Teaching Writing in Kindergarten
Teaching writing in kindergarten can be a challenging task, but with these resources, it can be a breeze! (OK, well maybe not a breeze, but maybe it will be a bit easier for you). Now, after using some of these strategies, I can’t believe there was ever a time that I did not enjoy teaching writing! It now is one of my favorite subjects to teach! I think it has *a little* to do with the fact that several of my students come to school not even knowing how to write their names, and leave writing complete, thoughtful sentences! It’s just so gratifying!
3 Activities for Teaching Writing in Kindergarten
On top of gathering writing samples for portfolios, there are additional activities that can make teaching kindergarten writing a smooth experience! If you’re not quite sure how to teach writing in kindergarten, these activities can be a great place to start
1. Class Books
One of my favorite ways to incorporate writing in kindergarten into my lessons is to make class books. These books are fun because my students are the authors, and it really helps them to understand how books are made. Then we put the class books into our classroom library and they are hands down always the favorite to read!
I made this little book to use at the beginning of the school year. This class book is titled At School and it’s all about what we like to do at school {or what we can do at school, depending on what I’m in the mood for ;)}
I glued the cover page onto construction paper and tied the book together with ribbon.Here’s my sample page on the inside:
I love having my students write the books themselves, and usually “translate” under their words. However, you could always have your students dictate their sentence to you and just have them draw their picture.
2. Monthly Journal Writing
I always incorporate a writing station into my language arts rotations when teaching writing in kindergarten. My students write in their journals every day. Some days I give them a topic or a sentence stem, some days I let them free write, whatever their little hearts desire! Here’s what our monthly journals look like {without any writing because I’m still on summer vacation muahaha!}
Each month, I make them a new journal with a themed cover and I copy the vocabulary words onto the back of the front cover. I really encourage inventive and “best guess” spelling so the words are by no means meant for my students to spell their monthly words correctly. I just provide them as a guide to help my students brainstorm what they will write about.
I keep all their journals through the year and then wrap them up with a cute bow. Then I leave their journals out on their desks when we have Open House at the end of the school year. The kids and the parents love to see their growth through the year! You can find these journals in my shop!
Journal Writing Monthly Templates
3. Monthly Word Cards
I also incorporate the monthly words into a word work station to help teach writing in kindergarten. At this station, I do encourage correct spelling of both sight words and vocabulary words. I print the monthly themed words onto card stock and place them in a pocket chart.
My students use the cards to complete the writing pages. Here are some samples from my Fall Words:
It includes four options for the writing practice to help differentiate the levels of my students.
Classroom Labels with Pictures
Whether you’re a brand new kindergarten teacher or you’re very familiar with this age group, I hope that this post has given you some fun ideas for teaching writing in kindergarten.
Save These Kindergarten Writing Activities
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find it when you’re looking for kindergarten writing strategies and resources.
