Skip to main content
Library Closings: Sun., May 28 and Mon., May 29
Richland Library logo
  • Events
  • Locations
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
Give

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Library Policies© 2023 Richland Library, Richland County, South Carolina
Richland Library logo
  • Events
  • Locations
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
Forgot your card number?
Forgot your PIN?
  • Reset your password

Get A Library Card

  • Print Documents
  • Reserve a Room
  • Social Work
  • Career Services
  • Community Resources
  • Library of Things
  • View All Services
  • Browse free online tools for researching and learning.
  • Most Popular
  • Articles, Journals & Newspapers
  • Books & Literature
  • Business & Careers
  • Children
  • En Español
  • Genealogy & Local History
  • View All Research Categories
  • Browse Staff Picks
  • Get a Recommendation
  • Read Our Blog
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Our Team
  • Locations
  • Our Work
  • Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
  • Library Policies
  • Friends and Foundation
  • Contact Us

Breadcrumb

  • Home  
  • Blog  
  • SC ELA Standards: Writing Part 1
BLOG

SC ELA Standards: Writing Part 1

  • Laura Rogers
  • Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Share:
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn

Breadcrumb

  • Home  
  • Blog  
  • SC ELA Standards: Writing Part 1

Writing is a big part of our everyday lives. From making a grocery list to creating social media content, we use writing in so many ways. 

Learning to write can sound like a hard process. There are so many different aspects to think about. Are we talking about learning to write individual letters? Handwriting? Do we mean the creative process of creating a story or writing an essay? Or maybe we are talking about the process of editing our writing and checking for spelling and grammar mistakes? All of these things make up the process of learning to write. No wonder it can sound overwhelming!

Fortunately, the writing process can be broken down into micro-steps that children can master one at a time. Young children need to start slow, to have many and varying activities to explore writing in playful situations and to have materials readily available to choose writing as a free time activity.

How will I know if my child has reached the South Carolina standards for writing in kindergarten?

  •     My child has learned to print capital and lowercase letters.
  •     My child leaves a space between words when they write a sentence.
  •     My child can capitalize the first letter in a sentence and place a period at the end.
  •     With help from an adult, my child can use drawings, letters, or dictate words to "write" about a topic or give an opinion.
  •     With help from an adult, my child can plan, revise, and edit writings.
  •     With help from an adult, my child can write often on various topics.
  •     With help from an adult, my child can locate letter keys on electronic devices.

Activities and Multimedia:

Let's break down these standards into specific activities that will help your child achieve success in building writing skills and enjoying the process.

Home Writing Center

One of the easiest ways to encourage writing in the kindergarten child is to set up a "writing center" somewhere in your home or classroom. I used a small table and chairs in the corner of my living room for years. I furnished the table with a basket of writing supplies such as varying kinds of paper, pencils, crayons, and even scissors and fun stickers. My children enjoyed sitting at the table to make all kinds of things and unknowingly practiced their fine motor skills while they were having fun. It also helps to suggest ways to incorporate writing while the children are playing. Are they pretending to make supper at the kitchen set? Suggest making a recipe card or a grocery list. Is someone building a city with blocks? Suggest they add road signs and labels on buildings. Building on to activities that children are already engaged in not only strengthens writing skills, it also lets them know that writing is a part of everyday life. It gives them a reason to engage with writing.

Rainbow Writing

One easy and extremely effective way to help your child learn to write letters correctly is to have them trace the letter carefully and repeatedly to build "muscle memory". Muscle memory is when we repeat an action enough times to cement the movement into our brain and muscles so it becomes automatic. It is what we do when we learn to ride a bike. Our muscles learn the process so well that eventually, we do not have to think about peddling and balancing, our body takes over and remembers what to do. We can use this same process with writing. It takes about 160 repetitions of a movement to build muscle memory.

Carefully tracing the letter pattern will help a child memorize the movement and make writing more fluent. The goal is to write the "a" without actually having to consciously repeat each of the steps. But, when starting out, we need to say the letter out loud, consciously put the crayon or pencil to the paper in the proper position, think about the motor pattern (or the way the letter is crafted), and print it correctly.

One potential pitfall of this activity is that some children will rush through it and the marks on the letter will be all over the place, sloppy, and not in the correct position. While some variance is normal and a part of the process, careful instruction and attention to detail on the front end has a huge payoff. I tell my students to work "as slowly as they must, but as quickly as they can" to print the letter correctly. I explain to them about muscle memory and that in order for it to work to their advantage, they must train their muscles carefully. Children are generally more interested in completing the activity using the proper form when it has been explained to them and they understand the purpose of the intentionality.

