Welcome to the First and Second Grade Writing Lab!

Meet the Writing Lab Instructor, Julie Humbel!

This is an exciting year for writing at Ballenger Creek Elementary School.  I will have the opportunity to work with our First Grade students and our Second Grade students.

Every First Grader will visit the Writing Lab four days each week.  We will be hard at work perfecting the craft of writing.  The students are learning to not just form letters and understand that letters represent the sounds of our language, but learning to be authors.  In the past it was believed that children couldn't learn to read and write until they were taught all their letters and sounds.  Children can write before learning these skills!   They write by dictation, scribbles, drawings, and temporary spelling.  When children use the temporary spelling, they write words using the phonetic sounds, usually the consonants first with the vowels added later.  In the past we were unaware of the importance of the scribble, drawing, and temporary spelling, but we now know each of these is a normal stage of writing development.

Our very skilled writers in Second Grade will visit the Writing Lab on a daily basis every afternoon.  These young authors will continue to refine the writing skills they have already developed and focus on more extensive pieces of writing that will take many days to publish a finished piece of work.

A major focus of the Writing Lab this year will be using a Trait-Based Approach to our writing.  A trait-based approach is helping young authors become aware of those qualities that make writing strong.  As developing writers, they gradually learn how to identify some traits in their own writing.  Some of the traits we will focus on will be:  ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation.

Please encourage your child to write at home.  If your child comes to you with a scribble, drawing, temporary spelling, ask, "What have you written?"  Take the time to print their words before their eyes.  Your children will learn so much by your example and by their observation of you accomplishing writing.  You, their audience and readers, will need to bear with them as they learn their craft.  Receive their writing in the same spirit of encouragement that you do their music, art, and sports performances.  That will help them become the best they can be!