writing a speech kindergarten

• Games, topic printables & more
• The 4 main speech types
• Example speeches
• Commemorative
• Declamation
• Demonstration
• Informative
• Introduction
• Student Council
• Speech topics
• Poems to read aloud
• How to write a speech
• Using props/visual aids
• Acute anxiety help
• Breathing exercises
• Letting go - free e-course
• Using self-hypnosis
• Delivery overview
• 4 modes of delivery
• How to make cue cards
• How to read a speech
• 9 vocal aspects
• Vocal variety
• Diction/articulation
• Pronunciation
• Speaking rate
• How to use pauses
• Eye contact
• Body language
• Voice image
• Voice health
• Public speaking activities and games
• Blogging Aloud
• About me/contact

How to write a speech for kids

 create an engaging presentation for children .

By:  Susan Dugdale  | Last modified: 04-28-2021

Writing a speech for kids and then giving it is relatively straightforward. Truly! Once you've gained some experience you'll find it fun, as well as hugely rewarding.

You'll follow exactly the same steps as you would when preparing a speech for adults but with minor, yet crucial variations. 

You'll plan, make an outline, write up your notes, prepare cue cards if you need them, rehearse and finally, deliver your speech.

However because you are presenting to children you'll need to adapt some of the processes. Kids are a very different audience!

Use the on-page quick links below to follow my 3 part outline, and you'll be fine.

What's on this page

Part One : Background & audience research

Part Two: Techniques to gain & hold their attention

Part Three: Rehearsal

Whoops, that went down like the proverbial lead balloon:   Traps for the unwary

Part 1: Background & audience research

Your first step is to consider your audience. The questions you'll want answers to are:

- What age are these children?

- What backgrounds do they mostly come from?

- What background, if any, do they have in relation to your topic?

- What common experiences do they all share that you could use as stepping stones into your material?

- What level of vocabulary will they readily understand?

- what grabs and keeps their attention?

To get the answers, ask the person or people, who invited you to speak.

• How long you're expected to speak for. This is critical. A child's attention span is not the same as an adults, and there are big differences between a 6 year old and a 16 year old. Find out more: Normal attention span expectations by age
• What the purpose is behind inviting you to speak. Are you being asked to inform, to persuade, to entertain ...?
• If the group has members with special needs you should be aware of like children who are deaf, sight impaired or emotionally fragile

Once you've got that information you're ready to begin shaping your material.

Return to Top

Part 2: How to gain & hold attention

Bear in mind the following as you plan:

• Keep the structure simple and clear: introduction, body of speech, conclusion. Kids, just like adults, appreciate knowing what is going on and knowing why they're being asked to listen.
• Use conversational language rather than formal. In your mind choose a child to give your speech to. This will help you keep it 'real'.
• Limit the number of main points you wish to make about your topic to one or two. 
• Keep the formal or structured part of your speech brief.
• Allow time for, and encourage questions.
• Relate the topic back to themselves, their experience, from the beginning. This gives them an anchor, a place they know and understand as a starting point for the journey you're about to take them on. 

Kids love to laugh

Use humor and personal storytelling to get your message across.  

Children of all ages love stories, especially personal ones. A story told well, with humor, will grab their attention faster and hold it longer than any other technique I know. Make it relevant, add characterization, (voices and appropriate body language), and you'll have every child listening.

You can find out more about incorporating stories into your speeches on these pages:

• storytelling  - How to choose and tell a story
• storytelling set-ups  - How to integrate a story into your speech
• characterization techniques  - How to make your stories come alive through gesture and voice.

Vocabulary choices, questions & props

• Use specific words rather than general ones. 'I love being outdoors' is less evocative than 'I love puddle jumping, building a bonfire at the beach...'
• Use inclusive words: 'we' and 'our' as well as personal ones: 'yours', 'you'
• Vary your sentence length and your word choice to keep it interesting to listen to. Children, like adults, appreciate variation.

Questions, instructions and involvement

Use interactive questions, and instructions, to ensure they're following you throughout your speech. For example:  'Have you got that? Nod your heads if you have.'

Or, 'Wave your hand like this ( d emonstrate ) if you can see the picture I put on the board.'

Get them involved by asking for volunteers to help hand things around.

Play simple chorus answer and action games like, 'When I say, who has got a good thinking brain, you say ME and pat your head. Let's try it now. Ready? Who's got ...'

Or, 'When I get to a scary bit in the story you're going to go ooooooh,oooooh in a very frightened sort of way and make yourselves very small like this.' ( Demonstrate .) 'Now, let's try it together...That's fantastic. I've never seen a better bunch of scared kids.' 

Props or visual aids

Where possible incorporate 'showing' as well as 'telling'. Take along things children can see and if at all possible, handle. This gives your speech another dimension. And don't be afraid to break out your silly wig, or a clown's nose ...

Check this page on using props well in speeches .

Once you have the basic outline of your speech planned you're ready for the next step.

Now you're going to trial your work.

Rehearsal will help you identify what you've done well and where you need to fine tune.

If you can, practice in front of several children of the same age and background you're going to talk to.

If they're old enough to understand, ask them before you give the speech, if they can help you make it better and collect their feedback at the end.

If they're not old enough, look for cues like looking away, looking puzzled, talking through it, or wriggling. If it's too long and without relevance or connection to them they'll soon let you know.

Children don't have filters. They'll show and tell you like it is. They're not being deliberately rude. It's actually quite simple. They're not interested and haven't learned to pretend otherwise, yet. Don't make the mistake of taking their responses personally! 

Before you go on to finalize your speech incorporate your changes.

If you'd like pointers on how to rehearse you'll find them here:

• how to rehearse

Do try and give your speech without a word-for-word script. It might feel safer for you but for children, listening to you read is not as effective as you talking to, or interacting with them, directly.

Use cue cards if you can.  Rehearse until you know it fluently and the cue cards are merely a safety net should you need them.

And finally run through the checklist below.

These are the pitfalls I've either fallen into myself or watched others tumble down. Knowing will help you avoid them.

Whoops - traps for the unwary

Learning the hard way; when it doesn't go like you imagined it would and a great dark chasm opens beneath your feet and you find yourself rapidly disappearing down it, silly wig and all.

It's ghastly, and an experience I've had more than several times in my teaching career.

Here's what I've learned. Blaming your audience is letting yourself off the hook! When a presentation lurches sideways it's not the children's fault. The hell hole is generally of our own making. Any of these factors could have caused it:

• assuming that because a child is a child and you're an adult you automatically know more than they do
• patronizing your audience through using either over-simplified or baby language
• talking over their heads by using either non-explained jargon or a vocabulary beyond their experience
• not rehearsing and then finding that your speech doesn't flow logically. Or it's too long.  Or that it doesn't have enough relevance so the kids are bored. Or the props you brought don't work as you wished. They're too small to be seen from the stage. And the stories you planned fall flat.
• introducing inappropriate subject matter for the group or an individual in the group. Always check.
• trying to fit too much information into the time allotted.
• inadvertently making fun of a child's comments and concerns therefore shaming them in front of their peers.
• exploiting their trust and naivety by presenting material persuasively that is ultimately of no benefit to them and at worst destructive.
• getting flustered by bit of very ordinary spontaneous child behavior (talking while you are talking, wriggling ...) and not knowing how to handle it and move on with ease
• not having established the rules of engagement at the beginning for asking questions, handling props, or any activity involving interaction ...

There is a common sense remedy for all of them. Trial your speech in rehearsal! And if it helps get a trusted and experienced colleague in to give you feedback!

• Return to top of how to write a speech for kids

speaking out loud 

Subscribe for  FREE weekly alerts about what's new For more see  speaking out loud  

Top 10 popular pages

• Welcome speech
• Demonstration speech topics
• Impromptu speech topic cards
• Thank you quotes
• Impromptu public speaking topics
• Farewell speeches
• Phrases for welcome speeches
• Student council speeches
• Free sample eulogies

From fear to fun in 28 ways

A complete one stop resource to scuttle fear in the best of all possible ways - with laughter.

Useful pages

• Search this site
• About me & Contact
• Free e-course
• Privacy policy

©Copyright 2006-24 www.write-out-loud.com

Designed and built by Clickstream Designs

How to help your child write a speech (without doing it for them)

Associate Professor in Education, Deakin University

Disclosure statement

Joanne O'Mara receives funding from The Australian Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Deakin University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

It’s hard for parents to help kids with homework without doing it for them . It can be especially difficult to work out where to start when your child is preparing a speech for school.

You might find your child is procrastinating more about getting started with a speech than about other homework. This could be because they are anxious about it.

Having something that they want to say to their class can help to increase your child’s confidence and motivation when they deliver the speech. A positive speechmaking experience can increase confidence for next time, which is why some schools teach public speaking in a systematic way.

It’s important to keep in mind that public speaking has two parts to it: writing the speech, and delivering it.

Here are some tips for how to help your kid with both aspects of preparation.

Read more: What's the point of homework?

Writing the speech

First, help your child find something they want to say to their audience.

When a child is delivering a speech to the class, they are being listened to, observed, and watched by their peers. Most other classwork is only read by the teacher. In a speech, they are sharing their ideas with the whole class.

That’s why it is really important they own what they are saying, and say it in their own words.

It’s key they own the topic (if it is a free choice of topic) or that they own the stance they are taking (if the topic is set by the teacher).

As a parent, it’s tricky to support your child to find their own words to say – but it’s very important you don’t write the speech for them.

Help them to think about what they care about and what they think is important to share with their class.

Apart from the fact the teacher will spot a parent-written speech a mile away, if your child has no ownership of their speech, they will not care about communicating the ideas to the class.

Next, help your child to think about organising their ideas.

It’s good to have a hook or a catchy introduction into the main idea of the speech. That could be a rhetorical question, an anecdote or an amazing fact. They can then think of around three main points about the topic.

Ask your child questions that help them to think about some examples or evidence that support their ideas.

Finally, help them to finish their speech. Often, the ending might return to the beginning to round off the point being made – a kind of “I told you so”!

Delivering the speech – 4 tips for parents

1. Encourage your child to focus on communicating their idea to their audience.

If they focus on sharing their ideas, rather than worrying about themselves, everything will come together. Encourage them to think about looking at the audience and making sure everyone can hear them.

2. Practise the speed of delivery and time their speech.

One of the easiest things to practise that makes a big difference to the delivery of the speech is the pacing.

The big tip is to slow down. When speakers feel nervous they tend to speed up, sometimes just a little — but often students will deliver their speeches at breakneck speed, racing to just get it done so they can go and sit down.

I’ve listened to thousands of student speeches and have never heard one delivered too slowly. But I have heard many that sound like a horse-race call.

3. Be an affirmative audience to their speech.

Listen to your child practise when they feel ready to share with you, but don’t push them if they are resistant.

Focus on building their confidence by talking to them about the moments you felt they were connecting with you as an audience member. Be appreciative of their jokes or show you share their feelings about ideas they care about.

Your children seek your approval – don’t be stingy with it.

4. If they are feeling confident, suggest they work on nuancing their delivery.

Once they are feeling confident about delivering the speech, the child can add variety and texture.

For instance, they might slow down for emphasis on certain words, add a pause after asking a question, or think about some moments where they might speak more softly or loudly.

Variation will add interest to the delivery of the speech and help to grab and keep the audience’s attention. It also helps further convey your child’s ideas.

Good support takes time

It’s hard to get the balance right when supporting your child to prepare their speech. The trick is to understand that it will take more than one sitting.

So, plan for a few chunks of time, and work on building their ideas and enthusiasm.

Read more: Should parents help their kids with homework?

• Primary school
• Speech writing
• Primary schooling
• Children's literacy

Casual Facilitator: GERRIC Student Programs - Arts, Design and Architecture

Senior Lecturer, Digital Advertising

Service Delivery Fleet Coordinator

Manager, Centre Policy and Translation

Newsletter and Deputy Social Media Producer

Time-saving Educational resources for K-2 Teachers

Your cart is currently empty!

11 Tips for Oral Storytelling Practice in Kindergarten and First Grade

Even if children cannot yet write, they can still learn to tell stories. This is why oral storytelling practice is such a valuable tool for our emergent writers! Learning to tell stories with detail will help your students write with detail later on.

Yet, with all the rich benefits, oral storytelling is often a skill that’s skipped or not done enough in kindergarten and first grade.

But we’re going to change that! Let me share some easy ways you can incorporate oral storytelling practice into your curriculum.

Make sure to read through the entire post for a FREE story sequencing and retelling lesson!

And if you’re looking for more strategies for supporting struggling writers, check out this post!  If you’re new to teaching writing, read A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Workshop in Kindergarten & First Grade.  

When I tell you the skill of oral storytelling is chock full of benefits, I am not kidding. Oral storytelling…

• Teaches and reinforces story structure
• Supports vocabulary development 
• Deepens comprehension and understanding of the story
• Prepares kids for writing their own stories 
• Increases self- confidence

Here are 6 simple and fun strategies for incorporating oral storytelling practice in your classroom each week:

Retell a familiar story.

One of the simplest strategies you can use to introduce and practice oral storytelling with your emergent writers is to have your students retell the books you’ve read aloud in class. We all read stories together in Kindergarten and 1st grade. So, why not introduce your students to oral storytelling by having them practice retelling what they just heard in a story to a partner or to the whole class? 

You can scaffold this by turning the pages of the book so that they can see the pictures as a reminder of what happens.

If you have picture cards that go with the story, these are great for support as well. I like to keep my read-alouds in a baggie with the matching story picture cards. Students can use these to retell during centers as well!

Have fun with wordless books!

If you know me, you know I LOVE using wordless books! My absolute favorite is Chalk by Bill Thomson. Wordless books are a great way to support and inspire oral storytelling with your students. 

To use wordless books for oral storytelling practice, have your students come up with the words to the story with you. Guide them to use vivid verbs! In the book Chalk , we used the word fluttered rather than flew, raced rather than ran, and melted rather than went away.

After retelling together a few times, reminding students of their new vivid words, have them practice telling their story orally to a partner.

Watch this quick video to see to see this in action and click here to get the lesson FREE and try it out with your students!

Use a shared class experience!

Shared experiences are perfect for oral storytelling. Using events that happened in the classroom allows everyone to hone their storytelling skills because they’re all familiar with the story!

You don’t have to wait for a field trip or huge event to write about it as a class! “Writable” moments happen every day in your classroom: the tub of pattern blocks tipping over, the bug that flew into the classroom, the moment that outdoor recess was announced and everyone cheered. Writing about “small” things shows your students that they have tons of things they can write about!

Have students tell the story while you write it. You can also use a shared experience as an opportunity to teach about sentence structure as you write a class book together.

Choose Monday Storytellers!

Every Monday, choose a few students to tell about something they did that weekend! I’ve found that most kids love having the opportunity to share about their weekends. The catch here is that you guide them and encourage them to tell it like a story! Have other students ask questions for more details, then end with the Monday storyteller telling their story from the beginning with as much detail as possible!

Model great oral storytelling!

Your students are always learning from you and listening to you. Be sure that when you tell stories, you are enthusiastic, modeling elements of oral storytelling for them. 

