Writing in the Primary Environment

The ability to express oneself through writing is very exciting to a primary child. The idea that their thoughts could be visible to another person holds a special appeal. The key to learning how to express oneself through the written word is two-fold: mental and physical.

The mental aspect of writing involves the knowledge of the words that are to be written. The child must be able to analyze the sounds involved in creating any word. In the primary environment, the child learns how to discover the sounds within any word through sound games. Second, the child must know the symbols that are associated with these sounds. This correspondence is presented through the use of Sandpaper Letters. Once the child has made these connections, he is on the path to writing.

At this point the child may not be controlling a writing instrument but they can use cut-outs of the symbols to build the words they want to write. A box of Moveable Alphabet contains multiple cut-outs of each sound so that the child can build as many words as they would like. They can now think of a word, analyze the sounds in that word (phonetically) and find all the symbols they need for those sounds in the Moveable Alphabet box. Once they lay out the symbols in the order in which they appear in the word, they have successfully created a visual expression of their thought. They can now express simple words, complex words, phrases, sentences and eventually stories.

As they gain more experience with expressing words phonetically, they can be introduced to blended sounds or phonograms which they can incorporate into their word building. At this point the child is still writing or expressing according to what they hear. So their writing will have a lot of misspellings, but it will usually be phonetically accurate. We refrain from correcting their spelling at this stage. The awareness of accurate spelling comes gradually as they get exposed to more words through reading and experiencing sight words or puzzle words.

Most of us develop our pencil grip before the age of 6. Children can perfect the use of a writing instrument if they are given the tools and the opportunities to practice their pincer grip. In the classroom environment, there are several activities that prepare the hand for using a writing instrument with precision. Using materials that have small knobs, spoons, chalk and paintbrushes help set the pincer grip. The hand gains strength by pouring with pitchers, scrubbing movements and carrying heavy things. The wrist develops flexibility by tracing geometric shapes with fingers. All movements are presented from left to right and materials for many activities are laid out in sequence from left to right, so that it becomes second nature.

All of this preparation is brought into focus in one material in the environment: Metal Insets. With this material the child goes through a series of stages where he practices and perfects controlling a pencil while tracing various geometric shapes. This directly helps prepare the child for handwriting. Once the child has gone through all this preparation, he is ready to express himself with paper and pencil.

Sincerely,

Archana