Megan Anderson
Nicole Schumacher
Kyle Schenkelberg
Cassie Kowalenko
Introducing Writing Grades K-2
 Before starting to write:
 Fine Motor Skills:






Cutting paper (shapes, letters, numbers)
Coloring (Builds muscle control)
 Stay within lines
Chalk/White board (develops muscles in shoulders, arms,
hands, and fingers)
Trays filled with sand (trace letters into it)
Shaving cream (trace letters into it)
Create stencils (for students to trace)
 For Kindergartners:
 Teachers should emphasis tracing, coloring, and copying
letters
Problems with Writing for Younger Grades
 Handwriting Problems:
 Slowness
 Incorrect
 Spacing
 Difficulty
 Messiness
 Illegible letters
 Too much or too little of pencil pressure
 Too much or not enough slant in letters
Things to look as a Teacher
 Pencil grip (is it correct? If not how to fix it?)
(gripper or Zaner-Bloser)
 http://shop.zaner-bloser.com/c-3-handwriting-support.aspx
 http://shop.zaner-bloser.com/p-24-writing-frame.aspx
 Paper position
 Sitting correctly
 Same hand (while writing check to see if student is
using same hands)
 Do students seem frustrated, nervous or emotional
when writing?
 Does the student have a negative attitude while
writing?
 Traceable Letters (hand outs)
 Upper case
 Lower case
 Cursive
 Giving students lined paper
 Hand out examples of students’ work
 Compare how students have improved on their writing
 White Board Writing
 Use to practice writing names, words and such
 Easy to erase and fix problems
 Corrective Journals
 Students write what they hear. Example: note, they write nt
 Writing prompts
 Free writing
 Stamp books
 Forces the students to use their fine motor skills in their
hands. Still creating sentences, just not with a pen or pencil
Statistics about Writing
 In a study of handwriting of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders
 Of the 6 lower case letters (q, j, z, u, n, and k)
accounted for 48% of the omissions, miscues,
and illegibilities and when only non legible
responses were consider 5 letters (q, z, u, a, and
j) accounted for 54% of the miscues
 Common numbers students write wrong or non
legible were 6 looks like a 0, 7 looks like a 9, and 9
looks like a 4.
Transition into Cursive
 Cursive is usually taught in 2nd or 3rd grade
 The best way to teach students is to start with the
general word and then add tails and connections
 Ex. at
 Ex. hand
 There are four main strokes used also in cursive
 Slant stroke
 Understroke
 Downstroke
 Overstroke
Cursive Letter Families
 The “e’ family: e, l, h, f, b, and k
 The family with a handle to which the next
letter is attached: b, o, v, w
 The family that emphasizes the correct
formation of hump shaped letters: n, s, y
 The “c” family: c, a, d, o, q, g
 The hump family: n, m, v, y, x
 The family with tails in the back: f, q
 The family with tails in the front: g, p, y, z
Modifications
 Modification for students
 Teacher creates name out of puffy pain in dots, students
trace the name with figure (DCD)
 Do same thing for the ABC’s

This allows students to use fine motor skills because the
student was unable to communicate verbally.
 Some one with cerebral Palsy might use a machine that
can type out what they are saying so they can still create
letters and create sentences
Hand Writing & Written Lang.
3rd - 6th grade
When writing becomes a form
of meaningful self expression
Written Expression
*requires complex thought
processes*
Five Components of Written Expression:
1. Fluency
2. Syntax
3. Vocabulary
4. Structure
5. Content
Activities:
 Combine related sentences into one
 Synonyms and antonyms game
(www.enchantedlearning.com/synonyms/)
 verbs-write past tense form
noun-write the plural form
do
child
ride
boy
eat
deer
sing
hero
walk
story
 Scrambled sentences- put in order
Activities continued…
 Structure (mechanics-punctuation,
capitalization, and rules of grammar)- DOL
 Content (accuracy, ideas, and organization)Scrambled sentences- put in order
*writing prompts*
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganiz
ers/storymap/
Graphic organizers help students analyze and write
a story
**Fast-Writes**
Modifications
 Descriptive Writing- Make a sensory chart
 Organization- graphic organizers, organized lists,
checklists (hand out)
 Instruction in Writing Increase instruction time/review and edit time
 Teach written language as an integrated process
 Coordinating written language activities with different
content areas
Written Expression
Grades Seven Eight and Nine
http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Academic_Excelle
nce/Academic_Standards/Language_Arts/index.html
Thinking and Writing
What do you think?
-Do we write to discover ideas?
-Which comes first:
Thinking or
Writing
Minnesota Standards
Grade Seven
 Types of Writing
 Poetry
 Stories
 Essays
 Editorials
 Letters
 Directions
 Research reports
Why do we write?
 Social Letters
 Description
 Composition
 Comparison
 Persuade
 Review
 Speech
 Answer a question
 Narrative
Elements of Composition
 The student will engage in a writing process, with
attention to context, organization, focus, quality of
ideas and a purpose.
 1. Create multiple paragraph compositions
 2. Create narratives
 3. Create informative reports
 4. Employ composing processes to develop writing
 5. Consider the intended audience when composing
text.
The Writing Process
 Five Stages of Writing:
 Prewriting
 Writing the 1st Draft
 Revising
 Proofreading, Editing
 Making the final draft/publishing
Seventh Grade Standards
Continued
 Spelling Grammar and Usage
 Research
 Handwriting and Word Processing
 Write legibly
 Keyboarding skills
Spelling & Grammar
ACTIVITIES!!!
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/6_8/

Grammar Blast
 http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/6_8/

Grammar Blast
 http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Academic_Excelle
nce/Academic_Standards/Language_Arts/index.html

Minnesota Standards
Standards 9-12
 Writing
-Narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive, +
critical modes.
 Handwriting
-Locally determined
 Focus on real life events
-Business letters, Lists, Job Application
Research
 Instruction needs to be clear and organized.
 Instruction must provide:
-Individualized support
-Repetition
-Progress monitoring
-Feedback
Tests of Written Expression
 Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III)
-Measure short response only
-Subtest include:
-Writing samples
-Writing Fluency
-Editing
 Test of Written Language, Fourth Edition (TOWL-4)
-Contrived writing
-Spontaneous writing
Test of Written Expression
 Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement,
Second Edition (KTEA-II)
 Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Third
Edition (WIAT-3)
 Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS)
Myths about Written Language
 Written language is separate from oral language
 Handwriting is not important