Tell them stories about your life. One thing to keep in mind here is to model with a “storyteller’s voice”. Use lots of detail, vivid verbs, and elements like “show, not tell” and suspense to keep them engaged.

Act it out!

And now, one of the most fun ways to incorporate oral storytelling practice in your day… act it out! Have kids act out a familiar story in groups. 

While some of the kids are acting out the story, have another student narrate or tell the story. And, don’t forget to remind the narrator to use that “storyteller’s voice!”

And, here are 5 tips you can use to improve oral storytelling skills with your emergent writers: 

• Tip #1: Spend some time revising the story with stronger words and by adding more details!
• Tip #2: Act out your stories with gestures while telling them!
• Tip #3: Have kids echo your retelling, then practice with a partner!
• Tip #4: Use picture supports to help kids remember the events as they’re telling the story!
• Tip #5: Do this often, it will take lots of practice! Repeated retellings of the same story are so helpful!

Our Favorite Tool for Storytelling

Our favorite tool for practicing oral storytelling is Story Pop-ups ! These have a story scene for students to use as the background while storytelling with the picture pieces.

Students cut out and use the pictures to retell the story on the background scene, glue the pictures to show the sequence, and write the ending of the story.

You can ask students to retell the story to someone at home, using the sequenced pictures to help them!

The bundle includes 40 books and each book has 3 versions for differentiation.

I also have smaller bundles with 10-13 books.

Check it out in my Tejeda’s Tots shop or in my TpT store:

I hope these tips help you to feel more confident as you help your students to become oral storytellers! Remember, even if your students cannot yet write, they still have stories to tell. And they can tell them through oral storytelling!

If you have any questions about oral storytelling or unique ideas for teaching oral storytelling, please leave them below!

2 responses to “11 Tips for Oral Storytelling Practice in Kindergarten and First Grade”

Thanks for sharing these tips! I like the Monday storytellers because it also allows the kids to share their own stories with the class.

You’re very welcome! Yes, they love being able to share about their personal lives. 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Suggested Posts

Anecdotal notes in small-group reading: tips and free templates, planning for small group instruction: reading in kindergarten and 1st grade, how to choose and use nonsense words in structured literacy lessons.

• Math for Kids
• Parenting Resources
• ELA for Kids
• Teaching Resources

How to Teach Number Recognition to Kids in 8 Easy Steps

How to Teach One to One Correspondence To Kids: 4 Easy Steps

How to Teach Odd and Even Numbers in 4 Easy Steps

How to Teach Long Division to Kids in 6 Easy Steps

15 Famous Mathematicians in History That Kids Should Know

6-year-old Developmental Milestones Checklist

How to Prepare a Schedule for Kindergarten With Examples

How to Prepare a Schedule for Preschoolers With Sample

12 Best Funny Short Stories for Kids to Read in 2024

6 Best Alternatives to Public Schooling: A Guide for Parents

60 Famous Quotes About Reading, Books & Writing for All Ages

What is Reading Assessment? Types & Tools  [Full Guide]

What are the Stages of Writing Development [Full Guide]

11 Best English Grammar Apps for Kids [Android & iOS]

10 Different Type of Reading Materials for Kids

12 Best Reading Bulletin Board Ideas for Your Classroom

15 Fun Summer Bulletin Board Ideas for 2024

13 Best Assessment Tools for Teachers in 2024

12 Best STEM Programs for Kids in 2024

12 Best Tips for Substitute Teachers

How to Teach Sentence Structure to Kids: The Ultimate Guide

What is Sentence Structure?

4 types of sentences, what are sentence clauses, teaching sentence structure 101, how to teach a child to write sentences, how to improve sentence creation fluency in kids, let’s make sentence teaching fun.

As parents and educators, we play a crucial role in helping young minds develop strong communication skills. One essential aspect of this journey is teaching sentence structure —the backbone of effective writing . Providing children with the right guidance and tools can nurture their creativity and empower them to convey their message with clarity and precision.

Math & ELA | PreK To Grade 5

Kids see fun ., you see real learning outcomes ..

Watch your kids fall in love with math & reading through our scientifically designed curriculum.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the art of teaching sentence writing to kids , equipping them with the skills they need to become confident wordsmiths.

Sentence structure is how we arrange words in a sentence. When we write or speak, we use sentence structure to ensure our sentences are easy to understand and sound right.

In a sentence, we usually have a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a predicate (what the subject is doing or what is happening to the subject). For example, in “The cat sleeps,” ‘The cat’ is the subject, and ‘sleeps’ is the predicate.

That’s sentence structure – it’s just about putting words in the right order so everyone can understand what we mean!

When we talk or write, we use different types of sentences to share our thoughts, ask questions, or show our feelings. Understanding different types of sentences is an imperative part of teaching sentence structure to kids. Here are four main types:

• Declarative Sentences: These are the most common. They tell you something and end with a period. For example, “The dog is playing.”
• Interrogative Sentences: These sentences ask a question and end with a question mark. Like, “What time is it?”
• Exclamatory Sentences: We use these when we are excited or surprised about something. They end with an exclamation mark. For example, “Wow, that’s amazing!”
• Imperative Sentences: These give commands or make requests. They often end with a period, but can also end with an exclamation mark. An example is, “Please close the door.”

Sentence clauses are the building blocks of sentences and are essential for understanding the structure of a sentence. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb (predicate) and expresses a complete thought. It can function independently as a complete sentence or as part of a larger sentence.

There are two main types of sentence clauses:

1. Independent Clauses

An independent clause, also known as a main clause, can stand alone as a complete sentence because it expresses a complete thought.

Example: She went to the store.

Here ‘She went to the store’ is an independent clause that can function as a separate sentence.

2. Dependent Clauses

A dependent clause, also known as a subordinate clause, cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because it does not express a complete thought. It relies on an independent clause to complete its meaning. 

How to identify: Dependent clauses usually begin with subordinating conjunctions or relative pronouns.

Example: After she finished her work,

Here the dependent clause needs to be combined with the independent clause to form complete sentences.

It’s important to note that dependent clauses provide additional information but cannot function independently. 

A sentence consists of various elements such as subjects, verbs, objects, adjectives, adverbs, and other parts of speech. The structure of a sentence follows a specific order or pattern, which can vary depending on the language.

Some Basic Sentence Structures

In English, the basic sentence structures are:

Subject-verb-object (SVO): Here, the subject performs the action expressed by the verb on the object. 

Example: Sarah (subject) loves (verb) ice cream (object).

Subject-verb (SV): The structure consists of just a subject and a verb without an object. 

Example: The bird (subject) sings (verb).

Subject-verb-adverb (SVA): The structure adds an adverb to provide more information about the action. 

Example: She (subject) sings (verb) beautifully (adverb).

Subject-verb-indirect object-direct object (SVIDO): in this structure, there is a verb, an indirect object, and a direct object. The indirect object receives the direct object. 

Example: He (subject) gave (verb) his sister (indirect object) a book (direct object).

The arrangement of these elements within a sentence is crucial in determining its clarity, coherence, and overall meaning. Teaching these different types of sentences acquaints a child with different kinds of sentence structures, thereby improving their language proficiency.

No matter how simple or complex a child’s writing abilities may be, teaching them how to write effective sentences is essential for their overall growth as communicators and writers. 

‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.’ This quote by Maya Angelou reminds us that encouraging children to express their creativity through writing enhances their sentence-writing skills and nurtures their imagination and self-expression.

So, to assist children in their journey of learning ‘how to write sentences effectively’, here are some helpful tips:

1. Start with the Basics

Before diving into complex sentence structures, it’s crucial to introduce children to the basic components of a sentence. A sentence typically consists of subject and predicate.

2. Teach Parts of Speech

Children may need to understand the various parts of speech to construct meaningful and grammatically correct sentences. Engage children in activities that involve identifying and using various parts of speech in sentences. For instance, you can provide sentences and ask them to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, or other parts of speech. 

You can also encourage them to create their sentences using specific parts of speech, allowing them to practice and reinforce their understanding.

Here are some parts of speech worksheets to get started:

3. Expand Vocabulary

Building a rich vocabulary is essential for crafting compelling sentences. Research by Biemiller shows that a robust vocabulary enables individuals to express themselves more effectively and enhances their reading comprehension and overall language development. 

Here are some strategies to help children expand their vocabulary:

• Encourage diverse book reading among your students to discover new words and concepts.
• Teach them to infer word meanings from surrounding text.
• Introduce age-appropriate dictionaries to learn definitions and related words.
• Engage them in puzzles and games for interactive vocabulary building .
• Present a new word daily and encourage its usage in sentences.
• Ask them to maintain a journal to record new words, meanings, and examples.
• Discuss interesting words from daily experiences.

4. Practice, Practice, and Practice!

Practice indeed makes a person perfect; mastering sentence construction requires consistent and dedicated practice. Here are some enhanced strategies to emphasize the importance of practice:

• Provide Sentence-building Exercises

You can engage students in exercises that require children to identify and combine subject and predicate components. For example, give them a list of subjects and a list of predicates, and ask them to match and create complete sentences.

• Create Sentence Puzzles 

When it comes to practicing sentence construction , repetition is key. By creating sentence puzzles, you can provide students with an enjoyable and interactive way to reinforce their skills. Jumble up words and challenge them to rearrange them to form grammatically correct sentences. 

• Use Sentence-building Games  

Games like ‘Sentence Relay’ or ‘Sentence Scramble’ can be used to make learning fun. These games not only provide opportunities to apply knowledge dynamically but also add to greater writing fluency. 

You can begin with these fun sentence arranging games

• Provide Sentence Prompts  

Sentence starters stimulate creativity and encourage kids to use different parts of speech.  For example, ‘The ____________ is ____________,’ or ‘I felt ____________ when ____________.’ This activity nurtures creativity and helps kids to express themselves effectively. 

If you are looking for worksheets where your child is prompted to fill in the sentences, here are some options:

Now that we have a basic understanding of teaching sentence structure to kids , let’s explore effective methods to improve sentence writing fluency. Here are two specific approaches that can be helpful:

1. Using Sight Word Sentences

Sight word sentences are sentences that primarily consist of high-frequency words that are commonly recognized by sight without requiring extensive decoding or phonetic analysis.  These sentences are designed to help early readers develop fluency and automaticity in reading .

Here are a few examples of sight word sentences:

• I am happy.
• We went to the mall.
• The dog is black.
• My brother is tall.
• Look at the beautiful sunset.
• Can you find your shoes?
• The car is red.
• I love to swim.
• He is playing soccer.
• The book is on the shelf.

Sight words: I, am, the, is, we, to, my, you, can, find, your, on.

These are common words that often appear frequently in written texts and are taught as early foundational words for reading and writing.

2. Using Dictation Sentences

Research has shown that our memory is significantly enhanced when we engage both our auditory and visual senses. One effective method to achieve this is through the use of dictation sentences.

Dictation sentences are sentences spoken or read aloud for the purpose of transcription or writing. In dictation exercises, a person listens to the sentences being dictated and writes them down exactly as they are heard. 

This activity not only improves the listening skills of the students but strengthens their writing skills. Dictation sentences can also be used as a language learning tool or as a method of testing a person’s ability to transcribe spoken words accurately.

‘ How do I tell what I think until I see what I say ? ’ says E.M. Forster.

Elaborating on this, Richard Swedberg emphasizes that “in the very act of speaking you get to know what you think.” Moreover, he believes that this thoughtless entry into speech is common among writers who start without knowing what the end result would be and this is where it gets creative. Such is the importance of speech which has the power to interfere and even alter thought processes.

The key to this language mastery lies in the power of effective sentence structure lessons . By teaching it effectively, we equip young learners with the tools to express themselves clearly and confidently. We nurture their creativity and communication skills with engaging activities and interactive technology. So, let’s build a foundation for success, one sentence at a time!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you explain a sentence to kids in simple words.

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. Just like we put different things together to make a sandwich, in the same manner, we combine different words together to form a sentence.

How can I teach sentence structure to children with learning difficulties?

Teaching sentence structure to children with learning difficulties requires patience and an approach tailored to their specific needs. You can use external teaching elements like visual aids (charts and graphs) and multisensory techniques (gestures) to make learning more engaging and accessible to them.

How can you evaluate your children's understanding of sentence structure?

There are various assessment methods that you can use to check your children’s understanding of sentence structure. You can provide them with simple exercises for sentence completion , word rearrangement, quizzes, etc. You can use more complex sentences for older kids and keep them simple for the younger ones.

• Pre-Kindergarten
• Kindergarten

Most Popular

76 Best Report Card Comments Samples for Teachers

117 Best Riddles for Kids (With Answers)

40 Best Good Vibes Quotes to Brighten Your Day

Recent posts.

15 Fun and Educational Body Part Activities for Kids

60 Halloween Riddles for Kids [With Answers]

Math & ela | prek to grade 5, kids see fun., you see real learning outcomes..

Watch your kids fall in love with math & reading through our scientifically designed curriculum.

Parents, try for free Teachers, use for free

• Games for Kids
• Worksheets for Kids
• Math Worksheets
• ELA Worksheets
• Math Vocabulary
• Number Games
• Addition Games
• Subtraction Games
• Multiplication Games
• Division Games
• Addition Worksheets
• Subtraction Worksheets
• Multiplication Worksheets
• Division Worksheets
• Times Tables Worksheets
• Reading Games
• Writing Games
• Phonics Games
• Sight Words Games
• Letter Tracing Games
• Reading Worksheets
• Writing Worksheets
• Phonics Worksheets
• Sight Words Worksheets
• Letter Tracing Worksheets
• Prime Number
• Order of Operations
• Long multiplication
• Place value
• Parallelogram
• SplashLearn Success Stories
• SplashLearn Apps

© Copyright - SplashLearn

Back-to-School Learning Boost!

Turn play into progress., jumpstart learning now.

Explore 4,000+ games and 450+ lesson plans designed to make this school year the best one yet!

Parents, Try for Free Teachers, Use for Free

Public Speaking Tips For Kids

The speeches are written and practiced at home. This year I created a template for the kids to help make a start on their speech. The template not only helps them plan out the content for their speech, but gives them tips on how to define the purpose, research and practise their speech.

I used this template with all three kids – prep, year three and year five. The level of guidance needed by each child varied and I naturally I spent the most time with the six year old as this is the first time he has had to write and present a speech.

Not every element of the template will necessarily need to be completed and depends on the topic. For example the prep child chose “Kids have fun when….” from the list of topics for his class. This topic requires no research to be done as he is an expert in knowing how kids have fun!

The kids may also need more room than for the “middle” section, depending on how long their speech is to be. We simply turned over the page and wrote on the back.

