

The goal was simply to keep the pencil moving. (I typed this out for my younger students so they began to feel like writers, too.) The next Friday, they chose one topic to freewrite about for five minutes. On the first Friday, each child made a list of subjects they loved and knew a lot about. My littles enjoy the daily routine and I’ve already seen their attention to detail growing along with their letter formation.įurthermore, we do this activity together, down to the three year old, and it creates a general feeling of teamwork and camaraderie centered around our writing. My older students enjoy the passages I pick for them and I often have to take the book away so they don’t sit and inhale an entire chapter instead of copying their paragraph. Working under the assumption that when children copy and write the good works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry that others have created and learn to notice different elements of story, they internalize it and add it to their own literary toolbox, we began daily copywork. My kids were wary at first but they quickly saw the fun and willingly jumped in to a new writing Lifestyle with me.


We played several of the games Bogart suggests to get the children to enjoy wordplay and see the importance of communicating thoughts clearly. I began by earning back my children’s trust. This will guide them to the next stage and avoid frustration.Īrmed with these key points and the myriad of ideas and suggestions from the book, we started fresh with a new semester. I need to recognize what stage my child is in as a developing writer and teach to their strengths where they are.
