Do your kindergarten students dread writing? Do they say “I don’t know what to write” or write the same thing over and over? Do you have students so focused on spelling things correctly that they barely get anything down on their paper? Do you want to know how to motivate a child to write and turn those reluctant writers into eager authors?
Reluctant Writers in Kindergarten
Every year I have reluctant writers in my kindergarten class. Figuring out how to motivate a child to write can be challenging because they usually have different problems. I have the kiddos who think writing is boring and would rather play. There are those who are hyper focused on doing everything perfectly and don’t want to start when they think they’ll make mistakes. I have students who think they have gamed the system and learn one sentence and write it consistently such as “I see the cat.” Thankfully, I have found an easy way to engage my kinders and foster that love of writing that leads to better sentence writing.
Help Kindergarteners Love Writing
I know that one thing that always helps my students have more confidence when learning is having a consistent routine, so I try to have a predictable schedule both daily and throughout the week when teaching writing in kindergarten. One way I achieve this is by using centers that keep the same format but just change in theme and difficulty throughout the year. Another thing that helps me motivate my reluctant writers is involving choice. I know that if my students can choose between activities that they feel more in charge of their learning and are more willing to attempt tasks.
I help my students become engaged in the writing process by providing a starting point. Sometimes they are reluctant to write simply because thinking up a topic is too overwhelming. Providing clear guidelines for success also helps my students understand what is expected. This aids those who are worried about getting things perfect and is one simple way how to motivate a child to write.
Motivate Reluctant Writers with Guided Writing Prompts
Guided writing prompts are the easiest way I’ve found to address all of the needs of my kindergarten writers and motivate them to start writing. We have a consistent routine of paperless prompts every morning for morning journals, new writing prompts in writing center each month, and, new vocabulary words for the week on Mondays. They know they have tons of choices of what to write during writing center by picking different levels of prompts from sentence starters, cut/paste label sheets, and scrambled sentences, to blank sheets with simple questions to respond to.
I address the “I don’t know what to write about” problem with sentence starters for topic ideas that also help students who constantly write the same thing. Those concerned with having to spell things perfectly feel more confident writing with the vocabulary anchor charts, word wall words, and word banks provided on many of the prompts. These resources serve as a starting point for my reluctant writers who dread writing and need a topic to spark an interesting idea to write about. Sometimes simply incorporating a topic that a student is fascinated by is all that is needed to help with how to motivate a child to write and start that love of writing.
In kindergarten you spend a great deal of time teaching sentences and sentence structure. From handwriting, to discriminating the difference in words vs. sentences, I make sure to model through lots of shared writing and building pocket chart sentences together. This helps remind students what is expected and gives them a clear guideline for success. Rubrics also help students self-assess independently as they can check to see if they have capitalized their beginning letters or read to make sure it makes sense right on their paper. This helps my students who are worried about making mistakes feel better about trying their best.
Takeaways for How to Motivate a Child to Write
Kindergarten students will start out as reluctant writers. There is so much to learn between learning proper letter formation and writing an entire story with a detailed illustration. Through providing routine, choice, starting points, and guidelines for success, you can give your students the structure yet flexibility they need to grow their love of writing.
Inspire a Love of Writing with Writing Prompts Today!
Set your students up for success with these free writing prompts. The options will give students choices of what to write and the word banks will help your reluctant writers have a starting point. Show your kindergarten students that writing can be fun! Combined with these tips for how to motivate a child to write, you’ll have your reluctant writers loving writing soon!