Public Speaking Tips For Kids – A Checklist

I have listed below the elements the template covers:

• Topic and Time: Choose something that you are interested in.
• How long do you have to talk for?
• Audience: Who will you be talking to and who will be judging.
• Subject and purpose: What is the aim of your speech – to persuade, inform, entertain, etc. Brainstorm ideas note them down. Note personal stories you can add to make it more interesting.
• Research: Not just internet, newspapers, magazines, library, family friends etc.
• Structure: Ask yourself the question – ‘At the end of the speech I would like my audience to…….
• Beginning: Brief, capture the attention of the audience and establish the subject and purpose of the speech. Don’t just restate the topic. Add your personality and make it unique, many others may be talking on the same topic.
• Middle: Sets out your ideas, shares your research, includes examples to support your topic. For your time limit work out how many points / paragraphs you can include. Work on having a powerful statement to lead into each new point / paragraph.
• End: Short statement relating back to the topic and sums up the subject and purpose of the speech. Make it brief, but memorable. Try including a memorable line that the audience can take away with them. Memorise your conclusion, so your last couple of sentences can be delivered with confidence and with full eye contact with the audience.
• Practice: By yourself first. Time it and edit your content so it first with the time restraints.
• Palm Cards: Then make palm cards for key points only. Keep cards to a minimum and number them.
• Dress rehearsal: Practice using palm cards, first by yourself, then either in front of family or even video your self.

Are school mornings stressful for you?

Are any of these scenarios familiar to you:

• Are your school mornings currently a harder version of Groundhog Day?
• Do you sleep a bit longer than planned in the mornings then rush to get you and the kids ready?
• Do you wake up to a house that is already in a state of mild chaos?
• Do the kids end up buying their lunches more than you planned because you ran out of time or food?
• Do you drop the kids off at school with you feeling frazzled and the kids grumpy?

Then my super simple system will help revolutionise your school mornings! Sign up to my E-news and receive my guide here .

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

Win a $500 Oriental Trading Gift Card ✨

10 Tricks for Teaching Writing in Kindergarten

Lessons I’ve learned from years of teaching five year olds.

When telling people that I teach kindergarten, I often am asked, “How do you do it?” Now, imagine teaching five year olds how to write entire paragraphs. Yes, we are superheroes with the powers of patience, perseverance and the ability to bend at the waist for long periods of time. Here are the best kindergarten writing tips that I have gathered over the years.

1. Teach letter formation in context

Kill two birds with one stone. Kindergarten students need to be taught how to form their letters. This can be done within the context of writing a sentence. Often, when students practice writing letters in isolation, they have trouble transferring handwriting skills to sentence writing. Teach capitalization, spacing and end punctuation while demonstrating proper letter formation.

2. Practice consistently

Have your students engage in meaningful writing from day one. Kids learn to talk by talking, and we know kindergartners have mastered that skill. They learn to write by writing even if it is a large string of letters at first or even scribbling. They have to start somewhere. We give them the tools to develop into confident writers by allowing them the time to write and draw every day.

[contextly_auto_sidebar]

3. Sight words, sight words, sight words

Students need to know how to read and spell several anchor sight words in order to build confidence with sentence writing. I use a word wall, songs and chants to teach students to spell sight words. For example, I sing the word like to the tune of “It’s a Small Word.” L-I-K-E, that spells like. L-I-K-E that spells like…. . Once they are armed with an arsenal of words that are essential to the structure of a sentence, they are well on their way to success.

4. Encourage invented spelling

Invented spelling refers to stretching out words and writing them exactly as they are heard by a beginning writer. If students become hung up on spelling words correctly, creativity and continuity suffers. Students will only want to write very simple sentences. Kindergarten teachers double as detectives easily decoding sentences such as “I lik pesu and is kem (pizza and ice cream).”

[Check out our article on why invented spelling is so important. ]

5. Do mini lessons

Kindergarteners have the attention span of a fruit fly. This is why right before journal writing time, I teach them one quick skill. Mini lessons are great for teaching narrative, opinion writing, how to compose a topic sentence, and various stages of the writing process.

6. Try interactive writing

Morning message or class news is a good example of interactive writing. This refers to the teacher and student sharing the pen. One student gives the teacher news, and students are called up to the white board to help sound out words and place appropriate punctuation.

7. Choose meaningful topics

Kindergarteners love themselves, their family and their friends. Let them write about the topics they choose in their journals. Sentence starters confuse kindergarten students. If they write about the same thing for a while, it is ok. It is much like reading the same book over and over again. They are building confidence

8. Write across the curriculum

Reading and writing go hand in hand. Students can write their favorite part of a story or compose a letter to a character. Reading informational text and drawing and labeling a picture are a great ways to combine science and social studies research with writing.

9. Remember that punctuation is tough

Kindergarten students often will put periods at the end of each word or line. Teaching kindergarteners the concept of a complete thought is difficult because their thoughts go on and on and on and on. I teach the students that if their writing answers the question, “Guess what?”, it needs a period.

10. Share, share, share

Give students the opportunity to share their writing with their peers. The more opportunities kindergarteners are given to express themselves, the less likely they will be to shout out in the middle of the math lesson that they have a wiggly tooth or Uncle Joey is visiting.

Kindergarten writing is not for the faint of heart. Enjoy the strange spellings, humorous thoughts and the innocent excitement that will lead to young students becoming life-long writers.

What are your tips or questions for teaching kindergarten writing? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, 50 tips and tricks for teaching kindergarten and the best kindergarten books.

You Might Also Like

20 Perfect Anchor Charts To Teach Phonics and Blends

Every great reader has their beginnings in sounding out words! Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256

The Educators' Spin On It

Learning Games and Activities

By The Educators Spin On It

What kindergarten writing looks like – a year of student samples

Kindergarten writing starts off as letters and moves towards full simple 5 sentence paragraphs at the end of the year.

Here is one child’s progression on kindergarten writing throughout the year, a glimpse into the kindergarten writing standards, and resources for teaching writing to kindergarten.

What Kindergarten Writing Looks Like

My daughter is 5 years old. As a former kindergarten teacher, writing at this stage is my absolute favorite. I find great joy in “seeing” progress through writing and I have tried to take pictures of her writing samples to create an online portfolio of her work, meaning, a post here on the blog that I can look back at and see how far her writing has come.

Although my daughter struggles with some vision and fine motor issues, her desire to write and creative imagination helps her to be a successful writer.  She is an average kindergartner with an amazing passion and zest for life.

Since she was 3, she has spent almost every day of her life writing something; a letter to Grandma, a grocery list, recipes for food, and more recently, stories.

I am Snow White.  I am raccoon.  I am deer.

Resources for Teaching Kindergarten Writing:

Disclosure: Amazon affiliate links are used in the article.

• Teaching Writing in Kindergarten: A Structured Approach to Daily Writing That Helps Every Child Become a Confident, Capable Writer
• Getting to the Core of Writing
• Complete Year in Reading and Writing: Kindergarten

Writing Standards of a Kindergarten Student

Here is a sampling of her writing for parents who may be interested in knowing what a kindergartner can and should write like. 

Our current standards require kindergartners to

• Draft writing by drawing, telling, or writing about a familiar experience, topic or text; that is appropriate to the topic, audience, and purpose.
• Edit for correct use of end punctuation, including periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
• Edit for correct use of knowledge of letter/sound relationships to spell simple words.
• Produce, illustrate and share a finished piece of writing.

Their end of the year portfolio states that they must write a paragraph about a given subject with a topic sentence and three supporting sentences.  Gone are the early stages of writing continuum that I was taught to use with early writers. 

Kindergartners now have higher expectations in writing.  Although I feel that not all children may be developmentally ready for these tasks, I would like to believe that with strong parent support, our children can meet (or come close to meeting) these expectations. 

Can my daughter meet and exceed all these new standards and assessments – I hope so, but realistically, I know that she is not currently quite at the stage of writing that these standards require. 

Although her thoughts and ideas are expressed with creativity, she writes with energy and uniqueness, and she uses “lively” word choices, her conventions and spelling need some more attention!

Writing Samples of a Kindergarten Student

We use mostly primary writing paper that has a space for drawing pictures too.  Look for the following terms when purchasing writing paper for kindergarten students: (Click the words to view the product in Amazon)

• Storytelling Paper 
• Primary Journal  

Hot chocolate is hot. Salad is green. But my favorite thing is …

Ravioli, ravioli and soup, soup, vanilla, water, milk, juice

Christmas was great.  I liked what Nicholas gave me.  It was a dog.

The book is Hannah and the Seven Dresses.  She does not know what dress to wear.  The fourth dress has ruffles.  She put black pants on her birthday.<

I do not like to get a shot. It hurts a lot. Oweee.

This is the first time that we start to see speech bubbles. In my kindergarten classroom, I would encourage reluctant readers to use speech bubbles.  Many kids find them interesting and motivation to write in. 

She is using longer sentences in her writing now – 8 words in this one – with no adult prompting. She is capitalizing and spacing on her own! You can’t see it, but after the Owee is an exclamation point!

This bee is a special bee. It pollinates roses.  It has wings like a butterfly.

We try to change up our writing so it does not get boring.  Writing can and should be fun and interesting. After a visit to an art festival where we talked with a local artist, I did a directed draw activity with her to make the bee and she wrote her sentences afterwards. 

I really need to explore mediums other than markers, crayons, and colored pencils when creating a picture or illustration for our writing. Research has shown using art before writing, especially with water colors help improve creative writing, as the colors flow and change, creating new thoughts and writing directions. It is something for me to work on doing more!

Once upon a time, there was an old woman. Her name was Emilesa. She was poor. (My Thing)

We have found that as the year of kindergarten progresses, the teacher asked for more specific writing tasks such as book summaries or using 3 specific words of the week. The more specifications included, the less my little one wants to write and the more she craves creative writing. 

This was a little story that she wrote a few days ago after writing a book summary for her school homework, a letter to her Grandma, and 2 other stories. She sat for hours (her choice) just writing. Those are the days when I am so very thankful that we do not have a television!

So what are your thoughts on Kindergarten writing?

Are you a teacher?

• Are the expectations in your school and ours just about right?
• Do you think we are on the right track?
• How can parents better support their children’s writing development?

Are you a parent?

• Are you kids enjoying writing?
• Do you think they are getting enough “time” writing?
• How can you help to facilitate an improvement the quality and quantity in their writing?

Additional Writing Resources for Kids

• Gratitude Writing Prompts for Kids
• Story Writing with Stickers
• Ways to Keep Writing Fun
• Reading and Writing Connection with Ways to Support Your Child’s Writing
• What Does 2nd Grade Writing Look Like
• Writing and the 6+1 traits of Writing with Links to Printable Rubrics

Why You Should Be Using Beginner Pencils for Writing Practice with Kids

• Tips for Writing with Kids at Home

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

• Pinterest 7.5K
• Facebook 224

May 1, 2012 at 11:31 pm

This is a great visual of progress! Thanks for the inspiration!

April 29, 2012 at 6:35 pm

Thank you! Kindergarten is such a fun year for writing and reading progress. I wish I would have saved more samples from my years of teaching over the years as each kid has such a unique style! I look forward to seeing your little one progress in her writing (although seeing those lists and first "writings" dissapear leaves me a little sad, it means they are growing up!

April 29, 2012 at 6:32 pm

Your daughter is such a creative writer – I bet it would be awesome to look back and see how she has progressed. The journal I used is the Starfall blank writing journal, just because it is so reasonable priced. I made sure to date all her writing and took pictures of 2-3 each month. I figured it would take up less space than saving all of her writing! http://order.starfall.org/k/shop2/index.html

April 29, 2012 at 4:11 pm

I loved that you captured her writing progress in an online portfolio. Now I wish I did the same. My daughter was an extremely reluctant writer before starting kindergarten and really blossomed this year. Her spelling improved quite a bit, but neatness leaves a lot to be desired. Did you create your own template for story writing or did you borrow it from somewhere online?

April 29, 2012 at 12:17 pm

This is a great example of the writing process! Thanks for sharing it with me : )

Fondly, Pink and Green Mama MaryLea

April 29, 2012 at 11:19 am

They are fun to use =) Please let me know if you ever need another educator to bounce ideas off of. That is why we are here!!!

April 29, 2012 at 11:17 am

They do develop so fast at this age! I am glad that I am trying to record some of her writing digitally. There are a few pages of writing here and there that have made it to her baby book! It is fun to go back and look and to talk to her about her writing developments!

April 28, 2012 at 9:33 pm

I love the idea of using speech bubbles-thank you! My son will be starting kindy in the fall, and I will be homeschooling him. I love this idea.

April 28, 2012 at 10:45 am

Enjoyed seeing the progression of your daughter's writing! They grow leaps and bounds at this age. Makes it so fun to go back and look at how far they have come in a short time. 🙂 Lori Conversations in Literacy

April 28, 2012 at 9:29 am

Thanks Jennifer! As a first grade teacher – any advice you would give to parents for improving writing? And what would you LOVE your kids coming into first grade writing like??? We are hoping to keep writing a ton this summer!!! I am going to print your sound words freebie ( http://firstgradeblueskies.blogspot.com/2012/04/sound-word-freebie.html ) and do it with my daughter this week (with a Froggy Book) and then write our own version of a story with a different character!

April 28, 2012 at 8:51 am

Great writing progress! Jennifer First Grade Blue SKies

You Might Also Like

September Activities for Kids

50+ Fun and Educational Apple Activities for School-Aged Kids

The Best Apple Books for Kindergarten

Apple STEM Activity for Preschoolers

Apple Orchard Virtual Field Trip for Preschool

Let’s connect.

Unlock 500 free downloads here .

Let’s Chat all Things Writing

Let’s talk writing! Hey friends! I wanted to take a moment (or a few moments) of your time today to visit about all things WRITING! Writing has always been one of my favorite subjects to teach but for sure not the easiest! I mean when you start the year there is SO MUCH to learn… what a pencil is, how to hold a pencil, how to write with a pencil, what to write, how to stretch words, how to put words into sentences and it goes on from there! Sometimes teaching writing can be intimidating because there are SO many varying opinions. Should you give them a starter? Should you give them a sentence frame? Should they spell words phonetically. Should YOU spell words phonetically when modeling stories and so on!

I finally realized that there is not ONE way to teach writing and if someone tells you that there is only ONE way to do it… then you smile, nod and close your door. All of our students will start at different levels and need different instruction. That brings me to writing instruction and curriculum. There are of course many different writing programs! I was first given the writing lessons from my “big box” curriculum. The top of the lessons started with ALL YEAR, “Students will draw a picture to tell their story. You can dictate the story for them after.” REALLY? I mean yes there will be some kids that start lower and some that still might not get to sentences by the end of kindergarten. However, I’m going to assume that first grade teachers won’t be real happy with me if I only EXPECT my kiddos to color pictures for writing throughout the entire year. That brings me to the opposite end of writing curriculum *cough I’ve shared this program on my own blog before.* I liked this program and it had/has REALLY good parts. The problem is goes TOO fast and leaves out the majority of my students. Sure the program says that the teacher will scaffold by modeling but if the program is too tough for the majority of my class then that means the majority is not receiving the instruction they so deserve.

