Connecting Reading and Writing K-1
Here at DAA, reading and writing is a big part of our daily learning. As a teacher, I love reading to my students and incorporating writing in order for scholars to make connections with the text.
During guided reading, I use that time to not only discuss comprehension and phonics, but also the mechanics of writing such as punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. Students who can read well become better writers and students who write well become better readers!
“Reading inspires students, introducing them to great ideas and improving their ability to think critically and analytically”
Here are a few easy ways we incorporated writing into our reading, feel free to try some of these at home.
We read a book called Foods where the character talked about all his favorite foods, so of course we had to write about our favorite foods. In this sentence we practiced handwriting, sight words and punctuation. I use the lines as a visual to support students with spacing and recognizing words.
For this writing response, we read The Little Red Hen and discussed the character and settings. Once discussed students drew a picture of the character and setting. For Kindergartners, drawing is a form of writing, but feel free to have your child practice a simple sentence or labeling the picture by sounding out the word (if ready!).
1st graders are eager and ready to practice phonetic spelling (sounding out the words independently even if spelling is not correct.) This is an important skill in the developmental stages of writing and appropriate for this age group. We also introduced a different style of writing, making a list. For this activity, we read a story about a family going on a trip. The students made a self to text connection and had the opportunity to write about what they would bring on a trip. So fun!
My students truly enjoyed these writing activities and I hope your child does too! For more information and resources on integrating reading and writing visit these sites.