Writing, why is it so important?

I ask my students to write throughout the day.  The Common Core Standards have now put even more of a focus on Nonfiction writing rather than fiction.  For your child to be a strong writer they need to be strong readers first.  To prepare my students, I usually expose to them to many Nonfiction texts.

Star Parent Tip:  I always ask my son’s teacher to let me know what they are writing about in class.  Then I bring that exact content into my home.  For example, if they are writing nonfiction magazines, I will take him to the library and have him look at different types of magazines and we take a couple of minutes to talk about what we notice: Bold Print, Headings, Title Page, table of Contents, etc.  This helps your child to be more prepared and comfortable with the content being taught.  This in turn will make it easier for him/her to apply and use it correctly in their writing.

Intervention Tip:  If your child’s handwriting is illegible because of underdeveloped fine motor skills, but is comfortable with typing on a computer, ask their teacher to allow them to type some writing assignments and tests.  This will help your child to still feel successful even though they do not have the best handwriting.  This is a short term fix or is it?  In this day in age with classrooms getting more and more hi-tech, I wonder if handwriting will someday be an issue of the past…Something to think about.

Need more tips, let me know below.

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