My first couple of years in the classroom I was constantly changing my kindergarten writing approach due to the above mentioned lack luster big box writing program.  One day I would give them a sentence starter.  The next day I didn’t.  At the end of the year my writers were where they needed to be but there was one thing I noticed… not all the kids enjoyed writing like I enjoyed it!  I knew that there was something I had to change!  After much research and chatting with colleagues I realized that writing is a work of heart!  When the kids are inspired and then able to express that into their kindergarten writing… they too will fall in love with writing!  What I didn’t realize those first couple of years was that I was writing and modeling stories that were near and dear to ME.  I can’t tell you every story I modeled for them but I am going to guess that a story about four-wheelers or Minecraft wasn’t wasn’t one of those!  By turning it over to the kids and having them choose their writing topics, I saw my kids BLOSSOM and year after year my writers fell in love with writing just like me! This is something that the second above mentioned program did but it was SO hard or me to “buy into” that one because it was just not the level of my kiddos. I took that same new passion and worked hard to put it into to easy to read lesson plans!  That is when KinderWriting was born! 🙂 In this post, I will share all about my favorite writing lessons I’ve done through the years, give you the freebie templates so you can plug them right into your lessons and I will be sharing all about the writing program I created called, KinderWriting .

What is KinderWriting?

KinderWriting Curriculum is an engaging, kindergarten, genre-based writing curriculum. KinderWriting encourages young learners to look inward at their endless possibilities as a writer. KinderWriting is based upon nine units: Writing With Pictures, Writing With Sentences, Writing With Stories, Writing With Narrative, Writing With Opinion, Writing With Direction, Writing With Persuasion, Writing With Imagination, and Writing With Information. Each unit is broken down to 20 lessons. The units cover 20 days of academic instruction. The lesson plans have listed unit objectives, “I can” statements, Common Core writing standards and needed mentor texts.

KinderWriting encourages a daily routine of a minilesson, independent writing, and a share time. Each of the lessons in KinderWriting are well thought out for the young writer and spiral back to previous lessons to ensure students are retaining their skills. KinderWriting also includes unit anchor charts, a variety of writing paper, conferring schedules and note sheets, sample writings, student writing goals display, writing rubrics, and step-by-step guides that are made specifically for each unit.

What is included in KinderWritring Curriculum?

-Teacher “simple read” lesson plans. You will not need to rewrite these lesson plans, unless you choose do. If so I have included editable lesson plans. -Each unit I have planned out the; big idea, focus standard, essential questions, and so much more! -Writing paper -Unit posters -Student material -Unit rubrics -Spanish posters included

What about the standards? 

Each unit has a focus standard that is based upon the Common Core Standards. Units further into the year will have more than one focus standard. If you teach to a varying set of standards, you can email me for assistance. Thanks!

What Units are Covered?

Unit 1: Writing with Pictures Unit 2: Writing with Sentences Unit 3: Writing with Stories Unit 4: Writing with Narrative Unit 5: Writing with Opinion Unit 6: Writing with Direction Unit 7: Writing with Persuasion Unit 8: Writing with Imagination Unit 9: Writing with Information

Let’s get started with Unit 1: Writing With Pictures.  This unit is all about setting the kiddos up for success!  If we jump right into “writing” our kiddos can sometimes feel unsure of themselves.  They might worry if their words are spelled correctly or if their pictures are perfect!  In unit 1, we introduce students to writing using illustrations! This is big, big, big especially for those lower kiddos! We want them to and NEED them to LOVE writing. We want to set them up with success from the very beginning.

Unit 1: Writing With Pictures

Lesson 1: Illustrators! Yes? Lesson 2: Establishing the Minilesson Lesson 3: Drawing Sticks, Circles, & Boxes Lesson 4: Establishing Independent Write Lesson 5: Share Time Lesson 6: Illustrating the Best I Can Lesson 7: Detailed Pictures Lesson 8: Visualizing My Story Lesson 9: Looking Closely Lesson 10: Setting Goals Lesson 11: What is a Label? Lesson 12: Adding Labels Lesson 13: The Pencil Lesson 14: Labeling for Detail Lesson 15: Ask and Write Lesson 16: Show and Retell Stories Lesson 17: Labeling Your Name Lesson 18: Sticky Conferences Lesson 19: A Picture Book Lesson 20: Celebration

I recently had a Facebook live all about Unit 1!  You can listen into that video below!  If the video doesn’t load, you can access it HERE !

I have organized my units into a plastic tote!  Each unit has a folder in the tote!

The plans include your needed materials, minilesson and ideas to expand your teaching during the share block!

For independent writing I have offered a variety of writing journals and writing paper!  You can choose between landscaped and portrait style! I include lots and lots of styles so that you can decide what works best for your kiddos!

Now let’s take a look at unit 2! In Unit 2 we start to introduce students to writing words and stringing some SIMPLE words together to make sentences!

KinderWriting Unit 2 is all about encouraging students to stretch words, write words and then place those words into sentences!

Below is a full listing of the lessons found in Unit 2 of KinderWriting!

Unit 2: Writing With Sentences

Lesson 1: Authors! Yes? Lesson 2: Authors Persevere Lesson 3: Writing Tools- ABC Chart Lesson 4: Making Words Lesson 5: Writers Make Mistakes Lesson 6: Stretching Sounds Lesson 7: Stretching More Sounds Lesson 8: Writing Tools- Sight Word Chart Lesson 9: Color Words Lesson 10: Letters vs. Words Lesson 11: Conferring and Writing Partnerships Lesson 12: Speech Bubbles and Emotion Lesson 13: Using the Room Lesson 14: Are You Really Done? Lesson 15: Capitals Lesson 16: Spacing Lesson 17: Punctuation Lesson 18: Words Make Sentences Lesson 19: Writing Storybooks Lesson 20: Sharing Storybooks

Also in the folder is the unit spiral bound lessons, unit posters and the student mini poster rings!

The student resource rings are perfect for the kiddos to keep in their pencil boxes!  You can also use them back at your guided reading table!

We will use the mentor text, The Alphabet Tree, and build words!

Unit 3: Writing With Stories

Lesson 1: Storytellers! Yes? Lesson 2: Authors Write About What They Love Lesson 3: Authors Write About What They Can Do Lesson 4: Authors Write About What They Know Lesson 5: Authors Write About The Past Lesson 6: Mechanics Matter Lesson 7: Names and Places Use Capitals Lesson 8: Tap Out the Story Lesson 9: Powerful Punctuation Lesson 10: Ask More With Writing Partners Lesson 11: A 5 W’s Story Lesson 12: Topics are Everywhere Lesson 13: Books are Stories Lesson 14: Places are Stories Lesson 15: Colors are Stories Lesson 16: Elapsed Time Lesson 17: Adding On Lesson 18: Illustrations Tell Stories Lesson 19: Storytelling Booklets Lesson 20: Sharing Storybooks

The big push in Unit 3 is to help those that struggle with generating their own witting topic each day! We want them to be confident in realizing that there are stories ALL AROUND US! We use included pictures to help students generate writing ideas.

We also teach them about using color as a writing inspiration!

What do writers write about? Well, the write about things they love, things they know, things they can do and things from the past!

We work on STRETCHING those words!

In unit 3, we become mechanics so we can work on all of those important skills, too!

Establishing writing goals are vital!

In each unit I supply you with a lot of learning posters to present to the kiddos!

We can’t forget the rubrics in each unit!

The student resource rings!

Unit 3 of KinderWriting wraps up the “basics” units! Units 4-9 are genre-based writing units! Let’s jump into those now!

I like to play ninjas.

Also, here is the story booklet we used for this lesson!  You can grab yours for free below!

Now let’s talk about Unit 4 of KinderWriting ! Unit 4 is all about Narrative writing! In unit 4, we take take the kiddos through the entire Narrative writing process! There is a week that we spend on mechanics and adding in adjectives/verbs into our stories as well!

Lesson 1: Narrators! Yes? Lesson 2: Narratives Use Words Like I, Me and My Lesson 3: Narratives Have a Setting Lesson 4: Narratives Have a Problem & Solution Lesson 5: Narratives Have a BME Lesson 6: Starting With a Hook Lesson 7: Ending With Feeling Lesson 8: Sequential Words Lesson 9: “Zoom” In Moments Lesson 10: Using Details Lesson 11: Writing With the 5 Senses Lesson 12: Adding in Adjectives Lesson 13: Adding in Verbs Lesson 14: Words Have Families Lesson 15: Mechanics Lesson 16: Narrative Booklets Lesson 17: Writing With a Rubric Lesson 18: Writing Process- Draft Lesson 19: Writing Process- Polish Lesson 20: Writing Process- Publish

Below is a look at the mentor texts for this unit! You can see there are three specific to narrative writing and three for the mechanics focus!

In Unit 4, we discuss all of the parts of a narrative story!

Unit 4 posters to teach all of the important tasks!

Unit 4 rubrics!

Student resource rings!

Unit 4 writing goals!

Now let’s talk opinion writing!  I  will discuss first some of my favorite opinion writing lessons over the years and then jump into opinion writing from KinderWriting!   I love introducing the kiddos to the big word for our opinion writing, because!  I always give a big hoopla over making sure we pronounce it correctly!  This might not be an issue in other parts of the country, but here in Missouri it’s usually pronounced as “becuz!”  So, after this talk they are correcting me the rest of the year if my pronunciation isn’t spot on!  We start with some simple opinion writings! We also talked a lot about what an opinion is and how it’s okay to have a different opinion then our friends!

We also write opinions on if we like the tooth fairy best or Santa Claus! Below students wrote their thoughts in the opinion graphic organizer!  {Download the freebie below}

Let’s talk KinderWriting Unit 5 which is all about opinion writing!

Lesson 1: Opinionators! Yes? Lesson 2: Giving Opinions Lesson 3: Fact vs. Opinion Lesson 4: Opinions Around Us Lesson 5: Opinions on the Spot Lesson 6: Using the Word Because Lesson 7: Giving Two Reasons Lesson 8: Using a Mentor Text Lesson 9: Opinion Starters Lesson 10: Defending an Opinion Lesson 11: Using the Word Wall Lesson 12: Spacing for Our Readers Lesson 13: Setting Letters on the Line Lesson 14: Reversals and Handwriting Lesson 15: Sounds in Words Lesson 16: Sharing Opinions Lesson 17: Writing With a Rubric Lesson 18: Writing Process- Draft Lesson 19: Writing Process- Polish Lesson 20: Writing Process- Publish

Unit 5 writing posters!

Unit 5 rubrics!

Writing goals are a must!

In unit 5, we work on fact vs. opinion!

Unit 6-9 (Procedural writing, persuasive writing, fiction writing, informational writing) are also part of the KinderWriting bundle!

A note about pricing! 

Snag this bundle for  25% OFF  .  Each of the writing units sells for $12 each, a total of $108.  You can view KinderWriting HERE or clicking below!

Now let’s talk letter writing! Depending on your district/standards, you might also be required to teach letter writing!

Now let’s talk a little about assisted writing! I like to use assisted writing sheets mainly during independent writing times! This would be for example during daily five work on writing! My kiddos can’t get enough of my writing story starters!  I use them in their work on writing folders and as a choice for early finishers! I have found these story starters to work absolute wonders in my classroom!  What I love about the story starters the most is their ability to assist the students when working independently.  Students WANT to work without the assistance of their teacher, but sometimes they just don’t know how.  This can be especially true in writing.  Students of course would love to write a story of their own, but they at times don’t know what to write about.  The story starters take that out of the equation.  Students simply look at the picture given to them and start to write their story!

I like the spider and web.

You can download an additional set of freebie writing posters HERE or clicking the images below!

Well I hope you enjoyed these freebies! Leave me some love if you were able to use any of these and feel free to pass them along! 🙂

If you’re unsure if KinderWriting would work in your classroom, I recommended that you take a moment to read TEACHER feedback here ! There is no one that will tell you more accurately than fellow teachers!

Snag this bundle for  25% OFF . Each of the writing units sells for $12 each, a total of $108. You can view KinderWriting HERE or clicking below!

Do you teach first grade? Snag the FirstieWriting curriculum HERE .

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

• NAEYC Login
• Member Profile
• Hello Community
• Accreditation Portal
• Online Learning
• Online Store

Popular Searches:   DAP ;  Coping with COVID-19 ;  E-books ;  Anti-Bias Education ;  Online Store

Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing

You are here

Emergent writing is young children’s first attempts at the writing process. Children as young as 2 years old begin to imitate the act of writing by creating drawings and symbolic markings that represent their thoughts and ideas (Rowe & Neitzel 2010; Dennis & Votteler 2013). This is the beginning of a series of stages that children progress through as they learn to write (see “Stages of Emergent Writing”). Emergent writing skills, such as the development of namewriting proficiency, are important predictors of children’s future reading and writing skills (National Center for Family & Literacy 2008; Puranik & Lonigan 2012).

Teachers play an important role in the development of 3- to 5-year-olds’ emergent writing by encouraging children to communicate their thoughts and record their ideas (Hall et al. 2015). In some early childhood classrooms, however, emergent writing experiences are almost nonexistent. One recent study, which is in accord with earlier research, found that 4- and 5-year-olds (spread across 81 classrooms) averaged just two minutes a day either writing or being taught writing (Pelatti et al. 2014). This article shares a framework for understanding emergent writing and ties the framework to differentiating young children’s emergent writing experiences.

Understanding emergent writing

Researchers and educators often use the term emergent literacy to define a broad set of language and literacy skills focused primarily on the development and significance of emergent reading skills. To better understand writing development—and to support teachers’ work with young children—researchers have proposed a framework to explain emergent writing practices (Puranik & Lonigan 2014). The framework is composed of three domains: conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and generative knowledge.

Conceptual knowledge includes learning the function of writing. In this domain, young children learn that writing has a purpose and that print is meaningful (i.e., it communicates ideas, stories, and facts). For example, young children become aware that the red street sign says Stop and the letters under the yellow arch spell McDonald’s . They recognize that certain symbols, logos, and markings have specific meanings (Wu 2009).

Generative knowledge describes children’s abilities to write phrases and sentences that convey meaning. It is the ability to translate thoughts into writing that goes beyond the word level (Puranik & Lonigan 2014). During early childhood, teachers are laying the foundation for generative knowledge as children learn to express themselves orally and experiment with different forms of written communication, such as composing a story, writing notes, creating lists, and taking messages. Children can dictate words, phrases, or sentences that an adult can record on paper, or they can share ideas for group writing.

Developing conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge of writing

Children gain knowledge of and interest in writing as they are continually exposed to print and writing in their environment. There are multiple strategies teachers can use to scaffold children’s writing, such as verbally reminding children to use writing in their classroom activities and providing appropriate writing instructions (Gerde, Bingham, & Wasik 2012). By being aware of children’s current fine motor abilities and their progress in emergent writing, teachers can use a mix of strategies to foster growth in each child’s zone of proximal development (Vygotsky 1978).

Practicing name writing

One of the first words children usually learn to write is their first name (Both-de Vries & Bus 2008). Name writing increases children’s conceptual and procedural knowledge. Names are meaningful to children, and preschoolers typically are interested in learning to write the letters in their name, especially the first letter (Both-de Vries & Bus 2008). Namewriting proficiency provides a foundation for other literacy knowledge and skills; it is associated with alphabet knowledge, letter writing, print concepts, and spelling (Cabell et al. 2009; Drouin & Harmon 2009; Puranik & Lonigan 2012).

