Writing

Writing at Fryent

Writing is more than putting words on paper. Your child needs to think about what to write; say what they want to write, write it down and re-read their writing. It is a balancing act between having wonderful ideas (creativity), organising their ideas and the ability to put these exciting ideas onto paper.

At Fryent we are proud to encourage children to:

• read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding using a range of independent strategies to self - monitor and self- correct
• Have an interest in words, their meanings; developing a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms
• Understand a range of text types and genre and be able to write in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation
• Developing powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness
• Have a suitable technical vocabulary to articulate their responses

The structure of writing is broken down into six main stages:

Immersion- Studying the main features of a text type, so children have a clear understanding of the features of chosen text/genre e.g. imperative verbs/time conjunctions/sequencing. Children are also given the opportunity to practice different aspects of grammar that are needed to be able to write to the chosen text type.

Scaffolding- A selection of short warm up drama activities – S&L, role play, hot seating as a character, conscience alley etc. Looking at high quality modelled examples. Creating shared or guided pieces of writing together.

Planning- Children begin to plan for their piece of writing, drawing upon examples of the immersion and scaffolding stages.

Writing + Proof Reading- Children spend time ‘up levelling’ and proof reading their work at the end of every writing session.

Editing- Children responding to marking and up level their writing

Publishing- Each half term children are given time to publish their work for it to be displayed in the classroom.

Handwriting

At Fryent we expect pupils to be joining by the end of year two. Children are taught to write in a cursive style. Handwriting is taught weekly to pupils.

Please click here to look at our writing progression document. This document breaks down age related expectations for each year group.

How to support your child’s writing at home:

As your child becomes a better writer they will need to:

1. Write varied sentences, including complex sentences.
2. Write sentences which are grammatically correct and punctuated.
3. Organise, structure and sequence their writing.
4. Use paragraphs.
5. Produce writing which is imaginative, interesting and thoughtful.
6. Produce writing which suits the task, the purpose and the audience.
7. Use and select exciting and appropriate vocabulary
8. Use correct spelling
9. Develop good handwriting and present their work well.

What does writing need?

Clear thinking. Sometimes your child needs to have his/her memory refreshed about a past event in order to write about it.

Sufficient time. Children may have `stories in their heads' but need time to think them through and write them down.

A Meaningful Task. A child needs meaningful, not artificial writing tasks. You'll find suggestions for such tasks in the section, "Things to do."

Interest. All the time in the world won't help if there is nothing to write, nothing to say. Some of the reasons for writing include: sending messages, keeping records, expressing feelings, or relaying information.

Practice. And more practice.

Revising. Children need experience in revising their work – for example, seeing what they can do to make it clearer, more descriptive, more concise…

Things to do at home

• Exchange Post-it notes with your children. Put the notes on pillowcases or lunch boxes or any surprise location!
• Help your child assemble photo albums of family events and write captions.
• Ask children to put their wishes and wants into writing and suggest how they may work toward or contribute to getting what they want.
• Help your child create a family newsletter or website to share with family members near and far.
• Suggest that your children write postcards to themselves when they are away from home. When they receive their own postcards in the post, they will have a souvenir of their trip.
• Make writing practical and useful by having children write grocery and task lists, reminders and phone messages, instructions for caring for pets, or directions for getting to the park.
• Encourage your child to keep a diary.
• Suggest note-taking on trips or outings.
• Use games to help increase your child’s vocabulary. Try crossword puzzles, word games, anagrams…
• Encourage your child to write to relatives

 Please click here to see the writing progression across the school

If you have any queries about the Writing Curriculum , please contact Ms Michaels, Assistant Head Teacher on the telephone number shown above or by email on admin@fryent.brent.sch.uk

Writing - For our Mainstream Special Needs, Opal School Pupils and New to English/Early acquisition pupils.

We have a multi-sensory approach to writing for our SEND pupils at Fryent. Please click HERE to see some examples.