Every Child Ready to Read ~ Writing

Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) is a national initiative from the American Library Association.  ECRR is a learning model to showcase skills and activities to help build literacy skills for young children.  We follow this model at the Grafton-Midview Public Library and would like to share some  activities and resources with you!  For more information on Every Child Ready to Read, here are some sites for you to peruse:
Ohio Every Child Ready to Read, Early Literacy Crosswalk offers a basic overview of what Every Child Ready to Read is all about.  They also have another site to discover the second edition of ECRR and sample activities for each skill and activity.

photo from www.lakeshorelearning.com

We don't want to overload you with information all at once, so each week we will focus on a new  activity outline in ECRR.  This week we will focus on the skill of writing.  Writing at this stage may not actually look like what we would consider writing, but they are grasping the initial skills that words and letters have meaning, or print awareness. Follow The Line books by Laura Ljungkvist each include a continuous line for readers to trace throughout the entire book. 
 

Check out any of the 'Follow The Line' books from GMPL!

Any activity to build fine motor skills is going to help children ease into writing.  Using clothes pins or stickers, learning to turn pages, grasping and sorting objects, bending pipe cleaners, and painting or coloring are all great ways to build fine motor skills.  For a sample of more activities, check out Love, Play, and Learn's list.  Playing with play-doh is another great way to work those little muscles in their hands.  Click here for a quick, easy, and cheap recipe to make your own at home. To practice writing and tracing, Twisty Noodle and the Writing Wizard offer printable pages that you can customize to make a unique writing experience for your child.

Tracing books let kids learn the shapes letters make.

Playing 'I Spy' may seem like a stretch when it comes to building writing skills, but looking for  shapes and pictures isn't much different than seeing letters.  To a beginner letters are just another shape to memorize.  No Time For Flash Cards offers a list of alphabet books and alphabet activities that can help children distinguish letters and their sounds. 

Pick out an 'I Spy' book today to help your child see shapes.

Dare to Dream is a poetry writing contest that happens annually for students in grades 3 through 8.  The poems submitted should be biographical about someone who has made a difference through taking action.  What a neat way to get kids involved with writing!  Book Week Online has provided several different writing prompts, authored by famous writers.  Kids can complete the prompts with their original ideas.  How fun would it be to try them all and make a book?  What activities do you do to build writing skills?  We would love to hear about it!