When you think of teaching writing in kindergarten, what comes to mind? What do you teach your kindergarten writer? Narration, copywork, handwriting, journaling, writers’ workshop, and writing prompts are common types of writing for kindergarten. Once you understand each writing type you can make an informed decision about what type of writing fits you and your child best.
Definition of “Writing”
Parents use a variety of types of “writing” with their kindergartners. Writing is in quotation marks because “writing” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. Some activities we call “writing” don’t involve much writing in its true sense.
When you Google the word “writing” the top search result is the following:
Writing is the activity or skill of marking coherent words on paper and composing text.
Writing…
- is the process of putting our thoughts into words on paper
- it requires thinking about how to organize those thoughts, choose the best writing form, and use appropriate writing mechanics so their writing make sense to the reader
- is expressing ideas
- is a complex process
Types of “Writing” for Kindergarten
Here are seven common types of writing you commonly see in kindergarten homeschools and traditional schools.
Narration
Narration is when a child tells you the words and you do the physical act of transcription. The child does not need to hold a pencil. He is taking the ideas in his head and composing them into something you can write down. This is the hard mental work of writing.
There are many ways to use narration. Kids can retell a story, tell about their favorite part, or share something they learned. Here’s a list of narration ideas from Simply Charlotte Mason.
Copywork
Copywork is the physical act of copying down something someone else has written. It tests a child’s visual memory as they have to pay attention to each letter and each word and spacing. Copywork models good composition, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. You can use it to introduce kids to different writing genres too.
Charlotte Mason was also an advocate of copywork. She believed children should transcribe their favorite passages from literature and poetry to make it meaningful and enjoyable.
Handwriting
By definition, handwriting is not writing. It’s the process of writing something by hand with a pen or pencil. For kindergarten, the purpose of handwriting is to learn proper letter formation while working on hand-eye coordination, pencil grip, and directionality.
Handwriting is similar to copywork in that the child does not have to compose the text. Often times you see kindergarteners using handwriting workbooks that teach the upper and lower case letters and numbers.
Here are free handwriting pages from The Measured Mom.
Journaling
Some parents make journals for their children. Journals are simply blank books in which kids can write about their day or something significant that happened to them. They can write about what they had for breakfast, a book they read, or a recent trip to the playground.
Writers’ Workshop
My favorite type of writing for kindergarten, and kids of all ages, is writers’ workshop. Writing becomes a daily habit. Kids get to pick what they want to write about and choose how they want to write.
In writers’ workshop, children are active in all aspects of writing, from coming up with a topic, to composing with pictures and words. The parent acts as a coach or guide introducing new skills in a gentle way that doesn’t crush their child’s creativity or change the spirit of the workshop.
Worksheets
There are tons of worksheets for kindergarteners on the internet. Filling in the blanks using word banks, writing a sentence about a picture, continuing a writing pattern, and writing a word to finish the sentence are some of the many types of writing worksheets that are available.
Free fill in the blank worksheets from Clever Learner.
Writing Prompts
Another popular type of writing is writing prompts. You give your child a topic to write about or a picture to write about. You can find writing prompts related to the month of the year or a topic you are studying.
Here are some free writing prompts from Kindergarten Mom.
What Type of Writing for Kindergarten Should I Choose?
Every child is different and so is every parent. My preference will always be writers’ workshop because of how much you can do with it. It encompasses all aspects of writing and encourages free choice.
Caution About Prescribed Writing Activities
Some types of writing can feel forced and kids may lose the joy of writing if they are constantly told what to do. If you choose to use more prescribed writing activities, like copywork and writing prompts, use them in moderation. You want your kindergarten to maintain positive feelings about writing and understand that writing is a place to express themselves freely.
Is Handwriting Enough?
Kindergarten writing is more than handwriting. Teaching handwriting is important, but you don’t have to wait to teach writing if your kids haven’t learned letter formation. That’s exciting news! Writing is an expression of ideas, so if your kids do more drawing than “writing,” it’s still writing. It’s just writing on their level.
As with most educational decisions, it helps to try a variety of techniques to see what works. Whatever type of writing you choose, make sure to have fun with it. If you have a young kindergartner you can always encourage writing through play as a way to get started before trying any other types of writing.
