My first-grader has become very reluctant about writing anything. I know that in the schools, they are keeping journals at this age, but I just don't feel he's ready for that. However, I do try to encourage him to write things when he can. A few months ago, he was in time-out in his room, and he brought me a note he'd hand written. It said: "Moma, I wot to tl ou sompthng" (Mama, I want to tell you something.) Which, proved to me that he does have enough grasp of letter sounds to string together a sentence. But now I can't even get him to phonetically write out a word (unless you count his spelling tests, which so far have been 3-letter or less words from his ZB workbook). The other day, he wanted me to add something to the grocery list. I told him I'd add it if he wrote it himself, without any help from me. And that he didn't have to worry about spelling it just right because I'd know what he was writing by the sounds the letters made. He wouldn't even try! Any ideas on how to encourage him to write again? Or would you just back off for now? Thanks!
I would back off. Most likely your son is just not there yet. Many kids worry so much about spelling and handwriting, that they simply refuse to write. In the mean time, try working on fine motor skills. Draw, color, paint, work with clay...anything that uses those little fingers. Make a game out of picking up dried beans with chopsticks or tweezers. He will start writing more as he is ready - especially if the writing is meaningful to him (letters, postcards, secret messages, comic strips, etc.) Good Luck!!
Just what I'd do: I'd leave it alone. My 6yo's fine motor skills simply aren't there yet. There is NO WAY he could do what the ps are doing in terms of writing (the physical process), which I am quite certain would impact his progress in writing (thinking composition). If he had to keep a journal, I expect it would be full of pictures with a word or two. What is working for us right now: Twice a week, he traces his spelling words. This is more about practicing writing than spelling. Twice a week, he does a worksheet I generate where he practices correct formation of printing one letter, upper and lower case, 12times (half traced, half just written). And, lucky for me, a lot of what we're doing in French and history call for tracing, coloring, and drawing - oh, say, 4 to 5 more pages of coloring/drawing per week. I had him doing some copywork - not really copying, but tracing - but it was really too much. He virtually never does math on paper, and I have him respond orally to everything else possible. In terms of a single day, the more he writes, the worse (and I mean WORSE) it looks. By limiting what I require of him in terms of writing, I find he is more willing to make an effort. Sometimes this backfires - he did the SOTW familiy history book. I was completely willing to "take dictation" and fill in the blanks for him. He insisted on doing it himself. This started out meaning it took a half hour (or more) for him to fill in one page of blanks, and ended up with him avoiding doing the assignment at all (because it was a lot of effort, but he didn't really want any help, kwim?) I ended up "scheduling" the work for him - basically only having him interview one family member per day.
I have copies of things my son (now 12) wrote when he was in 1st grade in ps and they look exactly like that. He spelled "cereal and juice" "cel n juicn" His teacher said "Don't worry he's spelling it how he's hearing it and will soon develop (as he grows and matures) to a point where he doesn't do it anymore" and guess what? he doesn't do it anymore! I saw such a variation when he was in ps - some kids would write 3 paragraphs and some would write 3 sentences. IMHO, both are fine. I would suggest (as someone else did) backing off and just write to write - no correcting, no nagging, etc. just make sure you don't get to a point where he hates writing- just make it fun for now. It has worked with my ds - who HATES to write -but can do it. Jane
I would back off for a couple of weeks and then slowly reintroduce. You could start doing journal sheets like they do in dd's ps k class. She has a big space on the top to color a picture and then 1-2 lines underneath to write her sentence. Her teacher will also give them a sheet of sight words printed out (or they are hanging in the room) that they can copy from to get the spelling right. It made it a little more fun for her and she was very reluctant at the begining of the year to write. It is still not her favorite but she does it. You could also play games like post office where you each write little notes or questions. We did that with dd and she really liked it. Try to find what would make it fun for him. Good luck and I hope things get better.
When my oldest was in 1st grade, I used www.edhelper.com writing worksheet creator to create a journal log for her for the day. It always started with "My name is...today's day/date is....my address is....my phone number is...and then she'd help me come up with a few sentences about the day that she wanted to remember." She would trace it - I did this for the first part of 2nd grade too...but she wanted to learn cursive so I had to move on.... It's fun to see those jounal pages now...AND it has really trained her hands! Hope this helps!
make it fun again get a sheet of magnet with stick back and then print tiles on your computer with the letters on them...then let him try to stick those together on a small magnet board to make words that way....then when he's more confident you can have him write them again.
I would encourage him to continue and when he does well, praise him for a job well done. Sometimes learning certain things are fun, but it is just a part of life. Make it into a game.
