Over the last few weeks, during several inservice sessions, I’ve shared this simple, yet keenly purposeful way to get even the youngest children writing. Parents/teachers have raved about the idea, so I thought I’d put together a short post.
Here’s the scene: You’re
driving and realize it’s time for dinner.
You stop at a McDonalds’ drive through.
The line is hideously long. You,
being a clever encourager of writing in all ways all days, reach for a sticky
note and scrawl, “I love you. You’re a
great kid!,” passing it back to your child.
Depending on your child’s age and abilities, he may read the
note or naturally ask, “What does this say?”
“It says, ‘I love you.
You’re a great kid!’ I’d love it if you wrote one for me.” (Since you are prepared, your child already
has a canvas bag in the back next to his seat filled with books, colored
pencils, pens, paper and sticky notes.)
“Here, Mom!”
You grab the scribbled note.
“Oh, this is great. Read it to
me.”
“It says, ‘You are fun!’ ”
Cue McDonald’s recording, “Today! Try our new caramel, marshmallow encrusted
latte with chocolate sauce! Go ahead and
order when you’re ready…”
Kids love writing notes back and forth and, with our lives
as busy as they are, brief stops like this while traveling in the car present
perfect opportunities to encourage a bit of writing. I’ve done this with my son since he was very
small and he writes sticky notes for all kinds of reasons now (actually if you
refer to my Nov. 13, 2013 post, you’ll see sometimes things have gotten a bit
out of hand). In fact, he’s an avid six year old writer who
views writing as just part of the stuff he does every day. This is one strategy that helped get the
writing ball rolling.
As always, happy writing!
-Janiel
P.S. Just for fun:
Here’s a poem (Poetry Month!!) written by one of my second graders about
passing notes. Enjoy and go pass some
notes!
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| Passing Notes Passing notes jokes anything, perhaps But when the teacher catches I stop dead in my tracks |
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