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Helping your child with writing

You do not have to be an expert. Help your child with those areas of writing with which you feel confident.Share your writing experiences with your child. As you do so, talk about why you are writing something and who you expect to read it.Make writing experiences at home purposeful and interesting for yourself and your child.

It is important your child knows about who they are writing for and why they are writing, as this determines the tone and form that a piece of writing takes. For example, a note from a parent to a child reminding him or her to do a job on arriving home will have quite a different form and tone from a letter to an aunt inviting her to join a family celebration .

How can I encourage my child to write?
*Read your childs writing or have him or her read the writing to you, and make positive comments, for example, I really like the way youve described this.
* Praise your child for having a go at writing words that are new and explain how to spell harder words.
* Talk to your child about why an author or film maker might create a book, play or film in a particular way. What ideas or opinions are presented? What is the authors purpose?
* Read and talk about the writing that your child brings home from school.
* Praise your child for using neat and legible handwriting. In order to develop spelling and vocabulary, play word games such as I Spy, Scrabble, Boggle, Scattergories and crosswords.

How can I help with writing at home?
*Have your child label things that he or she designs or makes.
* Compile a photo album or scrapbook with your child and have him or her write captions for the photos and pictures.
* Encourage your child to keep a diary of special events, e.g. a holiday diary.
* Make the writing of notes, letters and stories a normal part of family life.

How can I support my child with writing tasks given for homework?
* Help your child to understand why they have been given the task.
* Ask him or her to talk about what has to be done.
* Encourage your child to use various types of paper for drawing and writing and to use a variety of instruments, such as pens, pencils, crayons and textas.
* If you have a computer or typewriter at home, make it available for your child to use.
* Help your child to use reference materials such as dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, CD-ROMs and the Internet.