Here are the steps to rainbow writing.

Lower case letter written on an 8.5 x 11 paper
Step One: Print the letter on a big sheet of paper. Make the letter rather large and in the center of the page. A sheet of printer paper is a good size.
Lower case letter traced once with green dot at starting point
Step 2: If the child is just learning the letter pattern. Add a green dot to the starting point of the letter. This gives the child a place to put their pencil to begin.
Lower case letter traced repeatedly in crayon
Step 3: Have a variety of colored pencils or crayons available. I like to tape the letter to the wall and have the child stand in front of the letter to practice. Have the child choose the color they want and have them trace the letter slowly and carefully. Then, switch colors and start again.
Lower case letter traced with tally marks
Step 4: Leave your letter on the wall for a few days to practice as needed. I used to tell my son, "Go do 10 reps of your letter and then wash your hands." In this way, I could have him practice each time he washed his hands, brushed his teeth, or other daily routine things. This will help integrate the letter practice into your day without much time and fuss. My son loved to tally and see how close to 160 reps he could get during the week.

Rainbow writing can be done many ways. When they have begun to learn the letter, move your rainbow writing to an index card so the letter is smaller and they are sitting at a table to write. Then go even smaller by beginning to practice the letter in isolation on lined paper. By preparing the student with large motor practice first, they will experience more success when moving to the page. The process is the same when learning cursive, as seen here below. 

I tell my students to work "as slowly as they must, but as quickly as they can" to print the letter correctly.

lowercase cursive i

The process for Rainbow Writing is the same with learning cursive. First write the letter on your paper - large and in the middle. 

cursive i with rainbow tracing

Have your student trace the letter carefully with a crayon or colored pencils. Use care to make sure they are practicing the correct motor pattern for the letter. 

cursive i with rainbow tracing and tally marks

Repeat the tracing while tallying the number of repetitions as you go. This is an ongoing activity. You can keep the letter taped up and practice over a period of days or weeks as needed. 

Labeling a Drawing as a Form of Writing

Having your child dictate to you what to write is a wonderful precursor for writing their own stories. Their ability to tell a story will come before their ability to write it on paper. This is where you come in as their scribe. 

Have your child draw on a piece of paper. This can be a spontaneous attempt on their part, or you can offer "drawing prompts" such as "draw a picture of what you ate for breakfast and then tell me about it". Another great drawing prompt is to read the child a book and have them draw a picture of something that happened. Then they can dictate the picture back to you as seen below. 

child's drawing of a person and a tree

When your child presents you with the drawing, do not make judgement statements such as, "that is a great tree". Do not presume to know what the child was drawing. Instead, let them dictate to you and you can label their picture in their own words. One word of caution, a child may not want you to write directly on their artistic creation. It is a good idea to explaing the activity before they start so they will know what is coming. Alternatively, you can do the labeling and dictation on an index card instead of directly on the artwork. 

a child's drawing with labels or captions written in

Now the child can see the words that they verbally expressed. The words are written in print or cursive depending on what the child is learning to write at the time. Spelling is correct and the child can begin to associate the written word with the idea. Young children usually really enjoy knowing what the word they said looks like in print. 

Child's drawing with a dictation sentence below it.

Now it is time for the child to give you a sentence about the drawing. You may want to ask a leading question such as, "I wonder what is happening in your picture?" "Tell me about it." Print out the child's response word for word, if possible. Model the correct spelling and punctuation, but it is fine to print out exactly what they say, even if it contains grammatical errors. This is one way that children can learn to hear a grammatical mistake. If you read it back to them exactly as they said it, they may catch an error. "That doesn't sound quite right." They may want to correct it on their own. If they do, that is fine, but it isn't necessary to push a grammar lesson on the kindergarten child. It is enough for them to dictate and for you to copy down at this stage. One more thing you will want to do is to read the sentence back to them word for word and point at each word as you read it. It also never hurts to say verbally, "I started this sentence with an uppercase letter and ended it with a period." Modeling the correct way to write a sentence is a powerful tool. 

