Writing is a crucial skill that everyone should have. They can start to learn it from their 1st grade. As a teacher, you also need to help students to improve their writing skills. So, they can use this skill to express their feeling and thought. Here, we have some tricks on how to teach 1st grade students to improve their writing capability.
Ask a Series of Questions
Most 1st students don’t know how to start their first sentence. Even if they get the first sentence, they are having difficulty developing it into a complete story. A simple trick that can improve their skills to write a story is by asking them a series of questions.
You can ask something, such as when it happens? Who are the characters? How about their feelings? What is the story about? And how did the story end? Ask them to write a complete story based on their answers. Researchers explain that this trick can improve 1st-grade students’ writing skills, especially in writing complete and coherent sentences.
Use Props
Prepare some pros, such as dolls, photos, paintings, images, and many more. Then, ask your students just like the first trick. This teaching technique can’t only improve students’ writing skills but also their imagination and creativity. Imagine how many stories you can get from your students by only showing one image.
Procedural Writing Method
Some experts will answer that you should try to apply a procedural writing method when you ask how to teach 1st grade students to write. The procedural writing method means asking them to write instructions for someone on how to do something.
For example, you can ask them to write how to cook sandwiches, how to introduce themselves, and many more. Interestingly, the latest research concludes that 1st-grade students who often write a procedural writing style improve their writing skills from low to high levels. One thing is for sure, this strategy works effectively to support your students to write something.
Teach Your Students to Print Their Writing
You may think that there is no relationship between printing writing and writing skill level, but you are wrong. Based on recent research, students who can print their stories or writings show an improvement in their writing skills. It seems that printing the story motivates them to write a good story. They will ensure that the story is good enough to read before printing it.
Teach Them to Spell
Asking your students to spell words is also an effective method to improve their writing skill. Experts explain that students who can spell words better can write better and longer stories compared to students who can’t spell many words.
Combine Printing and Spelling Technique
You can also combine printing and spelling techniques in teaching your 1st students to write. This strategy even gives a more significant result compared to applying alone. It seems that they give more effort to ensure that the story is well-written when they print it.
Teach Them to Tell a Story
Instead of writing the story, you can ask your 1st students to tell a story. Then, write the story for them. Print the story when it is done. Now, read the story aloud in front of the class so all students can hear you. When they know that they can create something good, it encourages them to write another story.
Ask them to Read and Write Independently
Ask them to pick their favorite book or short story. Then, give them time to read it. Now, ask them to rewrite the story. Check their writing progress and suggest them something to complete the story and create a well-written sentence. It is how to teach 1st grade students to write by letting them enjoy the process.
