Writing letters to either each other or a family member gets students in the practice of writing and writing with a purpose. Greatschools.com says "by first grade, students should be writing on their own initiative," meaning students can create their own thoughts and put them on paper. The site also encourages teachers to fill a room with paper and pens or pencils --- children are naturally inquisitive and will want to try anything new and may even consider it playtime, while learning. Students can write a note to children in the class, their parents, sister, brother or even grandparents; these activities can be tied into anything creative including holidays.
Stories surround children in many forms from biblical stories to nursery rhymes and movies; listening to stories is, by nature, the way children learn values, morals and even words themselves. Getting children to retell stories they are familiar with or something they experienced puts them in the routine of the writing process. For children more advanced in word skills, writing down sentences (even short ones) can get the process moving.
Children are constantly told not to do things and often warn others of the same danger. Creating signs on large poster board encourages students to draw and write at the same time. Pick a topic about warning of danger, a sign to welcome new students to the class or in greeting card form to congratulate mom on her new baby. Even though it is only a few words or lines, this activity gets children to connect words and pictures with a theme.
Encouraging children to build and expand their vocabulary at a young age improves writing and composition over time. A larger vocabulary means students will have more words to choose from and more ways to write about a topic. An article in Young Children suggests early educators talk about something all children have in common --- the authors use an example of the weather --- yet choosing different words each time. Teachers can describe snow, wind and rain in a multitude of ways, thus showing children different word choices. Teachers can identify five new words that describe the day's weather on the blackboard or whiteboard; using those new words in conversation also shows demonstrates word usage. A study in Early Childhood Research Quarterly says vocabulary building is critical to academic success later in life.