps and scissors. When shopping with your children, look out for items to add to the collection.
Acknowledgement: “Write Soon!” by Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak in The