Editing a Simple Sentence

When a child has learned to print all of their letters and can read a few words, you can start helping them learn to write a simple sentence. 

a three word sentence written by a child

Start with simple words the child can read on their own. It is essential that you only ask a child to write words they can read and sound out with some degree of ease for this activity. Remember you are asking them to do multiple things at once. They must form the letters, sound out the word to spell it, put the letters together in the proper order, and also remember to capitalize the first word and use a period at the end. This is a lot to think about. When the child is seated with their paper and pencil, dictate the sentence to them slowly. Have them watch your mouth as you slowly and distinctly say the sentence. Have them repeat the sentence to you verbally. Then, and only then, have them start to write the sentence. Let them attempt the sentence without interference from you. 

child's sentence with a sticky note of editing marks

A great way to edit is to use the COPS method. Write out the sticky note as shown in the photo. Once you and your child have memorized what the letters stand for, you can just write "COPS" on the side of their paper or on a sticky note. Go over each item with your child and have them look at their sentence to correct anything that needs work. Let them do it as independently as possible, though you will want to guide them in their first attempts. The COPS method is pretty self-explanatory. Overall appearance or organization is where the child looks at their handwriting and spacing of the letters. Are the words far enough apart? Did they write neatly? If there is a spelling error, say the word again out loud and have the child listen carefully. Are they able to find their mistake? If not, it is perfectly alright to tell them without a fuss. You want this process to stay positive and not become a struggle. 

child's edited sentence

As you go over the sentence with your child, they may not catch a mistake. In the example above, a period is missing. One way to help them see the mistake is to add a box at the end where the punctuation would go. Then have them look a second time, do they see what needs to be corrected now? Let the child check off the items as you complete the process together. The editing process has begun for your young writer! 

Check out this quick video to help your child learn how to start keyboarding with their hands in the "home row". 

Do you want to explore more SC Education Standards?

Visit the Richland Library's SC Education Standards page. 

Books to Read 

The titles below will help you and your child explore writing. Want us to pull books for you? Contact us at 803-799-9084 and request to have books sent to your nearest Richland Library location.

PAF Preventing Academic Failure

PAF Preventing Academic Failure

A Multisensory Curriculum for Teaching Reading, Spelling and Handwriting
Bertin, Phyllis.
Published in 2012
Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) is a multisensory curriculum that uses adapted Orton-Gillingham teaching methods for reading, spelling and handwriting in a four level sequence. PAF can be used an effective beginning reading program in the primary grades for all children, or as a program for older, struggling readers or students with learning disabilities.
Find
Book
 
Stepping Up in Reading

Stepping Up in Reading

Building Accuracy and Fluency. Vol. 01
Bertin, Phyllis.
Published in 2001
Find
Book
 
Haiku

Haiku

Asian Arts and Crafts for Creative Kids
Donegan, Patricia.
Published in 2003
Introduces the form of Japanese poetry known as haiku, explores the seven keys to writing haiku, and provides instructions for five haiku projects, including creating haiga, or illustrated haiku.
Find
Book
 
Rex

Rex

Dubosarsky, Ursula, 1961-
Published in 2005
Students take turns bringing home the class chameleon and writing about how he spent his visit.
Find
Book
 
Kat Writes a Song

Kat Writes a Song

Foley, Greg E., 1969- author, illustrator.
Published in 2018
On a gray and rainy day, a lonely kitten feels better after writing a song, and as she sings the "magic" song around her neighborhood, her animal friends cheer up, as well.
Find
Book
 
Carrots to Cupcakes

Carrots to Cupcakes

Reading, Writing, and Reciting Poems About Food
Freese, Susan M., 1958-
Published in 2008
With colorful illustrations and informative text children will learn how to read, write and recite a variety of poems about food.
Find
Book
 
Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales

Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales

Writing Lessons in Structure & Style
Gerber, María.
Published in 2014
IEW's Fables, myths, and fairy tales is a delightful tool in helping teachers and parents of elementary age students teach writing through stories that never grow old. Characters and adventures will capture your student's imagination and provide rich writing content. These lessons are meant to be a resource to teachers and students already familiar with the techniques of Teaching writing: structure and style.
Find
Book
 
Ralph Tells a Story

Ralph Tells a Story

Hanlon, Abby.
Published in 2012
Although his teacher insists there are stories everywhere, Ralph cannot think of any to write.
Find
Book
 
Little Red Writing

Little Red Writing

Holub, Joan.
Published in 2013
Once upon a time, in pencil school, a brave little red pencil sets out to write an exciting story with nouns and adverbs and everything--but first she has to face the ravenous pencil sharpener, the Wolf 3000.
Find
Book
 
A Guide to Helping Your Child at Home

A Guide to Helping Your Child at Home

Developing Foundational Skills in Reading & Writing
King, Diana Hanbury.
Published in 2015
Find
Book
 
Look! I Wrote a Book! (And You Can Too!)