Preschoolers benefit from daily writing experiences, so it is helpful to embed writing in the daily routine, such as having children write (or attempt to write) their names at sign-in and during choice times. Be sensitive to preschoolers’ varying levels of fine motor skills and promote the joy of experimenting with the art of writing, regardless of a child’s current skill level. Encourage invented spelling (Ouellette & Sénéchal 2017) and attempts at writing letters or letter-like symbols.

As Ms. Han’s preschoolers enter the classroom, they sign in, with parental support, by writing their names on a whiteboard at the classroom entrance. Children in Ms. Noel’s classroom go to a special table and sign in as they enter the room. Ms. Patel instructs her preschoolers to answer the question of the day by writing their names under their chosen answers. Today, the children write their names to answer the question “What are your favorite small animals—piglets, ducklings, or kittens?” Juan and Maria help their friends read the question and write their names under the appropriate headings. Pedro writes Pdr under the piglets heading, Anthony writes his complete name under ducklings, and Tess writes the letter T under kittens. In Mr. Ryan’s class, children write their names during different activities. Today, children sign in as they pretend to visit the doctor in one learning center and sign for a package delivery in another. Meanwhile, Tommy walks around the room asking other preschoolers to sign their names in the autograph book he created in the writing center.

Tips for teachers

• Develop a sign-in or sign-out routine that allows children to write, or attempt to write, their names each day. In some classrooms, or for some children, the routine may begin with writing the first letter instead of the whole name or with scribbling letterlike symbols.
• Use peer helpers to aid children with the name-writing process.
• Model writing your name and promote name-writing activities in several centers through the day, such as having children sign their name as they write a prescription or when they complete a painting.

Learning from teacher modeling

When Ms. Noel sits with the children during snack, she talks with them about the different foods they like to eat. Ben tells her he likes chicken. She writes on a small whiteboard, “Ben likes chicken.” She asks Ben to read the phrase to a friend. Later, Ben writes the phrase himself.

Mr. Ryan conducts a sticky note poll. He creates a giant spiderweb and writes the question, “Are you afraid of spiders? Yes or no.” He gives the children sticky notes so each can write either yes or no and then place it on the giant web. This activity is followed by a discussion of spiders.

• Explicitly model writing by showing the writing process to children and thinking aloud while writing. Instead of writing the question of the day or the morning message before the children arrive, write it in front of them.
• ​Label specific items in the room, and draw children’s attention to the written words. Write out functional phrases on signs related to routines, such as “Take three crackers” or “Wash hands before eating,” then read and display the signs.
• ​Have the children paint large classroom signs related to themes being explored, such as the National Weather Station, Snack Bar, Public Library, or Entomology Center.

Writing throughout the day

Preschoolers enjoy experimenting with the writing process. Emergent writing experiences can include spontaneous writing during center time and teacherguided writing activities. Writing can become an important component of every learning center in the preschool classroom (Pool & Carter 2011), especially if teachers strategically place a variety of writing materials throughout the classroom and offer specific guidance on using the materials (Mayer 2007). (See “Learning Centers: Adding Meaningful Writing Materials and Literacy Props.”)

Teachers can intentionally promote peer-to-peer scaffolding by having children participate in collaborative writing experiences. Read-alouds are also a wonderful means of promoting writing; there are a number of stories that feature characters in books writing letters, stories, messages, and lists (see “Books That Promote Writing”). Model writing stories, making lists, or labeling objects, and then encourage your preschoolers to write a response letter to a character in a story, create their own storybook, or write a wish list or a shopping list. Such a variety of writing experiences will also build their generative knowledge of writing.

Ms. Han has strategically placed a variety of writing materials throughout the classroom—a scientific journal in the discovery area so children can record their observations and ideas; a graph paper notebook in the block area for drafting blueprints with designs and words; and a receipt book, paper, and markers in the dramatic play area. Savannah sits at the discovery center looking at a classroom experiment. Ms. Han asks, “Savannah, could you write about your observations in our science journal?” Savannah begins writing in the journal.

Three boys are playing in the block area. Ms. Han asks, “What are you building?” Marcus replies, “We are going to build a rocket ship.” Ms. Han says, “Could you create a blueprint of your rocket and then build it?” The boys eagerly begin drawing a plan. Several children in the dramatic play center are drawing different types of flowers for a flower market. Ms. Han says, “In a flower market, signs tell customers what is for sale and how much it costs. Would you like to create some signs?” The children readily agree and start to create signs.

• Strategically place writing materials, such as sticky notes, small chalkboards, whiteboards, envelopes, clipboards, journals, stencils, golf pencils, markers, and various types, sizes, and colors of paper throughout the classroom.
• Provide specific teacher guidance to scaffold children’s writing. While some children may be off and running with an open-ended question, others might be better supported if the teacher helps write their ideas—at least to get them started.
• Create writing opportunities connected to your current classroom themes or topics of interest. Involve the children in collaborative writing projects, such as creating a diorama after a farm visit and making labels for the different animals and the barn. With teacher support, the class could also develop a narrative to describe their farm visit.

Home–school connection

Ms. Noel wants to strengthen home–school connections with the families in her program. She decides to introduce the children to Chester (a stuffed teddy bear). She tells the children that Chester wants to learn more about what the children do at home and to go on some weekend adventures. She says, “Each weekend, Chester will travel home with a child in our class. During the time Chester stays at your house, take pictures of the activities you do with Chester and write about them in the Chester Weekend Adventures journal. At the beginning of the week, bring Chester and the journal back to school to share what you did. We will put Chester and the journal in the classroom library when he is not on a visit, so everyone can see where he has been.” The children are excited about taking Chester home and writing about their adventures.

• Find writing opportunities that strengthen home–school connections. For example, encourage families to create books at home related to a particular theme or a specific topic. Invite children to share their books with the class and then add them to the library.
• Invite families to share the types of writing activities their children engage in at home. Encourage parents to establish routines that include writing lists, messages, stories, and letters.
• Give families postcards to mail to friends in other states and countries. Have them ask their friends to mail a reply to the preschool class. Create a display of the return messages and postcards.

Teachers play an important role in promoting emergent writing development by scaffolding writing activities that engage young children in building their conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge. Writing can easily be embedded in daily routines as children write their names, engage in learning centers, practice writing for a purpose based on teacher and peer models, and contribute to group writing activities. Be intentional during interactions with children and incorporate best practices. Promote the development of emergent writing—and emergent literacy—by implementing purposeful strategies that encourage writing in the classroom and at home. Teachers who provide young children with a diverse array of early writing experiences lay the foundation for kindergarten readiness. 

Authors’ note:  A special thanks to all of the teachers who participated in the Striving Readers Literacy Program and shared their literacy ideas. Thanks to Barbara Berrios for sharing the Chester Bear idea.

Both-de Vries, A.C., & A.G. Bus. 2008. “Name Writing: A First Step to Phonetic Writing? Does the Name Have a Special Role in Understanding the Symbolic Function of Writing?” Literacy Teaching and Learning 12 (2): 37–55.

Cabell, S.Q., L.M. Justice, T.A. Zucker, & A.S. McGinty. 2009. “Emergent Name-Writing Abilities of Preschool-Age Children with Language Impairment.” Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 40 (1): 53–66.

Dennis, L.R., & N.K. Votteler. 2013. “Preschool Teachers and Children’s Emergent Writing: Supporting Diverse Learners.” Early Childhood Education Journal 41 (6): 439–46.

Drouin, M., & J. Harmon. 2009. “Name Writing and Letter Knowledge in Preschoolers: Incongruities in Skills and the Usefulness of Name Writing as a Developmental Indicator.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 24 (3): 263–70.

Gerde, H.K., G.E. Bingham, & B.A. Wasik. 2012. “Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: Guidance for Best Practices.” Early Childhood Education Journal 40 (6): 351–59.

Hall, A.H., A. Simpson, Y. Guo, & S. Wang. 2015. “Examining the Effects of Preschool Writing Instruction on Emergent Literacy Skills: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Literacy Research and Instruction 54 (2): 115–34.

Mayer, K. 2007. “Emerging Knowledge about Emergent Writing.” Young Children 62 (1): 34–41.

National Center for Family Literacy. 2008. Developing Early Literacy: A Scientific Synthesis of Early Literacy Development and Implications for Intervention. Report of the National Early Literacy Panel . Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

Neumann, M.M., M. Hood, & R.M. Ford. 2013. “Using Environmental Print to Enhance Emergent Literacy and Print Motivation.” Reading and Writing 26 (5): 771–93.

Ouellette, G., & M. Sénéchal. 2017. “Invented Spelling in Kindergarten as a Predictor of Reading and Spelling in Grade 1: A New Pathway to Literacy, or Just the Same Road, Less Known?” Developmental Psychology 53 (1): 77–88.

Pelatti, C.Y., S.B. Piasta, L.M. Justice, & A. O’Connell. 2014. “Language- and Literacy-Learning Opportunities in Early Childhood Classrooms: Children’s Typical Experiences and Within-Classroom Variability.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 29 (4): 445–56.

Pool, J.L., & D.R. Carter. 2011. “Creating Print-Rich Learning Centers.” Teaching Young Children 4 (4): 18–20.

Puranik, C.S., & C.J. Lonigan. 2012. “Name-Writing Proficiency, Not Length of Name, Is Associated with Preschool Children’s Emergent Literacy Skills.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 27 (2): 284–94.

Puranik, C.S., & C.J. Lonigan. 2014. “Emergent Writing in Preschoolers: Preliminary Evidence for a Theoretical Framework.” Reading Research Quarterly 49 (4): 453–67.

Rowe, D.W., & C. Neitzel. 2010. “Interest and Agency in 2- and 3-Year-Olds’ Participation in Emergent Writing.” Reading Research Quarterly 45 (2): 169–95.

Schickedanz, J.A., & R.M. Casbergue. 2009. Writing in Preschool: Learning to Orchestrate Meaning and Marks . 2nd ed. Preschool Literacy Collection. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes . Ed. & trans. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman. Rev. ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wu, L.Y. 2009. “Children’s Graphical Representations and Emergent Writing: Evidence from Children’s Drawings.” Early Child Development and Care 179 (1): 69–79.  

Photographs: pp. 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, courtesy of the authors; p. 74, © iStock

Teresa A. Byington, PhD, is an associate professor and extension specialist in early childhood education at the University of Nevada, Reno–Cooperative Extension. Her expertise includes early childhood language and literacy, social-emotional development, and professional development of teachers (coaching and training). [email protected]

YaeBin Kim, PhD, is an associate professor and extension specialist at the University of Nevada, Reno–Cooperative Extension. Her areas of specialization include emergent language and literacy, parenting education, and child development. [email protected]

Vol. 72, No. 5

Print this article

Kindergarten writing

by: Jessica Kelmon | Updated: August 4, 2022

Print article

Aside from decorative swirls, a few letters, and perhaps even their own names, most kindergartners start school not knowing how to write. That’s the point of school, after all… right?

In a word, yes. Kindergarten writing standards include scary terms like “research” and “publish.” But don’t panic. Kindergarten is still the year children first learn about writing, which means learning to listen, speak in class, and write the ABCs.

Writing their ABCs

Teachers often start the year by introducing the letters of the alphabet — the building blocks of writing. Kindergartners learn how to form the shapes of letters, what sounds they’re associated with, and how to combine those letters to create words.

This year your kindergartner should learn to print most upper and lowercase letters.

Cn u rd this?

At many schools, kindergartners are encouraged to spell words the way they sound, which is known as phonetic or “invented” spelling. For example, a student might spell the word water by writing “watr.” Children are often more comfortable using consonants and sounds at the beginning of words because they’re more distinct than vowels or sounds at the ends of words. Using invented spelling, children are demonstrating what they know. Research shows letting children use invented spelling (and not immediately correcting them) allows them to focus on the purpose of writing: communication. Typically, kids learn the rules of spelling and transition to conventional spelling as they read and write. (If a child’s spelling does not improve or their invented spelling is arbitrary rather than phonetic, it could be a sign of a learning issue.)

By the end of the year, kindergartners should be able to:

• Connect most letters with their sounds. • Phonetically or inventively write simple high-frequency words. (See our kindergarten snap words worksheets for examples of high-frequency words to practice, and check out this real-life example of what a kindergartner’s invented spelling looks like .) • Write many consonant-vowel-consonant words, like cat, dog, mom, and dad. (See our kindergarten rhyming words worksheets for examples.) • Write their own names.

Kindergartners who can’t write yet, can listen, speak, and draw!

Think of these skills as big steps toward writing. Teachers and parents should read books aloud and should ask questions along the way about the book itself — the title, author, illustrator, subject — and about what happens in a story, and what your child notices about events and characters’ actions. Be sure to ask some questions that require your child to read between the lines, e.g. Who are the main characters in this story? Where was the frog sitting? Why do you think the dog is sad? Can you draw a picture to show something interesting that you learned? You can also ask questions about the illustrations.

When answering, your child should learn to use frequently occurring nouns and verbs and correctly use the most common “connection words” or prepositions — such as to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by , and with  — to express their thoughts. They should also learn to answer questions using simple, complete sentences. Kindergartners also need to understand and use question words, including who, what, where, when, why, and how , when they speak or dictate writing so they’re familiar with these words when they begin writing on their own.

What exactly is “research” in kindergarten?

Your child’s first experience with research projects will be listening to a few books by the same author or on the same topic. Students will be asked to recall information like the author’s name, and what they learned from the reading. Then, with help and prompting from the teacher, they may draw pictures to accompany dictated sentences or write one to three sentences about what they learned from these books.

Watch how kindergartners research and discuss a topic

3 types of kindergarten writing

Kindergartners should practice and learn three kinds of writing: opinion, informative, and narrative. All three will likely start with kids listening to books read aloud and responding to what they’ve learned. In an opinion piece, your child tells the reader his opinion or preference about a topic, such as a book, animal, activity, etc. (e.g. My favorite book is.. .). In an informative piece, your child names what they’re writing about and gives some information or details about it. (e.g. Dinosaurs lived on Earth a long time ago… ) Writing a narrative is like writing a story. Your kindergartner will describe an event — or a few loosely linked events — putting the events in the order they happen and reacting to what happened. (e.g. Then Goldilocks tried the second bowl of porridge. )

See what kindergarten writing looks like

By the end of the year, your child may be able to write a couple of sentences for each type of writing. Remember that drawing and dictating sentences count as writing.

Check out these real examples of good kindergarten informational writing: • “All people can save water” • “All people can save water”

bttr, better, share!

A big part of teaching kids to write well is helping them understand that writing is a multistep process. Before your child picks up a pencil, prewriting begins with reading and thinking. This may mean rereading a book, discussing what your child has read, or simply brainstorming ideas for a picture or story. Then, the teacher will likely to go over your child’s first draft drawing, dictation, or writing with your child. The teacher or other students might ask your child questions about the work — and suggest details that could be added or better ways to organize information. Then your child may be asked to do a revision . After one or more revisions, the teacher might help your child with the final edit — focusing on spelling, capitalizing proper nouns and the first word of a sentence, and adding a period at the end. These steps — preparing to write, doing a first draft, revising that draft, and editing the final piece — help kindergartners learn that gathering and recalling information, organizing their thoughts, strengthening and clarifying their ideas, and improving grammar and presentation are all important parts of writing.

