Author! Author!

Reading and writing support each other. The more your child does of each, the better he will be at both.

 

What You Need

• Pencils, crayons or markers
• Writing paper
• Cardboard or heavy paper
• Construction paper
• Safety scissors
• Yarn or ribbon

What to Do

·         Write with your child. Talk with him about your writing so that he begins to understand that writing means something and has many uses.
 

·         Hang a family message board in the kitchen. Offer to write notes there for your child. Be sure that he finds notes left there for him.
 

·         Help your child write notes or e-mails to relatives and friends to thank them for gifts or to share his thoughts. Encourage the relatives and friends to answer your child.
 

·         As your child gets older, he can begin to write you longer stories. Ask questions that will help him organize the stories. Answer questions about spelling.
 

·         Help your child to turn his writing into books. Paste his drawings and writings on pieces of construction paper. For each book, have him make a cover out of heavier paper or cardboard, then add special art, a title and his name as author. Punch holes in the pages and cover and bind the book together with yarn or ribbon