Encouraging Writing in PreK

The folks over at Teach Preschool have great ideas about engaging students in writing practice in fun, meaningful ways. Offering interesting tools to students is one example.

“If you have students that do not enjoy finger painting or having messy hands, then you can certainly offer other tools to use in their paint trays or salt trays. Q-tips work well for writing in paint and an unsharpened pencil works well in a salt tray. Paper, crayons, pencils, and markers are often abundant in our homes and classrooms. But if your children are not showing an interest in writing, you may want to consider offering some unique tools to spark their interest. We keep a set of clipboards out almost all the time in our classroom. We introduce the clipboards at the beginning of the school year, along with some telephones and calculators in an office dramatic play set-up.”

I especially like the idea of tracing designs on a sunny window or light table. What a great way to practice literacy skills and fine motor control.

What strategies have you used to engage students in writing?  Share them in the comments.

Possible GELDS Connections:
PDM6.4a: Performs fine-motor tasks that require small-muscle strength and control.
PDM6.4b: Uses hand-eye coordination to manipulate small objects with ease.
PDM6.4c: Able to perform more complex fine-motor tasks with accuracy 50% of the time.
CLL9.4a: Draws pictures and copies letters and/or numbers to communicate.
CLL9.4b: Uses writing tools.
CLL9.4c: Uses writing for a variety of purposes.
CLL9.4d: Writes some letters of the alphabet.