Intermediate Writing Activities
The following website has many prompts for all different types of writing. Choose a prompt and let your child practice writing at home. When they are done writing, conference with them! Let them know their strengths and the parts of the story you liked. Also, discuss ways they could improve their writing. Try to write with your child once a week.
Try these fun activities at home:
*Children love to cook. Share favorite recipes and follow them together. After several nights of following someone else's recipes, let your child create the recipe for the salad, main course, dessert, etc.
*Let your child write the grocery list as you dictate what you need from the store. Try organizing the list into categories. While shopping for the items on your list discuss the way the grocery store is organized.
*Let your child design and write the menu for a meal at home.
*Encourage your child to write letters to their grandparents. Children can also make and write their own thank you notes.
*Let your child send emails to friends and family.
*Teach your child the valuable skill of writing personal goals.
*Allow your child to take a piece of paper and draw a line about 2/3 down. Let him/her draw a picture of anything that is of interest at the top of the page. Children can then write a story about the drawing.
*While children are reading a story, ask them to stop before reading the ending. Children can write their own ending to the story and then read to see how their version was different. Which did they like better? Why?
*Cut out an age appropriate article from the newspaper. Have your child to write down the side of his/her paper the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, and why). After reading the article, your child can answer the 5 W's.
*Find another article from the newspaper that would be of interest to your child. Cut the paragraphs apart and have your child read the paragraphs and organize them correctly. Discuss how your child was able to distinguish the beginning of the story from the middle and the end.
*As your child is reading an article from the newspaper, he/she can underline the facts in one color and the opinions in another color.
*Have your child pick a headline from the newspaper and turn it into a question. Let him/her read the article to see if the question was answered.
*Find an interesting picture, have your child list as many adjectives as they can that would describe what they see.
*Does your family go to the movies? If so, this is a fun activity that can be done prior to your outing. After choosing the movie, let each family member tell what he or she thinks the movie will be about. Watch the movie and see who came the closest!
*Have your child look through the yellow pages for a particular service or product. Allow him/her to write a clever ad advertising it.
*If your child does not have a journal or write in one at least several times a week, think about allowing him/her to do so. Some children love keeping more than one (think poetry in one, stories in another, private information in a third, etc.). Shopping for the special journal(s) is a LOT of fun!