Writing essentials for your school

Writing essentials for your school

When it comes to writing, there are always different ways to help children. Whether it’s different resources or products, you need the best writing essentials for your school. Here at GLS, we have laid out the ideal writing essentials you need for your school.

Why is teaching writing so important in the curriculum?

Teaching writing skills is an important focus because it allows students to communicate effectively and transform their thoughts and ideas into comprehensible written responses. Furthermore, when children can communicate in a variety of genres and styles, it makes the rest of the curriculum more accessible.

Giving students the opportunity to explore and express themselves through a variety of genres and writing styles is another excellent way to help them develop the transferable skills that are easily contextualised and applicable to the wider world around them.

How do teaching writing skills play a key role in child development?

Making time to improve writing skills for kids plays a significant role in their ability to explore meaning, express ideas and thoughts in response to specific texts, as well as contributing to their fine motor skills and phonetic awareness.

There is no denying that writing forms an inherent part of everyday life and therefore, links to how we communicate with one another through print. This key skill enables them to access the wider world around them and contributes to the broadening of vocabulary, so they can also verbalise language and communicate through speech more effectively, too.

Without teaching writing skills, it would be much more difficult to determine the stages of learning attributed to the individual. However, when we provide regular practice opportunities for young children, teachers can then provide inclusive and accessible learning opportunities and experiences that maximise learning outcomes and potentials.

Therefore, we have designed a list of writing essentials to provide your teachers and classes with.

List of writing essentials

Pencil prompts

Using pencil prompts bridges gaps in learning and supports spelling, writing and grammar skills from Year 1 and up. With these handy packs of spelling prompts and punctuation games, each set supports a different skill and is ideal for intervention or group work. The spelling prompts are perfect for look, say, cover and write activities. These are ideal for your school as this is a fun way to teach different words and start sentences with students.

Board games

This may seem like a strange one to add to the list but encouraging English skills through games is perfect for your classes. When playing board games, students won't realise that they are learning at the same time. Our set of 6 grammar and sentences board games offers children the opportunity to gain writing skills in a fun way. The games cover a range of key skills needed to inspire fluent writing including adding interest, parts of speech and changing meaning, inspire fluent, interesting writing.

Writing frames

Our writing frames help pupils to develop as writers, helping them to enhance the effectiveness of what they write as well as increasing their competence. They build on what pupils have learned particularly in terms of the range of their writing and narrative structures from which they can draw to express their ideas. Writing frames also provide opportunities for children to learn the conventions of different types of writing. Assist children in the organising of paragraphs around a theme and the use of simple organisational devices like headings and sub-headings by providing your teachers with these frames. Help children recognise the importance of identifying their audience and using the information to select the appropriate form.

Story writing boxes

Provide opportunities for writing clearly, accurately, and coherently, adapting language and style for a range of audiences. Our story writing boxes are ideal for your school to help your students with their English skills. Children can listen to stories, accurately anticipate key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions, and actions. Pupils answer questions about their experiences in response to stories. Provide opportunities for children to use past, present and future forms accurately. Students are given opportunities to develop their own narratives by connecting ideas or events. They are also encouraged to read and write, both through listening to other's reading, and being encouraged to read and write themselves.

Our writing boxes promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word. They also help children acquire knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language. Develop comprehension skills through experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher.

Teaching writing skills can be difficult. So, why not help out your school and teachers and provide them with our list of writing essentials we think you need. Not only will they enhance your students’ written word but also their verbal communication skills.