Using Strong Writing Activity, students respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
Using Telling A Story Activity, students use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events.
Using Wishes and Stars Peer Publishing Writing Activity, students produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
Using Work in Progress Worksheet, students write about something that makes them happy to share their writing with a friend to gain feedback to improve their writing.
Big ideas from little authors
In preschool, an "essay" is really a story or an idea a child tells, draws and shares. Kids learn that their thoughts can go on paper: first as a picture, then with a few letters or words, and often with a grown-up writing down what they say. They practice telling things in order, like first, next, last, and adding details to their drawings. The best moment is when a child "reads" their own page to a friend and beams with pride.
Preschool writing is mostly talking and drawing. These moves build the thinking behind every future essay.
Have a child tell you their idea out loud first, then draw it, then help them label one or two things. Model with your own simple story first: "First I woke up, next I ate pancakes, last I came to school." Talking first gives them something to put on paper.
Why it works: handing over the work step by step, from teacher to student, is one of the most widely used teaching frameworks (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withTelling A Story ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Look at a child's drawing together and ask "What else is in your picture?" Maybe a sun, a pet or a smile. Adding one detail at a time teaches that strong writing tells the reader more.
Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.
Try it withStrong Writing ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Keep each child's pages in a folder labeled with a big star. Every week, add a page and look back at the old ones together. Kids see their own progress, and you see the growth too.
Why it works: spreading practice out over days is one of the two most effective study methods in a major research review (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withWork in Progress WorksheetActivitiesOpen it →Little authors love an audience. These ideas make sharing their work a celebration.
ActivitiesOne child sits in a special chair and shares their page while classmates give a star for something they love.
Open Wishes and Stars Peer Publishing Writing Activity →
ActivitiesFriends give one star (something great) and one wish (something to add). Kind feedback for tiny writers!
Open Wishes and Stars Peer Publishing Activity →
ActivitiesKids pick one page and add a color, a label or a new detail to make it even better.
Open Strengthen Your Writing Activity →Teacher favorites right now: Strong Writing Activity, Telling A Story Activity and Wishes and Stars Peer Publishing Writing Activity.
Not in the grown-up sense, but they can tell, draw and share ideas, which is the start of every essay. A drawing with a few letters or dictated words is real preschool writing.
Ask them to tell you a story, then draw it, then label one thing together. Write their words down as they talk so they see that spoken ideas can become print.
No. Scribbles, letter-like shapes and sound spelling like "KT" for cat are all healthy steps. Celebrate the effort and the idea, and correct spelling will come later.
Keep it positive and specific: name one thing you love and one small thing to add. Kids this age grow most when they feel proud of their work.
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