Three ways to help lower primary students develop a love for writing

Over the past year, TF’s P2 students have been writing compositions on a weekly basis. Our younger ones have evolved from writing simple sentences for each picture to a complete story with paragraphs.

Without the added pressure of examinations in school, writing has become something they enjoy doing. They love to weave their plots during planning and discussion and use the helping phrases creatively. Adding personal thought and dialogue for them comes naturally now. While building interesting characters will come about when they start Primary 3, we feel that they are ending their P2 year with us well.

As the school year draws to a close for the younger ones, parents can encourage them to develop a love for writing. Here are some ways.

How to develop a love for writing?

1. A Writing Book

Having their very own writing book can make the writing process special. Gifting your child with a writing book can be a special moment as well. It can be a shopping trip together, or it can come specially wrapped up as part of a school holiday gift. Make sure that the writing book is large enough for a child to write a story on and even draw pictures related to the story.

2. Writing Freedom

Allow your child to choose what he or she would like to write about. A diary entry? Part 2 of a book that they had just read? A letter to a friend they miss over the holidays? By giving your child the freedom to write whatever he or she wants, your child can explore the different writing mediums and make the process fun and not a chore or a punishment. At TF, our teachers praise our younger ones for every idea they put out during the Brainstorming portion of the lesson. Our teachers make sure to acknowledge every idea even if we need to guide them back later to use a more relevant plot.

3. Sharing their writing

Encourage your child to share what he or she has written and praise him or her for the effort put in, no matter how small. At TF, every composition done is rewarded with a sticker which after being accumulated can be exchanged for a gift.

While it may be tempting for parents to correct all their children’s mistakes, the Writing Book should be a medium for your child to freely express himself or herself through the writing process. Corrections and drafts should be done when a child does a composition practice.

Recently, our Primary 2s were given a composition Test without any guidance or additional helping phrases. Below is the model composition of one of our students. While everyone in class did well, I enjoyed reading ZX’s story and wanted to share it in this post as well.

Primary 2 Composition Model on the theme of helping someone

One sunny morning, Tom was on his way to have an early lunch. Tom was an intelligent boy. He would always help others in need. After eating his lunch, he went back home for a rest.

              On the way home, Tom saw a blind man trying to cross a busy road. He realised that it was Mr. Tan, his neighbour. Mr. Tan had always been nice to Tom. It should be my turn to be nice to him, Tom thought to himself. Tom started walking to Mr. Tan and he said, “Mr Tan, I am your neighbour, Tom. Would you like me to help you cross the busy road?”

Mr Tan heard Tom and said, “Oh, hello Tom! I would like you to help me cross the road.”

              Tom told Mr Tan to be careful while walking. Tom held his hand and they crossed the busy road together. They chatted while they walked. Tom asked Mr Tan how he became blind and if he was sad living alone.

Mr Tan answered, “I was born blind. I am not sad living alone because I have a lot of good neighbours like you.”

Tom felt his heart fill with warmth. After a while, Tom and Mr Tan were back home. Mr Tan thanked Tom profusely and wished Tom a happy day.

              Tom waved goodbye and arrived home with a smile. Tom learnt that helping others makes him happy too.