My two are reluctant writers as well. What I've done for their 'journaling' is to come up with silly topics. They write about what kind of animal they'd like to be and why [which usually amounts to 2 short sentences]. They write about what they want to be when they grow up [again, it's usually 2 sentences long]. Anyway, I let them share their answers aloud with me, and we laugh and talk about them. That's really made them better about writing. Plus, I let them decorate a 3 ring binder that's just for their journal writing. They like 3-hole-punching their papers and putting them in. Go figure. I have no clue why that should make it thrilling, but it does.
I would also have him do copywork every day. I really believe it helps! I get copywork from I read aloud to him, or history quotes, or whatever. I was typing them up, with a larger font and 1.5 spacing, so it was easier to see than copying from a book. I would also give him some of that paper that has lines below and space for a picture at the top. I would still have him do a journal, but modify it to where he's drawing the picture, and then telling you about it. You write his words down on the lined part. (You can buy a tablet of this paper at the store; I think Crayola makes it!)
I use a site that has HW sheets where you put in the sentence or words that you want them to write, and then they copy it on the lines below. I do it using personal things of my son's, like one had a sentence about Baby Bear (his favorite stuffed animal) and one about his new baby brother, another about his favorite video game. It helped him to want to write, but I also only got him to copy it 2-3 times, max. Also, I use a wipe-off marker board and have him write words on it. It seems to be funner than using pencil and paper so he's more willing to do it. One last thing, I don't know why we as HS moms think everything has to be done the exact way PS do them -- half of the time we are HS bc we don't agree with the PS way of doing things. I say back off a little and slowly reintroduce writing in a fun way. There is PLENTY of time for him to learn how to write, and plenty of time where he will HAVE to write as he gets older. I'd just relax and take things slow. Hope this helps! Oh, I forgot, here's the site: http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/
Thanks for all the great input, ladies! I knew I'd get good advice here. The funny thing is, I bought one of those journal books for DS over the summer and now I can't find it! :lol: Guess I need to look a little harder. He doesn't mind writing when it's in his spelling workbook, or even his handwriting book. It's just when I'm asking him to write something on his own that he wigs out on me. I like the idea of a sight word "word wall"...I think that would help a lot. Thanks again for replying!
Just my own experience BUT my son was not ready last year for writing. He hated it, it was a fight and he just didn't want to do it. I tried everything rewarding and punishing and it just didn't work for us... this year is a 100% difference. He seems more ready for it and doesn't complain about it anymore; well, not like before. He doesn't seem to mind it like he did before. So it may just be a matter of giving him more time.
I made some of my own things on the computer. I will use a picture of like a car & a dog. Give them some site words they know in a little box maybe 10 or so and let them try to create their own sentence about the dog and car. IE... My dog is brown or something like that.
Have you heard of Draw, Write, Now? We loved it and they have a ton of levels. Baically the kids copy a sentence and then draw a picture to go with it. http://www.drawyourworld.com/
My dd 6, can write a basic sentence, but her journal is NOT for that... Even in school, their "Journals" are for them to find some FUN in writing.. it is NOT for doing it "Right". It is for exploring holding the pencil, writing what comes to mind, spelling be damned.... It offers them ONE opportunity, in their day, to write with no restrictions or fear of corrections... There is value in it. If they do not learn to enjoy, even if slightly, to write freely without correction, then their spirit is squelched. Journal time, for us, is a few moments when they can doodle a picture and write something about it, be it in regular sentence form, or cartoon form, or what have you.. exploration of the medium, really... With out me correcting them.. there is enough of that in writing, grammar, lapbooks, history, etc.. Also, they have a WORD BOOK to use as a reference... It is a book (You can make your own) of commonly used words. They have blank spaces to add new words as they need to. Stops the "How do you spell" fits.... They copy the words out of the book, learning how to alphabetize. Plus the stuff they come up with is a riot in a couple of years when you flip back through their journals...
I'd like to SECOND the journal. My 2nd grader wrote a book herself. She put stickers on some pages, wrote some things about the stickers and then stapled it together. We read it with her (it didn't make much sense) but we praised and praised her on her creativity. She made another. And another. They improved. He spelling improved along with her handwriting. She showed one to my mom when my mom was visiting. My mom gave her "constructive criticism." She told her she needed to work on her spelling, her handwriting etc. You should have seen my DD's face fall. She didn't make another book for a long time. There is a time and place to help correct. When there are lessons for spelling, we correct spelling. When there are lessons for handwriting we correct handwriting. But when she's being creative we let her be. It's a balance between teaching the mechanics and letting the child learn to love it. I wouldn't ever praise her so much she'd end up on American Idol as one of the bad singers and not know she didn't sound good. But then I wouldn't squish her desire out. Just my 2 cents
The journalling dd does in school is really just to get them to start writting using simple ideas. Sometimes it is about a book they just read or right now there are alot of things about snow. She just did one sheet where she had to finish the sentence "I like snow because..." and then draw a picture. Maybe doing sentences you start or topics like , my mittens, hot chocolate tastes... just simple little things. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to most areas of learning.
