The Write Start: Nurture Writing at Every Stage

I don’t often take my own advice of taking the summer off from teaching. I usually find something to read at the very least. I think it’s important to develop professionally and books are a great way to do so.

I found this book over the summer at the library. I wasn’t looking for a teaching resource, but it kind of jumped out at me.

The Write Start: A Guide to Nurturing Writing at Every Stage, from Scribbling to Forming Letters and Writing Stories by Jennifer Hallissy.

There are some great ideas here that will get children writing. The book is aimed at both teachers and parents with ideas that would work equally well at home or in the classroom.

Hallissy also differentiates each activity to include preschool children all the way up to elementary school students. I like her four stages of development that make each activity accessible to all. She calls them “Scribblers” , “Spellers” , “Storytellers”, and “Scholars.”

One strategy she proposes is called “Treasure Hunt.” This activity takes a bit of pre-planning from the teacher or parent. It involves setting up a small scavenger hunt of sorts. To do so, start at the point that you want the students to end up at and then write a clue to help them get there. Continue doing this until you have a good sized hunt for the kids.

The best part about this activity is how Hallissy differentiates it for learners of all stages. For the scribblers, you can use picture clues. For the spellers, you can use one word clues. For the storytellers, you can write sentence clues. And for the scholars, you can write the clues in riddles.

Once the students are familiar with the activity, they can then create their own “Treasure Hunt” for the parent, teacher, or other students to solve. I so love this idea.

I also like how her strategies get students working with writing in unique ways. The activities are laid out simply and are quite easy to implement.

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2 responses to “The Write Start: Nurture Writing at Every Stage”

  1. Hi Chase,
    I'm enjoying reading about all your professional development book choices. Here is one we are focusing on in one of my schools this year as we try to our students how to actively listen and then respond orally. "Talking to Learn: 50 Strategies for Developing Oral Language" by Jennifer Glass et al.