Writing Workshop for parents Wednesday 7th June 2017 ‘The writer is an explorer. Every step is an advance into new land.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The purpose of this workshop: At Hodnet, we would like our children to be creative, excited and enthusiastic writers. The purpose of this workshop: To gain an understanding of how children’s writing develops. To understand how we teach writing at Hodnet. To know how we teach some of the technical aspects of writing. To give you some practical ideas about how you can support your children at home with their writing.

How do we teach writing at Hodnet Primary School? We use ‘Talk4Writing’ – Imitation: Learning a familiar text to internalise language and identify the structure of the writing – Innovation: Changing the familiar text using shared ideas followed by planning and writing it together – Independent Application: Children use their own ideas to plan and write independently – Use of quality texts to support

Features of Talk4Writing •Story Maps or Text Maps •Oral retelling •Planning and Editing •Shared Writing •Grammar To find out more – http://www.talk4writing.co.uk

Writing in EYFS •To begin with, the children need to give a meaning to the marks they make •As their pencil grip and phonic knowledge increases they will start to write everyday words e.g. mum, dad and their own name. •The children use their phonic knowledge to decode words before they write the word. •Firstly, the children will start to write the initial sound only. •This is built on as their phonic knowledge increases •When they leave reception, the age related expectation is that they will be able to independently write a sentence which is phonetically plausible.

KS1 and KS2 Exemplifications https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks1-english-writing https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks2-english-writing

How to help your child at home At EYFS: – Practice letter formation in a variety of substances (beans, foam etc.) – Practice letter sounds and the letter names – Read to your child everyday – Encourage storytelling or retelling of familiar stories – Help them develop their fine motor skills

How to help your child at home At KS1: – Help them learn their weekly spellings (especially common and tricky words) – Practice letter formation – Encourage consistent letter size – Encourage writing on the line – Practice daily sentence work – Use grammatical terminology

How to help your child at home At KS2: – Encourage the learning of weekly spellings – Encourage handwriting practice (joined) – Daily sentence work – Use grammatical terminology – Discuss vocabulary (ask them about word types) – Suggest synonyms (a similar-meaning word)

Reflection time… ‘The most proficient writers in any class are always the readers.’ We need to stimulate an interest in words and sentences because they lie at the root of all writing If you want to be a writer then read, read, read Meagre reading produces thin writing. Writers read deeply. We only write well when it matters to us personally. Writing is about who we are. It is particular and personal and individual. Should writing be a form of formula fulfilling or a form of creation? Without talk, there would be no writing.

What the DfE says about the purpose of writing: To communicate to others To create imaginary worlds To organise and explain information To explore experience Writing =Transcription and Composition Transcription Composition Spelling and Handwriting Planning Drafting Evaluating Sharing Revising and editing Sentence combining Summarising Writing for a purpose and an audience Grammar and punctuation

Think it - Say it - Hear it - Like it? Write it - Read it! Underpinning all writing – oral rehearsal and oral revision Think it - Say it - Hear it - Like it? Write it - Read it!

Words – the building blocks of writing adverb verb preposition Mr Rogers accidentally crashed his car into a huge tree. noun Many of us didn’t learn the names of different words – nouns, adjectives etc. this can be a stumbling block when trying to support your child at home. Examples of books and websites. adjective pronoun

Slowly, Ben lowered himself into the soft, cosy duvet When writing, the choice of words is important: Ben went to bed vs Slowly, Ben lowered himself into the soft, cosy duvet What we look for V - vocabulary C - connectives O - openers P – punctuation

The success of children’s ability to write is based on: A rich talking environment. Experience of many stories that have been read and told to them, at home and in school. Being able to join in with stories and adding their own ideas. Practising and developing their own story language - ‘talking like a book’. A range of engaging speaking and listening activities related to drama. Play games with language – consequences, re-tell well-known stories and change the main character. Play at being a news presenter or a football commentator.

Simple sentence Hugo lived inside the station Compound sentence (Simple sentences linked with ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’) Hugo lived in the station and he had no parents Complex sentence (has one or more subordinate clauses which don’t make sense on their own) Hugo lived in the station, which was difficult for him as he had no money, and had to steal food.

Finally I hope you have found this writing workshop useful. Please complete the evaluation form on your table and leave it to be collected. Thank you for coming