Kindergarten grammar

Kindergartners start learning the basics of sentence structure — namely capitalizing I (when referring to themselves) and the first letter of the first word in a sentence, ending their sentences with a period (and knowing that it’s called a period), and ending their questions with a question mark (and knowing that it’s called a question mark).

Check out these related worksheets: • Sentences #1 • My first sentences

What about handwriting?

In kindergarten, the focus is on printing upper and lowercase letters. Because kindergartners’ motor skills are still developing, the teacher will introduce handwriting with a range of approaches, like finger painting, writing in the air with a finger, and tracing letters. Kindergartners should learn how to hold a pencil and practice forming letters by writing their names, which gives them practice writing letters, shaping and spacing letters correctly, and writing from left to right.

For handwriting practice, check out these related worksheets: • Creating letter-shape patterns • Practicing letters a and b • The alphabet

Updated August 2022

Homes Nearby

Homes for rent and sale near schools

6 ways to improve a college essay

Quick writing tips for every age

Writing on the wall

Why parents must teach writing

Yes! Sign me up for updates relevant to my child's grade.

Please enter a valid email address

Thank you for signing up!

Server Issue: Please try again later. Sorry for the inconvenience

• Skip to main content

Get 15% Off Your First Purchase with Coupon Code SJT15off!

Susan Jones Teaching

Teaching Resources

How to Teach Persuasive Writing in K-2

Susan Jones January 10, 2021 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate ads at no cost to you. See my disclosures for more information.

If you are wondering how to teach persuasive writing in kindergarten, first grade, or second grade, then this blog post is for you! I have three easy tips I am going to share with you that will help you and your students.

Before I dive in, I want to clarify two little things. First, when I teach students how to write persuasive pieces, I have already taught them how to write an opinion and provide some reasons. I like to teach students what an opinion is, how to share it, and provide reasons for it using a unit like this one: opinion writing unit , before asking them to persuade someone! Second, when teaching persuasive writing to my youngest students, I like to do this through letters. I find that when we can identify a real audience and write them a letter, students can think of better ways to persuade them. Okay, let’s dive into the three tips.

If you want to watch/listen to this content, feel free to press play on my YouTube video below where I share all the same information! While you are there, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to see all my teaching videos:

To read the three tips, just keep scrolling!

Tip 1: Use Mentor Texts

These books are specifically for persuasive writing and one of my absolute favorites is Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings. In this book, a little dog named Arfy writes letters to different people to try and get them to adopt him. I particularly like this book because based on his audience, he uses different reasons to persuade. This is something we talk about in one of the later tips as well!

Another text I love to use to showcase persuasive letters is I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. This is a popular one! In this book, a little boy named Alex writes letters to his mom trying to persuade her to let him have a pet iguana. The entire book is written back and forth with letters between Alex and his mother and each letter provides reasons why he should or shouldn’t be allowed to own a pet iguana. This one is also fun because in the end, (spoiler alert) Alex ends up getting the iguana he wanted! This shows students the power of persuasion and lets the dream of something they really want and come up with ways to get it.

The last mentor text I want to share is a different one. This is one I use at the end of our unit. It is called, Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf and it is written by an 11-year old girl named Oliva Bouler. When I teach persuasive writing in a K-2 classroom, our letters tend to be pretty self-serving. This isn’t a bad thing at all! In fact, that’s why writing the letters can be so much fun – to try and get what we want. This text, however, lets students see how powerful our words can be and how we can try to persuade people to make the world a better place.

In  Olivia’s Birds , the author shares all sorts of interesting facts about different birds with her illustrations and how some human acts are destroying the birds’ habitats. In the end, she writes a persuasive letter to the Audubon Society and ends up single-handedly raising over $150,000 to help her cause! I love this book because it is inspiring and gets students thinking of ways they can change the world with their voices!

Please note: all books shown above are Amazon affiliate links

After we read Olivia’s Birds, we can use her ideas as an extension to write our own class book. Here are some of the ideas we use to brainstorm our own class persuasive letter:

Tip 2: Have your students Identify Persuasion in a Mentor Text

When using mentor texts, not only do I like to have students see persuasive writing in action, but I like to have them identify the persuasion in the texts. We do this using a think-aloud sheet like shown below.

As we read one of the mentor texts, we identify what the character wants, who the audience is, and then some of the reasons the character uses to persuade their audience. When doing this, I model this think-aloud with the class first and I use some student input as we gather reasons to persuade. I like having students walk through this process before we actually write our letters because it gets them used to brainstorming what they want, their audience, and some reasons to persuade. I also like this sheet because we can use it over and over again with different mentor texts!

You can grab this think-aloud sheet FREE here >> Persuasive Writing Activity and try it out in your own classroom!

Tip 3: Connect Reasons to their Audience

Unlike when we write opinions and share our reasons for them, persuasive writing has us making our reasons more personal. If we are trying to persuade someone, we need to think more in-depth about our audience! When doing this, I love to use a think-aloud and the mentor text, Can I Be Your Dog? which was shown above. Using a chart like shown below, we think about the different reasons Arfy uses to persuade his different audiences.

As we re-read the mentor text, we talk about how Arfy uses different reasons to persuade the people in the yellow house than the reasons he uses to persuade the fire station. This gets students not just thinking about what THEY want, but also how THEIR AUDIENCE could be persuaded!

I re-emphasize this as I model planning out my own persuasive letter to my principal! I like to use a fun example. I explain that when I speak to my son, I might use “baby voice” but I wouldn’t use that same baby voice with my boss! We need to speak differently and think of reasons that connect with each of our own audiences in order to effectively persuade them.

Those are the 3 tips I have to help you teach your students write persuasive letters! If you have other mentor texts or ideas that you love using with your kindergarten, first grade, or second-grade students, please drop them in the comments!

If you want to see more videos with ideas for teaching writing in a K-2 classroom, just click my writing workshop playlist below:

Pin to remember:

You may also enjoy these posts...

Reader Interactions

July 18, 2021 at 2:54 pm

Very useful lessons of writing Thank you

October 1, 2021 at 9:06 pm

I just finished watching your first writing video and found it very educational. I have recently started to homeschool my fourth-grade son. I am noticing he finds it very difficult to think of information to write when he is writing from a prompt or a book. I am thinking about starting at a lower level of writing perhaps maybe first grade or kindergarten in order to build his writing confidence. I am open to any suggestions, please.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Free CVC Word Mapping Mats

Sign up for my free email newsletter and receive these free CVC Word Mapping Mats to help with your next lesson plan!

Check out these popular writing resources!

We have loads of great writing resources over in the shop. Here are just a few I pulled together for you!

Beginning of the Year Writing

First Grade Writer’s Workshop units

Paragraph Writing Activities & Lessons: PRINTABLE & DIGITAL (Seesaw & Google)

Opinion Writing Unit

Hello friends.

Welcome to Susan Jones Teaching. When it comes to the primary grades, learning *All Things* in the K-2 world has been my passion for many years! I just finished my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and love sharing all the latest and greatest strategies I learn with you through this blog and my YouTube channel! I hope you'll enjoy learning along with me :)

More About Me

TeachingBrave

Parenting – Early Childhood – Money Matters

Public Speaking for Kids – 10 Top Tips

Public speaking is an important skill to learn when you’re a kid! It helps build confidence, improves language development skills, social skills and builds courage and leadership skills. Public speaking for kids has numerous benefits, but what are the best ways to improve speaking skills? Here are Andy’s top tips!

Introduction to Public Speaking for Kids

My son Andy won 2 public speaking competitions at school – one when he was 6 years old in Kindergarten and the second time 2 years later in Year 2. In year 1 and year 3 he was a finalist as well. The speeches he delivered were between 2-3 minutes, in front of an assembly of 500 children and adults. Andy’s content was interesting, he engaged his audience, smiled and spoke with volume in his voice and confidence! He fully deserved the trophies he won for this and it built his confidence SO much!

Of course as a parent, I helped to prepare him for these competitions but when it came time to deliver, it was all him!

Andy has assisted me to put these 10 tips together to help other kids with their public speaking!

1. Preparation and practice

Give yourself plenty of preparation time – don’t leave it until the last minute. Preparation will include deciding on your topic, ensuring your content is interesting for the audience and varied in terms of style of content to be delivered. Starting with a ‘Sizzling start’ is sometimes a great way to capture your audience from the get go. A sizzling start might be a quick statement such as “Quick! Attention, attention everyone! See, you all looked at me didn’t you?!” as a start to a speech about Great Tips for Public Speaking and getting attention, for example. It precedes your actual speech and acts as a quick way to get the attention of your audience in those first few seconds, followed by a few words about what your speech will be about. Your speech may also include quick lists, accompanied by holding up fingers one, two and three. For example, “There are three things to remember when making eye contact with your audience, One, ****, Two and Three” while holding fingers up. You can also use humour in there to try to make your audience laugh! These are just ways to vary what you are delivering so it’s not just a one tone, same style speech the whole way through.

Other ways of preparing include writing your speech in dot points on palm cards and having these ready to go. It’s helpful if you know most of the speech off by heart, having the palm cards there as a backup. Make sure your timing is correct. If the speech needs to be 2 minutes, aim for either just short of or just over 2 mins, but try not to be too short or too long by 15 seconds or more. The closer to the time expectation, the better.

Practice practice practice!! And practice some more! Recording yourself doing the speech is also a really good way to prepare so you can see for yourself where you may need to improve. The more you practice your speech, the more you will improve, meaning when it comes time to deliver it, you’ll feel more confident.

2. Eye contact

Have you ever noticed that when you’re watching someone do a speech, if they’re looking at you or looking around, you can make more of a connection with what they’re saying than if they were looking down at notes or palm cards the whole time. Eye contact is really important. Look around at your audience and scan the room. If you need to look down at your palm cards, that’s perfectly ok but make it just a few seconds in between looking up again. Ideally, most of your time will be spent looking at and around your audience, with minimal glances down at palm cards.

3. Confidence

TRY to look confident, speak confidently and stand with confidence. Remember your posture! If you’re not FEELING confident and you’re feeling like nerves are getting the better of you, just FAKE the confidence. Even faked confidence can fool your audience, and sometimes when you’re faking this confidence, you will fool yourself, leading to less nerves and a better delivery anyway!

4. Expression and personality

Your audience WANTS to connect with you so let your personality shine through in your speech and make sure you use expression in your voice to match your content. If you’re trying to make a point, allow your voice to tell half the story! You can adjust your tone and your inflections if you’re making a statement vs asking a rhetorical question within your speech. Ask yourself if you would be interested if you were the audience to your own speech. A monotone voice for the duration of the speech will engage the audience much less than someone who actually looks excited to share their speech and where the excitement and their personality is being expressed through their use of voice and expression.

5. Voice volume

Whether you’re using a microphone or not, make sure you are not speaking too softly, making it hard for your audience to hear you properly, or too loud, coming across as yelling. It is a good idea to find out prior to your speech whether you will be using a microphone or not, so you can practice getting the volume right. Try to get some feedback from family members when you’re practicing to see what they think of the volume of your voice.

6. Breathe and Pause

It may seem obvious, but don’t forget to breathe! If you are feeling a bit nervous, breathing properly is a great strategy to slow down your heart rate and allow you to pace yourself and seem more relaxed. There’s a tendency when feeling nerves to also speed up the speech but make sure you speak slow enough, speak clearly and pause as needed and as appropriate within the speech. You might need to pause slightly after making a joke, to encourage your audience to have a giggle, or you could pause after making a point, before moving on to your next point. Breathing properly and added pauses are a really important part of your delivery to reduce nerves and to ensure you come across as relaxed and poised.

7. Consider some props

This one is optional but if you do decide upon using some props, ensure that it’s only one or two and it’s appropriate for your speech content. If you think it supports a particular point you’re making, it can be a strong addition to your speech but if it’s not really relevant or you have too many, it can just be distracting, taking away from the strength of your speech. Some examples of props might be a book you are showing the audience which is related to your topic, or a piece of fruit and a vegetable to hold up if you’re doing a speech about healthy eating. Props can also take your audience’s attention away from you for a moment and onto the prop which can be a nice relief to have the focus diverted, even if only for a few moments. This can then help to boost your confidence once again as you draw the attention back to yourself. Remember, if you do decide to use props, use them sparingly.

8. Hand gestures, but don’t fidget

Hand gestures are really important if they’re natural and support what you’re communicating but make sure it’s not coming across as fidgeting! If you’re fidgeting during your speech, this can be very distracting for your audience and indicates nerves or lack of confidence. Fidgeting might include touching your face, swaying your body from side to side, touching your hair, shifting your weight, nervous coughing, scratching or adjusting your clothes. Try to keep your hands either holding palm cards, by your side or use them to your advantage with natural hand gestures that are appropriate as per the content. If you’re listing three things, hold up your fingers one, two, three. If you’re asking asking questions to your audience, your hands might be raised to the ceiling beside you in a question pose. You might use your hands to cover your eyes briefly to make a point, to make circular movements while explaining something, or even pointing towards your audience to make a point and to try to engage them.

9. Embrace nerves, have strategies

One of the biggest things you can do to build your courage is to embrace your nerves and do it anyway! Most people will feel some degree of nerves before doing public speaking and that’s ok! Your nerves will decrease the more prepared you are and if you have some strategies in place as to what you will do if you do get up on stage and feel quite nervous, you will be even better off. So, do yourself a favour and come up with some strategies for while you’re on stage to decrease the nervous feelings. Some suggestions are:

• Imagine you are delivering the speech to only one person. Remember when you were practicing and you were only doing the speech to mum or dad or a sibling? Every one of those people in the audience, by themseles, are one person. So, just imagine you are delivering it to them one on one. It shouldn’t really be any different delivering it to a large group.
• Breathe! Slowly and effectively, deeply and mindfully. It really does help.
• If you make a mistake, just start saying that point again. Don’t make it a big deal.
• Stand up straight and fake that confidence!
• Imagine yourself winning that public speaking award and feel confident in what you’ve prepared.

You can find further tips on managing public speaking anxiety here.

10. Smile and engage your audience!

This will depend on the content you are delivering and how appropriate a smile would be but a smile really does go a long way! It could be at just the beginning of your speech as you welcome your audience, or it could be at the end as you thank your audience for listening to you, or it could be throughout when making a joke, when looking around your audience or any time you think it’s appropriate. It’s amazing how infectious a smile can be and if your audience is feeling that you want to be there, they will be more inclined to want to listen! Your audience will enjoy a bit of engagement from you as well, whether that is through the smiling or it might be that you’re asking them to raise their hand in answer to a question or to nod in agreeance with something you’ve said. As a speaker, you want your audience to be engaged and as interested as possible, so be generous with your smiles and let your personality shine through!

