Kindergarten writing is full of so many steps. First we teach proper letter formation and handwriting, then we dive into words vs. sentences, and move into sentences and sentence structure. We have to teach different kinds of kindergarten writing such as narrative, opinion, and informational and work on better sentence writing. We also have to motivate our reluctant writers. One thing I notice that leads to reluctant writers is a lack of writing fluency.
What is Writing Fluency and Why Does it Matter?
What is kindergarten writing fluency? Writing fluency focuses on how accurately and quickly students can write. If a student is focusing all of their time on proper letter formation and worrying about spelling everything correctly then they will take a long time to write anything and become frustrated.
While we don’t want students to rush through the writing process, becoming fluent allows them to automatically know how to form their letters and have a foundation of core words they know how to spell. Kindergarten writing fluency is important to help students complete tasks in a more timely manner and become confident in their writing ability.
How to Achieve Writing Fluency
Daily Writing Practice
Daily writing practice is key to having students achieve kindergarten writing fluency. Consistent repetition of writing letters, words, and practicing phonics patterns helps students more quickly recognize what they need to write and fix errors while writing. Some simple ways I incorporate daily kindergarten writing practices into my classroom include: morning journals, daily fluency, monthly writing sheets, and writing choice boards.
Having students complete morning journals has them start their day being authors! When we prioritize kindergarten writing and complete it first thing in the morning they realize that it is important and we definitely will get that practice in for the day. Daily fluency has them improve reading fluency and writing fluency at the same time as they practice reading and writing learned phonics patterns and sight words. Monthly kindergarten writing sheets engage students on different topics and give them ideas to write about when they might feel stuck or unmotivated.
Routines to Boost Confidence
Confidence is so important when teaching kindergarten writing. They come in so eager to learn and we don’t want to crush that and make them hate learning or writing. Part of my routine for teaching writing in kindergarten includes explicitly teaching students how to use their environment to find words.
Each morning we go over our weekly vocabulary and reference our phonics wall and vocabulary wall. During morning meeting we often do mixed up sentences together which reinforce sentence structure. Students also keep mini anchor charts in their writing folders to remind them of phonics patterns we have learned while writing.
During writing block I always have out differentiated options such as sentence starters for prompts in my favorite tabletop pocket charts, handwriting practice, and other options that keep the same structure but change theme. Having routines and structure help students know what is expected so they don’t waste time learning new activities and can just practice their best writing to improve their fluency.
Engaging Topics
If we want our students to write and have writing fluency they have to be motivated to write. One way to motivate our writers is to have engaging topics. I like to poll my students and get them involved in as many of our curriculum choices as I can. While we follow a math and phonics curriculum, I can try and bring in student choice as much as possible with our writing and flex time.
For example, if students are really interested in dinosaurs I can bring in some dinosaur books and we can do retell writing after a dinosaur read aloud, informational writing after researching dinosaurs, or even opinion writing on our favorite dinosaurs. Engaging students is easy when you bring in what your students tell you they want to write about. The words flow easier when they are excited!
Another way to improve kindergarten writing fluency through engaging topics is to use picture prompts. I will put out several photographs in my writing center for students to choose to write about. Sometimes the photos are zoomed in so it’s not clear what the picture is and those are my students’ favorites! This is another place I’ll use our themed vocabulary to have students write about our theme for the week.
Purposeful Writing
Everyone loves to have a purpose, even kindergarten students! They want to know why they are doing what they are doing and why what they are learning is important. Giving their writing a purpose motivates students to write more and the more we write the more writing fluency we will have! One of my favorite activities to do with my class in regards to writing is class books.
Sometimes we will do a narrative and one student will start with a sentence and illustrate it and the next student will do the next page etc. The books can get kind of crazy and off topic because they are five, but the stories are always interesting and entertaining. The students love reading the stories in read to someone when they are done and they are great class keepsakes to publish later in the year.
More authentic activities you can do with your kindergarteners are writing letters to classmates, family members, or other school staff such as specials teachers. Writing with the purpose to entertain, inform, or persuade is something you can incorporate to explain to students that they can make others laugh, tell them about something they are experts on, or even persuade people to take their side or do something with them. Allowing students to do author’s chair and share their writing afterward is always a great motivator for them to do their best job and keep trying.
Writing Fluency Takeaways
Writing fluency can be achieved in kindergarten! Repetition is the key to all things in kindergarten, especially if you want your students to thrive. With daily practice, confidence building routines, engaging topics, and authentic writing that gives them a purpose, your students will soon be writing fluently and enjoying the kindergarten writing process!
Improve Writing Fluency with Your Students Today!
Improve kindergarten writing fluency in your classroom today with these simple purposeful writing prompts to be used with any book. Students can retell a story, write their opinion on the story, write to the author, or even add a new ending. This is a great writing activity to throw in an emergency sub tub with an engaging read aloud or to keep on hand for those days you want to change up your normal writing block.
