• Reading
  • Science
  • Math
  • Writing
  • Recipes
  • Travel

The Educators' Spin On It

Learning Games and Activities

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Deals
  • Shop
  • Contact

By Amanda Boyarshinov 4 Comments

6 +1 Traits of Writing – Afterschool Express

Writing with Grade School Children

What I love about our team of after-schooling parents (Those of us that believe strongly in providing educational opportunities to our grade school children at home) Little Wonder Days, Mouse Grows Mouse Learns, Just Playin’ Around, Mama Smiles, Superheroes and Princesses, The Educators’ Spin On It, and What Do We Do All Day is that each and everyone does amazing things with their children!  I get great ideas from them each week and they inspire me to be a better parent and a better educator. What I love is that activities that feature reading AND writing are being blogged about!!!
Mama Smiles posts about her daughters first story.
Just Playing Around’s daughter charts what she has learned about different countries as her homework.
and Learning With Mouse’s daughter writes a Birthday Card
After school, we have been focusing on writing the last month, as reading and writing is connected.  Strengthening a child’s writing skills will have an effect on their reading skills.  At home, I use a combination of Interactive Writing and Writers Workshop approach to writing with my kindergartner.  Both are research based practices that have shown to be beneficial for improving students reading and writing.

This last month, I have read this professional book called, “6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades” by Ruth Culham.  I know that as a parent of a kindergartner we spend lots of time generating ideas for what we write about, but this book gave some great idea on how to include more and important parts of the writing process; ideas, organization, voice (tone), word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.   I found Ms. Culham’s website online and she offers free rubrics (a rubric is a way to assess writing) for both teachers and students on each area.  There are some for different ages in both teacher and student friendly forms. These can be used to see where your children are in their writing and also as a way to generate ideas on how to help them strengthen their writing.

My daughter has been making lots of lists and has started writing several stories, including the story, “The Grl that codint red the noospapr.” (The girl that couldn’t read the newspaper)  I am planning on printing these rubrics to expand on one of her chosen stories.  We usually just use blank paper folded in half and stapled like a book for writing in.  I will only focus on one or two aspects this week and will update you on how it goes in future Afterschool Express posts!

I’d love to see how you encourage and expand upon your child’s writing!  Little Wonder Days is hosting this weeks’ Afterschool Blog Hop. We’d love to see the amazing things you do with your children!!!

Save

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: #afterschool, a, Activity, Afterschool Express, Amanda

About Amanda Boyarshinov

K - 12 masters reading teacher, author and mom to 3. Amanda is a National Board Certified teacher with oodles of experience in early childhood education.

« Tot School – Autumn and the Play Challenge
Little Hands that Cook with Books: Alphabet Soup »

Comments

  1. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    November 13, 2011 at 12:50 pm

    Thanks for featuring Emma's story! She was super proud of it =)

    The book you reviewed sounds interesting for both parents and teachers! I'll have to see if I can find a copy.

    Reply
  2. Raising a Happy Child says

    November 13, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Thanks for featuring our birthday card writing too! We started to talk more about what makes a good story – Anna's writing tends to be very factual at this point – Dogs like to sleep type of story 🙂 When we read together, I am asking her to identify characters, settings, problems and solutions in the stories we read.

    Reply
  3. [email protected] Mommy Delicious says

    November 14, 2011 at 1:22 am

    This is so great! My son's in PreK, do you think this book would be good for him as well?

    Reply
  4. Amanda says

    November 14, 2011 at 9:28 am

    Maryanne and Natalie – you both do such great things with your kids! I look forward to seeing how all of our kids grow this year =) Alicia, This book is geared more for K-3, but if you are interested in learning more about teaching writing it is definatly worth checking out from the library. There is a lot of resources on the 6+1 traits of writing currently. Most are very good books (I just typed it into Amazon) Ruth Culham has a bunch of books out there too! This one was just the one that was chosen as a support textbook for my reading and writing connection class. I found it helpful and easy to read.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our Newsletter!


For ages…

Grade School
Preschool
Toddler
Baby

Search for an Activity

POPULAR POSTS

Virtual Field Trips for Kids
Valentine's Day Activities for Baby or Toddler
Easter Eggs stacked using Playdough for STEM Challenge
10 things to put in a pinata that are not candy
spring virtual field trips for kids with flowers, trees, baby animals and more
February Activity Calendar

GRAB OUR BOOK!

100 fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids Book Cover Standing

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

You Might Also Like

Homemade Valentines Day card Ideas for Kids

20 Adorable Homemade Valentines for Classmates

Valentine Activities for Babies and Toddlers from The Educators' Spin On It

Valentine’s Day Activities for Babies and Toddlers

Valentine's Day Books for kids of all ages

Top 40 Valentine’s Day Books

february activities for school ages

February Themed After School Activities for Kids

Best Place to See Dolphins in the Florida Keys: Dolphin Research Center

Best Place to See Dolphins in the Keys: Dolphin Research Center

Let’s Connect!

Kim Vij

Early childhood teacher, author, speaker and mom of 3. Kim Vij shares ways to make learning fun and parenting an adventure by sharing all kinds of easy kid crafts, activities and even recipes for kids!
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023