Summary – Public Speaking for Kids

Andy and I hope these tips help you! Just remember the main points; prepare and practice, let your personality come through in your speech with smiles, use of voice expression and hand gestures, and have some strategies in place to combat nerves if they do creep up on you..

You can find more public speaking tips in these articles online here and here.

The Dept of Education Arts Unit also has a wealth of information on public speaking and developing those important skills. You can find them here.

Once your child has had a go at public speaking and overcome fear or nerves, they will build their courage and confidence, essentially filling their bucket and developing belief in themselves as well as resilience, allowing them to take more risks and continue trying new things.

Have you tried public speaking? How did you or your child go? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear about it!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Sign me up for the newsletter!

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

Affiliate Disclaimer - Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy

My Speech Class

Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

130 Awesome Speech Topics for Kids

Amanda Green was born in a small town in the west of Scotland, where everyone knows everyone. I joined the Toastmasters 15 years ago, and I served in nearly every office in the club since then. I love helping others gain confidence and skills they can apply in every day life.

Kids always do best when they are interested in what they are asked to talk about. But every child has different interests, and therein lies the challenge – selecting awesome speech topics that kids will want to talk about.

A few points you want to consider:

• If the topic is too “adult,” they may be too young to cope with what they find.
• If the topic is too simplistic, their growing sense of awareness may be stunted.

• Keep in mind the goal of the speech – do you want to educate, to entertain, to express ideas, or something else?
• Consider topic that suits child’s character: someone who has an extensive imagination won’t like the same topics as someone who is more factual and practical.

Here is a broad range of  speech topics for kids you can choose from.

Family and friends, miscellaneous, more miscellaneous….

• Why I love my mom and dad
• Funny things my parents say
• Let me tell you about my imaginary friend
• Things that really happen at grandma’s house when mom and dad aren’t there
• Secrets my mom does all day when I’m not around
• What my brother/sister thinks of me
• What my dad does in the bathroom for all that time
• If I had a choice between getting money or spending time with my family, I would choose…
• What did I do for my mom last mother’s day
• Let me tell you about my family
• My family’s traditions
• Original projects to surprise my parents on Mother’s Day (in the Spring) and Father’s Day (often marked in June).
• Where we went on vacation/holiday with my family
• What is my favorite song
• My favorite band or singer, and one of his or her greatest hits I would like to play with some clarification.
• The best fairy tale, or a variation child speech topic can be a cartoon character.
• My favorite season of the year is…
• My favourite time of day or week.
• The funniest April Fool’s Day joke.
• 5 of my favorite words
• Top favorite Christmas song of all times
• 3 favorite things to buy at the market
• If I went to my favorite restaurant I would order…
• Mom and my favorite place to visit is..
• My favorite thing about summer
• What my favorite pizza toppings are
• My favorite New Year’s tradition
• Favorite sundae toppings
• The most delicious meal I’ve ever had
• If I built the ultimate sandwich, it would have…
• The worst vegetable on the planet
• How many things can you make with a potato
• Describe the flavors of Thanksgiving foods
• One thing I know how to cook is…
• The contents of your lunch box.
• Different ways to eat an apple
• Why I don’t care about the “Five second rule”
• I don’t like to eat … Fill in something you dislike
• A day in the life as a fly
• What my dog is thinking
• What would it be like if dinosaurs roamed the Earth?
• My dream mythical creature for a pet would be…
• If I could talk to animals…
• What do cows think about
• How do animals talk to each other
• How to care for your pets, the right way
• What rights should animals have?
• What different wild animals have I seen
• How penguins live on Antarctica and only there and not on the North Pole (besides the zoo of course)
• A day at the wildlife sea aquarium, with dolphins, sharks, whales and seals.
• How kangaroos care for their children.
• What birds visit your backyard at home
• How do rainbows work
• What planet would I visit if I had my own rocket ship
• Why the sky is blue
• How are stars made
• Where do clouds come from?
• Where babies come from
• What outer space is like
• Why do the leaves on trees change color in the fall
• How water is so important
• What makes the Sun so bright
• How do boats float
• Why do we have dreams when we sleep
• Why are eyes different colors
• What makes the world go ’round
• How do planes fly
• The stars, black holes, galaxies and the interstellar medium in our cosmos
• Biggest birthday wish
• Best indoor winter activities
• Coolest superhero power
• If I was the President of the U.S….
• My dream vacation
• If I were a character in a book, I would be…
• Why I’m on Santa’s nice/naughty list
• The inside scoop on __________
• If I could change one thing about the world, it would be…
• How I really feel about seeing the doctor
• The best part about holidays
• If I had three wishes, they would be…
• If I were famous, it would be for my…
• My secret life as a spy
• My best invention
• Fun games to play on long car rides
• Silly songs I know
• In my dream house, there would be…
• The best part about being sick
• Why the tooth fairy must be real
• What my name means
• Disney World: the first person I’d want to see is…
• If I was the author of a book, I’d write about…
• The charity I’m going to donate to when I’m older is…
• What happiness means to me
• The best thing about me is…
• If I could be a character in any video game, it would be…
• How I care for the environment every day
• Why are farmers important
• What I want to be for Halloween next year
• What I want to be when I grow up
• Why best friends are so special
• If I was a princess or prince, I would …
• My toys, dolls or mini racing cars collection.
• My trip to Disney World or other resort.
• How I decorate my room at home.
• My biggest adventure.
• Good kid games online.
• Nice birthday presents you like to get.
• What you could do without television or video.
• Foreign hollidays we do not celebrate.
• Things – food or scary situations – that make you sick.
• What is more important: Doing what’s right or being popular
• The best memory I can remember
• Who I was named after
• What it would be like to meet an alien
• My greatest fear
• The happiest day of my life
• Something I have done that I am proud of
• What adult in my life do I look up to the most
• How to plan a surprise party
• A day at the beach
• The coolest toy I have
• What I know about (insert sport)
• Vampires or werewolves?
• Steps to drawing a flower
• If I re-wrote the story, “The Little Mermaid” or “Bambi” it would go like this…
• How to make a snowman
• The strangest place I’ve ever been
• Are table manners really important
• Tell a myth or legend about your future self
• The coolest art/craft I’ve ever made
• If I were in charge, the rules I would make would be…

If you are selecting a topic together, sit down with your child and read through this list together and make your own list of which topics stood out to your child . Suggest alternatives or adaptations to some topics. The goal is to get their juices flowing. You want this to be a choice that they are comfortable with.

Help them decide by reminding them who their audience will be and what the occasion is . This will help determine what is appropriate and what the audience will want to hear. Your child probably wouldn’t want to talk about Barbie at a formal function or to an audience of mostly boys.

All that’s left to do is prepare and practice, because we all know – practice makes perfect!

Can We Write Your Speech?

Get your audience blown away with help from a professional speechwriter. Free proofreading and copy-editing included.

205 Controversial Topics for your Essay, Speech, or Debate

206 Great Speech Topics for Teens [Persuasive, Informative]

25 thoughts on “130 Awesome Speech Topics for Kids”

Sure! It’s about I only want a ribbon about u are afraid Togo on stage and don’t want to go to the next level except a good grade.

A day in a life of me as an old person

im so bad at writing speechs

You should keep some simple and affective topics on which children can speak on. But still good.

this really helped me I am trying to look for a speech and this helped me ALOT!!!!thanks and had lots of good ideas

it’s very good for a child under like 8 but i am 9 and i use it and when our teacher said were have a speech contest i flip out! but i found this web site and it helped me a lot. In fact, i won the speech contest!

Ok you guys are good in all but I feel like I don’t know if kids are going to want to listen to these baby ideas and where baby’s come from and I am in grade six and I don’t think people really want to listen but you guys ar good for like grade threes or something like that because I don’t think people over the grade of four are going to want to listen to this

OK you guys r good but i need more ideas all of are cool but i need to win a speech contest

I love the ideas kind of random but still funny and interesting

please help me to write speech

ya i’m in a speech contest too and thx you have helped me lot’s 🙂

I couldn’t think of anything so I simply did: why I can’t think of a speech topic!

I LOVE your topic Me it inspires me and I think I am going to write about that for my speech contest entry.

i LOVVVE the ideas im going to come first in my speech comments

i wish you would give more responsible topics because i don’t want to write a speech on the steps to write a flower i would want to amaze the judges with a out of this world speech not a stupid one i am in sixth grade and i am about to do a huge essay contest and i want to write something jaw dropping

thank you!!! this is very helpful to us it give us more confidence and knowledge

I need a topic that I can talk about for 20 MINUTES!!!. These topics seem too trivial for an impromptu speech for 20 minutes, but good topics for shorter speeches!

love your ideas so good you really have a brillant brain sir

Thank u a lot

No this is not the topics i am looking for….. I’m looking for persuasive speeches could u please add topics for that

Winning Isn’t Everything

Well, it’s pretty good for school, but I need topics like “Benefits of ___” or “What we should do about pollution”, etc. I’m doing this for a Public Speaking class and we have to do speeches sort of like a ‘TED talk’

I want a speech on the Democratic for my school

I’m kinda annoyed they don’t take you to a site that helps you write it like I need this thing next Monday!

I love those crazy and cute topics….once I read them they grab my heart at once and now my mummy is saying me to make ur speech on this and that blaa … blaaa…. but I can’t leave those cute science topics….thank you so much for whoever have those kind of sweet topics

Leave a Comment

I accept the Privacy Policy

Reach out to us for sponsorship opportunities

Vivamus integer non suscipit taciti mus etiam at primis tempor sagittis euismod libero facilisi.

© 2024 My Speech Class

How to Write a Kindergarten Graduation Speech

Kindergarten graduation is an emotional milestone that brings smiles and tears to doting family members who can’t believe this special year is already over. Some schools recognize the significance of the event with pomp and circumstance that may include speeches, music, graduation apparel, certificates and a graduation cake shaped like a school bus. Delivering a graduation speech that will captivate students and adults alike is a formidable challenge. Consider giving a multimedia presentation instead of a memorized speech because kindergartners get bored quickly, as parents and teachers well know.

Explore this article

• Prepare Opening Remarks
• Share Highlights of the Year
• Express Gratitude

1 Plan Ahead

The best time to start writing a kindergarten graduation speech is the first day of school. Keep a journal noting impressive accomplishments during the year, such as the giant purple dinosaur a student constructed using balloons and papier mache. Obtain permission from parents to take occasional photos for viewing at the graduation ceremony. Photos and videos can reinforce the tremendous learning that you describe in your speech. Write a draft of your speech at least one week before graduation, so you’ll have time to revise and rehearse it.

2 Prepare Opening Remarks

Write a friendly welcome to students, parents, siblings, grandparents, family friends and fellow teachers in attendance. Encourage distinguished guests to stand and be recognized, such as the principal, superintendent or school board members. Explain why graduation ceremonies are important rituals at any age. Ask the children to stand. Invite the audience to applaud the graduates for their determination and success.

3 Share Highlights of the Year

Reference notable events of the year, such as a field trip to the fire station and the school play. Stress impressive facts, such as low absenteeism, strong class participation and success in meeting state standards that measure learning through the curriculum. Mention each child by name along with a special accomplishment or good deed. Show a power point slide or iMovie while talking, or ask children to stand when their name and achievements are mentioned.

4 Express Gratitude

Thank the parents, caregivers and family members for playing a key role in the learning process. Explain that parental involvement and high expectations correlate with student achievement. Note that the school views families and caretakers as influential partners in educating children and preparing them for a bright future. Encourage adults present to read to their children over the summer to keep skills fresh for the challenges of first grade.

Express your confidence that the graduating class has tremendous potential, and wish them well in their journey. End with a favorite inspirational quote, such as “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” by Dr. Seuss. Thank everyone for coming and encourage everyone to enjoy cookies and punch if there’s a reception.

• 1 Reading and Writing to Learn: Strategies across the Curriculum; Katherine Wiesolek Kuta
• 2 Michigan Department of Education: What Research Says About Parent Involvement in Children's Education

About the Author

Dr. Mary Dowd is a dean of students whose job includes student conduct, leading the behavioral consultation team, crisis response, retention and the working with the veterans resource center. She enjoys helping parents and students solve problems through advising, teaching and writing online articles that appear on many sites. Dr. Dowd also contributes to scholarly books and journal articles.

Related Articles

Things to Say in Graduation Cards

Ideas for Activities for Church Anniversaries

How to Write a Thank You Note for an Award

How to Present a Scholarship Award & the Speech

Nursing School Graduation Speech Ideas

How to Write an Eagle Scout Speech

Types of Student Awards

Graduation Themes for Primary Schools

5th Grade Yearbook Dedication Ideas

The Significance of Graduation Tassels

How to Write a Thank You Speech for Accepting a Teacher's...

Gift Etiquette for Military Retirement

Gifts for the National Honor Society in High School

Ideas for Teacher Incentives

What Indoor Activities Can My Boyfriend & I Do for...

Graduating High School Senior Bulletin Board Ideas

Theme Ideas for the Month of September

How to Write a Welcome for a Church Anniversary Program

Fun End of the School Year Activities to Do With Sixth...

Morning Announcement Ideas

Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. Classroom is the educational resource for people of all ages. Whether you’re studying times tables or applying to college, Classroom has the answers.

• Accessibility
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Copyright Policy
• Manage Preferences

© 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Based on the Word Net lexical database for the English Language. See disclaimer .

• Book Lists by Age
• Book Lists by Category
• Reading Resources
• Language & Speech
• Raise a Reader Blog
• Back to School
• Success Guides by Grade
• Homework Help
• Social & Emotional Learning
• Activities for Kids

Writing: Kindergarten

Your child will learn spelling and even begin to write stories in kindergarten. learn what is taught in the classroom and ways to help at home..

In kindergarten, your child really begins to grow as a writer. Kindergartners start to write words (often using their own creative or invented spellings), and even write their own books and stories about their lives and what they’ve learned. Creative or invented spelling is a crucial part of developing writing skills. Using this method, your child spells words using the letters and sounds he hears. This is an important part of your child’s writing development as he gains a deeper understanding of letters, words and their sounds. In addition, most of the words your kindergartner learns to spell correctly are one syllable words which often follow the pattern of CVC, or CONSONANT, VOWEL, CONSONANT—for example, "Cat," "Big," or "Rug."  And of course, the reading that your kindergartner does is directly connected to developing his writing and literacy skills.

In order to build writing skills, your kindergartner :

• Writes uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Writes his/her name.
• Writes some letters and words when they are dictated.
• Uses invented or creative spelling to write a variety of words.
• Uses conventional spelling to write some words (CVC and basic sight words).
• Writes, Draws and Dictates about a variety of topics, including his opinion and descriptions of objects or moments and events in his life.

Writing Activities

• Label Things : Create labels with your child for different objects in your house. For example, various books, places for toys, foods, objects in the kitchen, or clothes. You or your child can write the names of the objects and your child can draw a picture to go along with it.
• Guessing Games : Draw a picture and have your child guess the spelling of that word. Give your child a few letters in a word. For example show your child “_AT,” and ask him to make as many words as he can with it.
• Create a Photo Album : When you take pictures of events or people ask your child to label the picture. Glue the picture to a piece of a paper so your child can write a description of the event, what happened, who was there, etc. If other people were involved in the event, send them a copy!
• Have a Letter Treasure Hunt : When you are in the car, at home or in the store, ask your child to find certain uppercase and lowercase letters. She can keep a list of all the letters she finds and write them down as she finds them. 