Look! I Wrote a Book! (And You Can Too!)

Lloyd-Jones, Sally, 1960- author.
Published in 2019
"Want to write a book? Well, the spunky, know-it-all narrator of this side-splitting story can tell you just how to do it. Packed with her signature wit and charm, bestselling author Lloyd-Jones--with whimsical illustrations from beloved illustrator Layton--delivers an outrageously silly story that is sure to have young readers--and writers!--howling with laughter"-- Provided by publisher.
Find
Book
 
Author

Author

Mahaney, Ian F.
Published in 2015
Find
Book
 
Sequential Spelling

Sequential Spelling

Teacher's Guide. 1
McCabe, Don, author.
Published in 2011
"Originally developed by the AVKO Educational Research Foundation, Sequential Spelling teaches students to recognize patterns of spelling rather than thematically related lists of words. As students recognize more and more patterns, their spelling skills and confidence soar!"--Back cover.
Find
Book
 
Readiness for Reading, Writing & Spelling

Readiness for Reading, Writing & Spelling

A Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Approach
Moore, Beth (Elizabeth S.)
Published in 2017
Find
Book
 
Kindergarten Teacher's Guide

Kindergarten Teacher's Guide

Guide to Multisensory Lessons and Activities For-- Letters and Numbers for Me
Olsen, Jan Z.
Published in 2013
Find
Book
 
I Can Read

I Can Read

Orton-Gillingham Based Reading Lessons for Young Students Who Struggle with Reading and May Have Dyslexia. Book A
Orlassino, Cheryl, author.
Published in 2014
"I Can Read, books A & B, are reading and writing workbooks which provide lessons in phonics for children who are just beginning to learn to read. The methods used in these books are based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, in that every sound is taught in a cumulative manner with repetition."--back cover.
Find
Book
 
I Wanna New Room

I Wanna New Room

Orloff, Karen Kaufman.
Published in 2010
Through a series of brief letters to his parents, Alex presents all the reasons why he should not have to share a room with his younger brother.
Find
Book
 
Word Builder

Word Builder

Paul, Ann Whitford.
Published in 2009
Text explains how putting letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into chapters ends up creating a book.
Find
Book
 
In Print!

In Print!

40 Cool Publishing Projects for Kids
Rhatigan, Joe.
Published in 2003
Find
Book
 
Little Plane Learns to Write

Little Plane Learns to Write

Savage, Stephen, 1965- author.
Published in 2017
Little Plane learns to write by practicing his skywriting.
Find
Book
 
Art Panels, BAM! Speech Bubbles, POW!

Art Panels, BAM! Speech Bubbles, POW!

Writing Your Own Graphic Novel
Shaskan, Trisha Speed, 1973-
Published in 2011
Describes how to write and create graphic novels, including brainstorming for story ideas, developing characters, creating thumbnail sketches, and using emanata and backgrounds to enhance a drawing.
Find
Book
 
The Best Story

The Best Story

Spinelli, Eileen.
Published in 2008
When a contest at the local library offers a prize for the best story, a girl tries to write one using her family's suggestions, but her story does not seem right until she listens to her heart.
Find
Book
 
Once Upon a Baby Brother

Once Upon a Baby Brother

Sullivan, Sarah.
Published in 2010
Lizzie, who loves to tell and write stories, is surprised to discover that much of her storytelling inspiration comes from her messy baby brother.
Find
Book
 
Author

Laura Rogers

Children's Room Education Studio Reading Specialist

Tags
Education
Homeschooling
Homework Help
Multisensory Learning
SC Education Standards
Audience
Parents
Families
Preschoolers (3-5)
School age children (6-12 years)
 1520

Related Blog Posts

Image
Pink Zinna with a yellow center is centered in the image with a brown moth resting on the left side of the petals.
Blog
Revitalize Your Home: A Complete Guide to Effective Spring Cleaning
Image
Cover to "The Unbanking of America"
Blog
 1
#FinLit Book Review: "The Unbanking of America"
Image
Children enjoy a storytime at Richland Library
Blog
 1429
1 in 6: Childhood Hunger and the Summer Break Café

Footer Menu

  • About
  • Work With Us
  • Blog
Library Policies© 2023 Richland Library, Richland County, South Carolina
Give

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn