“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.”– Martin Luther
How to Improve Your Child’s Writing Skills
Writing is a practical life skill that helps us to complete our daily tasks. Most of our life activities require a proper organization of information and precise writing. Good writing skills also improve our communication abilities and provide us with a therapeutic platform to express our thoughts and emotions. While writing is a vital component of life, it is also hard to master and learn. That is why it is crucial to assist your child in developing and improving their writing skills early. By so doing, you will contribute to their academic and professional success.
Six Easy and Fun Ways to Improve Writing Skills
A practical guide on How to improve your child’s Writing Skills.
One: Read! Read! Read!
Before one becomes a good writer, one must first be a good reader. Regular reading, especially before bedtime, can be a great platform to improve your child’s vocabulary and writing skills. Reading provides knowledge of how words are used and sentences are structured. Your kid’s teacher can help you select the best books for your child based on their age. Besides reading aloud for your children, ask them to read for you too (This will only be applicable for older kids). After reading a story, it would be best to ask your child questions about the plot and characters. Taking your child for a book signing or going to a conference to watch their favorite author speak can also stir their love for reading and eventually improve their reading skills.
Two: Precise and Concise Sentences are Good Sentences!
Long sentences are dull and barely catch a reader’s attention. Teach your child to write short and easy-to-read sentences else the readers will give up on reading. Writing precise and concise sentences means using the best words to communicate an idea. As such, ensure that your child’s sentences are complete despite being short.
NOTE: Big words and long sentences don’t always translate to good writing.
Three: Set a Writing Space for your Child
To most kids, writing requires more concentration and work than regular homework. Just like you set a quiet area for their studying and reading, you should also do the same for their writing practice and assignments. Ideally, this means creating a comfy space with no distractions. Some children nevertheless work and focus best in a busy environment such as in the living room. Beware of your child’s wish for a good writing space, and involve them when setting one. You can also set a good writing mood by including sounds, decorations, lighting, and scents that spark your child’s creativity.
Four: Provide Writing Materials
Common writing materials for all writing stages include the following:
- Writing worksheets.
- A Journal or notebook.
- Pencils, erasers and pens.
- A Thesaurus (best for older kids wishing to improve their vocabularies).
- Dictionary (age-appropriate).
Five: Do Not Point-Out Every Mistake
Focus on your child’s creativity and effort rather than pointing out and noticing every grammatical, punctuation, and spelling error. Your kid will only become an excellent writers if they can freely experiment, think outside the box and take risks without being too conscious of the mistakes they make along the way. Reframe from discouraging your child’s creativity by correcting their every sentence. Instead, try correcting any mechanical errors after they have completed their writing. Importantly, praise and reward them for their great ideas and creativity.
Six: Be a Good Audience
Since you could be your child’s sole audience, please show genuine interest in their stories. By being keen on their stories, ideas, and thoughts, you will encourage them to explore more and write more. After the end of the story, state what you loved most about the plot, your best character, and don’t forget to ask a question! This will prove that you paid attention. Also, congratulate them for every milestone they have made by highlighting the improvements you have noticed. At the same time, please help them to work on their weaknesses.
How to Improve Writing Skills – What’s next?
At Kids on the Yard, we believe that building writing skills sets up your child’s ability to communicate effectively while expressing their mind efficiently. We believe that writing is as essential as math and reading. That is why our writing tutors are proactive in ensuring that elementary school students learn to convey ideas effectively, concisely, and with proper grammar and usage conventions. As a result, we are equipped to build your child’s foundational writing skills, improve grammar, prepare for essays quiz tests, and keep up with homework assignments.
What is the Fastest Way to Improve Your Writing Skills?
Check our 2022/2023 summer or holiday program and fun activities for all ages. Simply 30-60 minutes a day dedicated only to improve your child’s reading and writing skills one-on-one or in a group setting.
What are the Strategies of Good Writing Skills?
Five strategies for writing simply but authoritatively. Of course, using more complex, sophisticated English is not a bad thing in itself, but it can make complex ideas more difficult for less proficient readers to understand.
1) Use simpler words and phrases.
2) Minimize the number of negatives in a sentence.
3) Write shorter sentences, but avoid choppiness.
4) Use key terms consistently.
5) Balance the use of sophisticated and straightforward language.
Why Writing in English is Such a Difficult Skill to Develop?
Children may have difficulty recalling spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules, accessing prior knowledge while writing, or organizing ideas. A memory habits may manifest itself in a child’s writing as poor vocabulary.
Why Writing is the Most Difficult Basic Language Skill?
Of all the language skills, writing is the most challenging for teachers because students have less experience with written expression. Stimulated by audio-visual materials throughout their lives, students are novices in the discipline of writing.
Math programs encourage students to establish communication using mathematical knowledge. One of the skills is the action of writing. According to Atasoy, mathematical communication increased in the classroom by writing, which also helps students develop positive attitudes towards mathematics and writing.
How is Math Related to Writing?
In the process of writing, students clarify their own understanding of mathematics and hone their communication skills. In addition, they must organize their ideas and thoughts more logically and structure their conclusions more coherently.
Are you ready to improve your child’s writings skills? Please start with us!