Your Last Day of Kindergarten (A Letter to my Students)

• 46 Comments

Every year the last day of school seems to arrive so quickly! No matter how rough the school year may have been, I always get so wistful about how much my Kindergarten students have grown and changed since they first stepped foot in my classroom. It feels like I just sent my students home with the letter for our first day of school . I tried to put my feelings into words in the form of a Last Day of Kindergarten Letter for my Students and am now offering you a free printable version below!

*Pair this with Kindergarten Printables Bundle for Summer !

Dear Kindergartners,

You will probably never see this letter, but I wish I could put it in a time capsule and save it for you when you are older and can better understand the significance of this year you just completed. 9 months ago you walked into this place called “Kindergarten.” Many of you were scared. Some of you cried and didn’t want to stay. Yet, you stayed. I held your hand while you said goodbye to your family and let you sit next to me on the carpet while you were sad. We read a story together and played a game to learn everyone’s name.

In our time together, you learned what it meant to sit in a circle, walk in a line, hold a pencil, use scissors, zip up your coat, and be part of a group. You learned how to read, became mathematicians, scientists, inquirers, and more. You learned what it meant to be a friend. You played with others, took turns, worked through problems, and practiced patience.

You smiled, laughed, and sometimes cried. Not all of our days were easy, but most of our days were filled with learning, excitement, and happiness. You gave me lots of hugs and high fives, and still called me “Teacher” no matter how many times I told you my name.

Related Resource: Kindergarten Summer Homework

Fast forward 9 months and many of you are losing teeth! Some of you are 6 years old now, and all of you are nearly 1st graders. Time has seemed to fly by, and while I am excited for summer, I sometimes wish for time to slow down just a bit so we could have a little more time together. Yet, I know you are ready to go. Our time together is complete. Before you go, please remember that I believe in you and know you are capable of great things.

I know that much of this year will fade from your memories with the passage of time. Some of this year will perhaps fade from my memory as well, but I hope that we see each other again. I hope that if we do, whether you are 7 or 27, we can look at one another with a smile and remember that Once Upon a Time, you were 5, and Once Upon a Time, I was your teacher.

Until that day,

Your Kindergarten Teacher

Grab Your Free Copy

To get your free printable Last Day of School Letter for your Kindergarten Students, click the large, yellow download button below!

Want to stress less with even more “must-try” tips while learning how to create a “Playful Learning” environment?

(even if you “aren’t allowed to play” )

If you’re wanting to incorporate  playful learning, free-flowing centers, effective routines, and more  in your Pre-K or Kindergarten classroom, then you’ll definitely want to join us in  P.L.A.Y. (Playful Learning All Year)!

This course is a deep dive into practical ways that you can  create a playful learning environment  in your classroom. Be sure to request an invitation so you’re the first to hear when the virtual doors open!

46 Responses

This letter summoned up everything I have always wanted to say. Thank you for sharing it with us. I cried as I read it aloud to my parents and so did a few of them. Very beautifully written. I let them know it was written by a kinder teacher and not me. Thank you.

Hi Tanya, Thank you SO much for taking the time to leave a comment and let me know that you read the letter aloud – I am so thankful that it was meaningful to you and the parents of your students! I really appreciate your thoughtful words!

Beautiful!! I Love The "teacher" name, hence the name of my blog! Doesn't matter how many times you tell them your name, we are still "teacher!" 🙂

haha exactly! They still always call us teacher! 🙂

Thank you for taking one more thing off my plate for year end….this is lovely, thank you for sharing!

You are so welcome! I am so glad you will be able to use it!

This so perfectly states everything that I am feeling as I wind down from my first year teaching Kindergarten! Although it was slightly different for me since I became their teacher in November, you took my thoughts and put them so beautifully into words. Thank you for sharing! I am tagging you on my blog for credit.

Hi Rebecca! Congrats on completing a great year in Kindergarten! Thanks so much for your kind words. If you are blogging your own letter, that is so nice of you to credit this post. I am not sure what your plans are, but I just wanted to remind you that this printable letter cannot be uploaded anywhere else on the internet please. Thanks so much! Have a wonderful summer!

This is so sweet!!! It is definitely hard to say bye to our kindergarten friends!! We have seen them grow SO much throughout the year! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂

Thank you Heather! It is definitely hard to say goodbye, even though we may be excited for summer!

I LOVE this Alex! I got tears in my eyes reading this. I especially love how you ended it with the "Once Upon a Time" sayings. Great post!

Suzanne Kindergarten Planet

Thanks so much Suzanne! I really appreciate your kind words!

Love it! Why is it always so hard to say goodbye.

~Laura Luv My Kinders

Isn't it though? It is so hard every year! Even though we are ready for summer, there is always a bit of sadness on that last day, and happiness too!

Aww I love it!

Thank you Aide! I appreciate you taking the time to read it!

Aww I love this! It's beautifully written and so captures that bittersweet feeling of letting kiddos go at the end of the year.

– Miss Giraffe

Thank you so much! I always get emotional at the end of the year – goodbyes are definitely hard, even though we are excited for summer!

That is the sweetest letter! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to read! I really appreciate it. 🙂

This is perfect!

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. 🙂

This is perfect. Love from Sri Lanka.

We are so happy to hear that you love this letter! Have a great day! 🙂

Thanks so much Carrie!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Search Search

thekindergartenconnection

🖍️ If you teach Pre-K, TK, or Kindergarten, hit the follow button and let’s be friends! ⭐️ Professional Development ⬇️

© 2024 THE KINDERGARTEN CONNECTION 

Fact Check: Obama Did NOT Present Plan To 'Flood' Public Square With 'Raw Sewage' In 2022 Speech; He Described Propaganda Tactics

• Aug 16, 2024
• by: Ed Payne

When former President Barack Obama described a metaphorical plan in 2022 to "flood" the public square with "raw sewage," did he present it as either his own or as that of the Democratic Party? No, that's not true: He was describing how propaganda works, not what he or the party was planning to do. He said this in a speech at Stanford University titled "Disinformation Is a Threat to Our Democracy."

The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here ) on Facebook on August 10, 2024. The post's on-screen title said:

It was the plan the whole time wake up people

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Aug 16 15:10:44 2024 UTC)

The clip in the post comes from an hourlong speech (transcript archived here ) Obama gave at Stanford on April 21, 2022. Here's what he said in the 40-second video on social media:

You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of truth, the game's won.

Unlike what the social media post with its out-of-context video clip suggests, the former president wasn't laying out a playbook for spreading propaganda; he was talking about the dangers of disinformation.

In its full context, Obama's speech, "Disinformation Is a Threat to Our Democracy," shows that he was explaining how others have spread distrust. He was not endorsing those actions. Here's a longer segment of the address, including the section from the social-media video, which is emphasized in bold below and helps clarify what he was talking about:

Authoritarian regimes and strongmen around the world from China to Hungary, the Philippines. Brazil have learned to conscript social media platforms to turn their own populations against groups they don't like, whether it's ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, journalists, political opponents. And of course, autocrats like Putin have used these platforms as a strategic weapon against democratic countries that they consider a threat. People like Putin and Steve Bannon, for that matter, understand it's not necessary for people to believe this information in order to weaken democratic institutions. You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of truth, the game's won. And as Putin discovered leading up to the 2016 election, our own social media platforms are well designed to support such a mission, such a project.

The former president's entire speech can be watched here:

At the time this fact check was written, the claim had been reviewed by multiple fact-checking organizations in 2022, including the Associated Press , Reuters , Poynter , Hong Kong Baptist University and Misbar .

Ed Payne is a staff writer at Lead Stories. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist as part of CNN’s coverage of 9/11. Ed worked at CNN for nearly 24 years with the CNN Radio Network and CNN Digital. Most recently, he was a Digital Senior Producer for Gray Television’s Digital Content Center, the company’s digital news hub for 100+ TV stations. Ed also worked as a writer and editor for WebMD. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, Ed is the author of two children’s book series: “The Daily Rounds of a Hound” and “Vail’s Tales.”  Read more about or contact Ed Payne

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet. Spotted something? Let us know! .

Lead Stories is a:

• Verified signatory of the IFCN Code of Principles
• Facebook Third-Party Fact-Checking Partner
• Member of the #CoronavirusFacts Alliance

WhatsApp Tipline

Have a tip or a question? Chat with our friendly robots on WhatsApp!

Add our number +1 (404) 655-4223 , follow this link or scan the image below with your phone:

@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Fact Check: Satirical Claim Falsely Says Hope Walz Received $82,000 In Student Loan Forgiveness, Parents Worth $138 Million

Fact Check: Image Of Kamala Harris' August 8, 2024 Detroit Rally Was NOT Digitally Altered

Fact Check: Tim Walz DID Coach High School State Football Championship Team, Did NOT Lose Job Over DUI

Fact Check: Kamala Harris' August 8, 2024, Detroit Rally Photo Is NOT AI-Generated; Airplane Engine and Fuselage Reflection Explained by Physics

Fact Check: Photo Does NOT Show Undamaged Ear In Immediate Weeks After Trump Shooting

Fact Check: Teen Named 'Graci Mae Thompson' Is NOT Missing In Various Cities -- This Is Part Of Real Estate Scam

Fact Check: Japan Did NOT Declare State Of Emergency Over 'Nanobots' Found In '96 Million Citizens' In August 2024

Most recent.

Fact Check: Optical Illusion Is NOT Stress Test From Japanese Neurologist -- Art From Ukrainian Graphic Designer

Fact Check: Cancer Researcher 'Dr. Leo Ferreira' Was NOT Killed In Brazil Plane Crash -- It Was José Ferreira

Fact Check: Candace Owens Did NOT Sign $25 Million Deal With ABC For Morning Show That's 'Going To Replace The View'

Fact Check: Nike Did NOT Announce End Of Contract With Brittney Griner

Fact Check: Toronto Star Did NOT Report About Canadian Politician Jagmeet Singh's Supposed 'Money-Making Scandal'

Fact Check: Photo Does NOT Show Ukraine Using Chemical Weapons In Russia's Kursk Region -- It's From Iraq In 2015

Share your opinion

Lead stories.

• Health Tech
• Health Insurance
• Medical Devices
• Gene Therapy
• Neuroscience
• H5N1 Bird Flu
• Health Disparities
• Infectious Disease
• Mental Health
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Chronic Disease
• Alzheimer's
• Coercive Care
• The Obesity Revolution
• The War on Recovery
• Adam Feuerstein
• Matthew Herper
• Jennifer Adaeze Okwerekwu
• Ed Silverman
• CRISPR Tracker
• Breakthrough Device Tracker
• Generative AI Tracker
• Obesity Drug Tracker
• 2024 STAT Summit
• All Summits
• STATUS List
• STAT Madness
• STAT Brand Studio

Don't miss out

Subscribe to STAT+ today, for the best life sciences journalism in the industry

Trump keeps losing his train of thought. Cognitive experts have theories about why

By Olivia Goldhill Aug. 7, 2024

I n a speech earlier this year, former President Trump was mocking President Biden’s ability to walk through sand when he suddenly switched to talking about the old Hollywood icon Cary Grant.

“Somebody said he [Biden] looks great in a bathing suit, right? When he was in the sand and he was having a hard time lifting his feet through the sand, because you know, sand is heavy. They figure three solid ounces per foot. But sand is a little heavy. And he’s sitting in a bathing suit. Look, at 81, do you remember Cary Grant? How good was Cary Grant, right? I don’t think Cary Grant — he was good. I don’t know what happened to movie stars today,” he said at a March rally in Georgia. Trump went on to talk about contemporary actors, Michael Jackson, and border policies before returning to the theme of how Biden looks on the beach.

advertisement

This shifting from topic to topic, with few connections — a pattern of speech called tangentiality — is one of several disjointed and occasionally incoherent verbal habits that seem to have increased in Trump’s speech in recent years, according to interviews with experts in memory, psychology, and linguistics.

STAT+ Exclusive Story

Already have an account? Log in

This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers

Unlock this article — plus daily intelligence on capitol hill and the life sciences industry — by subscribing to stat+..

Totals $468 per year

for 3 months, then $39/month

Then $39/month

Savings start at 25%!

Annually per user

$300 Annually per user

Get unlimited access to award-winning journalism and exclusive events.

About the Author Reprints

Olivia goldhill.

Investigative Reporter

Olivia Goldhill works to hold corporations and public bodies to account, with a particular interest in reproductive health, mental health, and psychedelics.

STAT encourages you to share your voice. We welcome your commentary, criticism, and expertise on our subscriber-only platform, STAT+ Connect

To submit a correction request, please visit our Contact Us page .

Recommended

Recommended Stories

Harris pledges to scrap billions in medical debt with new presidential platform

STAT Plus: Physicians weigh in on potential impact of Trump’s ear wound: ‘It’s a matter of inches’

STAT Plus: Health Care's Colossus: How UnitedHealth turned a questionable artery-screening program into a gold mine

STAT Plus: Meet the billionaire media mogul who’s taking on the food industry

STAT Plus: Boston’s lab market is in rough shape

Advertisement

Supported by

Trump Tries to Wrestle Back Attention at Mar-a-Lago News Conference

In an hourlong exchange with reporters, the former president criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not doing the same, insulted her intelligence and boasted about the size of his rallies.

• Share full article

By Maggie Haberman Shane Goldmacher and Jonathan Swan

Reporting from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.

Follow live updates on the 2024 election .

Former President Donald J. Trump tried on Thursday to shoehorn himself back into a national conversation that Vice President Kamala Harris has dominated for more than two weeks, holding an hourlong news conference in which he assailed Ms. Harris’s intelligence and taunted her for failing to field questions similarly from journalists.

Throughout the event, held in the main room at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home in Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Trump assailed the state of the U.S. economy, described the country as in mortal danger if he did not win the presidential election and falsely described his departure from the White House — which was preceded by his refusal to concede his election loss in November 2020 and the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters — as a “peaceful” transfer of power.

Mr. Trump also flashed frustration when asked about the size of Ms. Harris’s crowds while boasting about the attendance at his own rally on Jan. 6, 2021, and insisted that the group of hundreds that stormed the Capitol was relatively small. But he fixated on the size of the crowd that he initially gathered on the national mall, making comparisons to — and declaring it was larger than — the one drawn by Martin Luther King Jr. for his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

“Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me,” Mr. Trump said. “If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours — same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not — we had more.”

The Trump team has been looking for ways to interrupt Ms. Harris’s momentum as she has quickly consolidated the Democratic Party behind her and risen in the polls. The goal of Mr. Trump’s news conference, which he announced on Thursday morning on his social media site, was to highlight that Ms. Harris has yet to hold a news conference of her own or to give an unscripted interview to the news media.

It was a point he made during his event, arguing that she had avoided doing so because “she’s not smart enough.”

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .