How much writing do you have your kindergarten students do? If you’re anything like me, it can be a struggle. Why can it be so hard? Well, simple writing is such a complex process! When you are teaching writing skills in kindergarten, you have to think about so many aspects like phonics and letter recognition. That’s why I started using these writing resources to help develop fundamental skills to being great writers!
Why Writing Practice Is Important in Kindergarten
Writing is an important skill for students to learn because writing will help with vocabulary, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Writing helps with vocabulary because students have to use it in their writing. Then, when students proofread their work, they are working on their reading comprehension because what they write needs to make sense. All of these will help students grow in their writing and more!
Using Phonics to Develop Writing Skills in Kindergarten
Phonics is an important part of learning how to read and write. You can use sound charts to help your students recognize letters and their sounds with visual cues! Having sound charts around the room can help students sound out words when they are trying to read or write them. Use your sound charts as a reference for playing phonetic bingo, matching, playing with alphabet puzzles and more!
Practice Letter Formation while Writing
Obviously when you are teaching students to write, they are going to need to be able to write the actual letters on paper. While we live in a technology driven world, it’s still important that students know how to write their letters neatly. Having alphabet charts on the wall can be a great reference for students as they first start writing. Plus, seeing the letters all around the room, will help them retain what the letters look like.
How to Start Writing In Kindergarten
We know writing is an important skill that we can learn in kindergarten. However, what do we have kindergarteners write? I personally like to use journals in a variety of subjects. Students can use their journals as exit slips during centers or during a designated writing time.
Writing Journals to Develop Writing Skills in Kindergarten
There are many ways you can practice writing in the classroom. Journals are a good way to start! I like to have my students create their own journals with these editable binder covers for math, reading, and writing journals. When students write in these journals, it’s an ongoing process. Therefore, you want to make sure they stay neat and organized.
How to Organize Journals for Kindergarten
If you are using ongoing writing journals to develop writing skills in kindergarten, you want to make sure they are durable and easy to keep track of. That’s why I like to use page protectors for pages that are done. These page protectors that you can find on Amazon keeps everything organized for your young writers. Plus, nothing gets all wrinkled!
If you like to send parts of your journal home or your students are finished with a page, you can also use these folders. These heavy duty folders from Amazon are perfect for sending materials home for e-learning days that will later go in your interactive journals. Plus, students can develop writing skills in kindergarten at home as well as in school. You can even use these to send journal entries home for students to share with family. 
Finally, you want students to have some ownership in their journals. A great way to do that is allow them to color the editable pages as well as decorate their journals with stickers. You can print your own stickers on these sheets from Amazon. Plus, you can print out stickers to put in your students’ journal pages when they are stellar!
Develop Writing Skills in Kindergarten with Ease!
Writing is no easy task. However, having visual cues and journals that are easy to manage is a great way to start to develop writing skills in kindergarten. Whenever you give students writing practice, you’re giving them an opportunity to grow their skills which will help them not only with writing but with reading too. If you’re looking for great writing resources, make sure you check out my store at Adventures in Kinder and Beyond!
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