Beginning Writing

With the start of a new year, kindergarten students are working on sharing their thoughts and feelings through written word and drawing.  Students are encouraged to use inventive or transitional spelling. Students should be able to write several words correctly on their own.
  When a child does not know how to write a word they can use inventive spelling.  This is stretching out a word very slowly out loud and writing the letters for the sounds they heard.  Many times students have difficulty hearing the middle sounds in a word, however they are able to get the beginning and end sounds.  This is an important skill for beginner writers.  Encouraging your child to stretch out words at home is a great way to support this skill.  Other activities would be to write and illustrate a story together or have your child help you make a grocery list or list of things to do.