Supporting Children as Early Writers

In her article that forms the basis of the "Out of the Box" Training Kit, Teaching Children to Become Writers, Evelyn Lieberman discusses the teacher’s important role in helping parents support children’s early writing efforts.

She writes: "All parents send their children to school to learn to read and write, expecting to see correct penmanship and spelling. This is not what happens in preschool. Teachers need to help parents see and celebrate the early steps in writing development. When a child writes his or her name using the correct first letter and six, short, straight lines, a teacher shows the sample to a parent and says, 'Look at this! Your child knows there are seven marks in his name...Eventually, these marks will become letters. He knows a lot about writing his name.'

"A teacher can approach a child’s father and say, 'Look what your daughter knows about writing her name! She knows writing goes from left to right, it goes up and down, and is a horizontal zig-zag line'...The father will likely take the writing home, share it with family, and post it on the refrigerator. [His daughter's] self-esteem will go up. She knows she is becoming a writer."

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