When children write, we are amazed at how much more they can learn than we ever expected.
Dictation in writing should flow naturally, it should start with them listening to stories, to telling stories, all the way through them writing the stories. Look at it this way, children listen even in the womb, then as toddlers they start to speak, then they like to draw (a lot!), and then we take dictation from them. They tell us about their art, they write on their own and then children read what they write. It's a natural progression.
Three steps to writing for art:
The art is first. A kindergartener has made a design with Pattern Blocks, and has a Pattern Block Template which allows her to reproduce the picture on her paper and then she can write about it. When students are designing and creating the art, they know that they are going to write about the art. We don't have the "I don't know what to write about" problem. They all know because they have done the art and they know what they are going to say about it.
Second, we have the students write. We want students to write with the correct spelling. It is HUGE, it is so simple and it takes away so much stress. Educators tell me once they get the spelling problem taken care of their writing just flows. So we have created a Custom Spelling Dictionary (available on our website and Amazon). This book is made well with thick pages and a plastic cover, it was made to be durable so students can get their Custom Spelling Dictionary in kindergarten and carry it with them for as long as they need it, it is made to last. When a student wants to know how to spell a word, they open their dictionary up to the correct beginning letter page, they ask an adult to spell it for them, the adult writes the word and then the student copies the correctly spelled word into their story. It is very quick and easy. In October of my youngest son’s kindergarten year, we were robbed. My son was upset about it and all he wanted to do was write. He wrote and wrote and wrote about this experience, but he didn't know how to spell anything. We gave him a spelling dictionary and although it required some help with finding the correct pages, he used it to write all about the detectives and everything that happened. When students ask how to spell a word, please don't give them a spelling lesson. All students learn from 'spelling lessons' is not to ask the teacher how to spell a word because you will get a long drawn out spelling lesson. If they ask how to spell a word and they have their dictionary, just write it down. This method prevents a delay in their train of thought and gets them back to their work as quickly as possible.
The final step is for their story to be edited. In the hustle and bustle of the classroom you won't catch everything, but you can get enough of it and that experience with them is impactful. It is much better than a bunch of worksheets on all the different aspects of writing. They understand the writing process and why things are edited, changed and moved around. Once the editing has occurred students take a thin felt tip marker or pen and they trace over the edited writing. It is practice for them. Why a pen? If you said to take a pencil and trace over it, a majority of students won't be interested. You give them a felt tip pen and they want to trace over it and use the pen, it becomes a special treat that is furthering their learning.
It does take time to edit writing and answer spelling questions. I first saw this in a class of 32 elementary students. I first thought, "How in the world does the teacher find time to edit?" When they finish their story, before it's been edited they have a place to put their story; it is an editing shelf. The students know their story will get edited and they place it there until it is time. This allows the teacher to work through the pile and spend time with each student while the others work. The fact that the art and tracing take a lot of time, allows for the teacher to work with students one on one as they finish their stories.
It is a good idea to have some white labels available. Occasionally while students are tracing with the pen they will make a mistake. Since the writing is in pen they are unable to erase it. They should know where the stickers are, if they make a mistake, they go get the stickers and it allows the student to fix it and resume instead of starting over or getting frustrated.
I know there is a debate over invented spelling. My perspective is: because there is no such thing as invented reading, we should not have something like invented spelling. Students read what they write and their friends read what they write. If it is all gibberish then you lose the reading part of it. So please, let's get the spelling right so that children and their friends can read their writing. Because spelling is accurate, we have classrooms full of authors and readers. It starts early on in kindergarten.
Math manipulatives are one of my favorite ways to have students create the art. Tangram pictures are powerful, there are hundreds of them available. Using tangrams as an example, here is the flow of creating art with math manipulatives:
The options are endless! Now your classroom is covered with art and writing from your students.
A student in first grade had learned the names of the tangrams and soon discovered that Tangrams were all around her. One day she found out that one of the pieces, a parallelogram, was really inside a toilet paper roll! So she brought it to school, and the teacher had her paste it on a piece of paper and write a story about it. She wrote "This is a parallelogram, how did I make it? I ripped open a toilet paper roll!" How creative! Another wonderful tool is the Pattern Blocks. The art is amazing with Pattern Blocks.
Now that we have cameras in our phones it makes it much easier to write about 3-D art and student creations. If a student creates a logo structure, or something from elements of nature, the teacher can easily take a photo, clip it to their paper and now they can write about it.
Here are some art/writing examples you can try with your students:
Writing is in every subject. I love the game Race for 1,000. It is one of the best games to help students learn place value. When they play the game, let students write about it. Often when they write about it, it cements the idea into their head. We all know Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, but it's not only a book to read, it is also a pattern for other books that kids can write themselves. Another example would be ABC books. In a classroom each student contributes a page, the pages are then combined to make a book students can read. The ABC book can also focus on varied subjects, ABC's of occupations, foods, historical events, anything you can think of. Students can dictate or they can write, but the art and the ideas stem from them.
Let's not forget, reading and writing are cousins. When you improve the reading, you improve the writing. When you improve the writing, you improve the reading. They are cousins, they go together. Students can learn far more than we expected and the idea of art and writing starting as early as possible will result in creativity and learning that will surpass your expectations.
