• Home
  • Blog
  • Start Here!
  • Free Printables
  • About
    • Products we love & Support
    • Contact
    • Terms of Use
    • Disclosure
    • Hire me
  • My eBook
  • Subscribe

Wildflower Ramblings New

our new site

  • Homeschool
    • Charlotte Mason Method
    • Reggio Emilia Approach
    • Montessori Learning
    • Waldorf at Home
    • Classical Conversations
    • Early Literacy Stages Series
    • Curriculum choices
      • Tot School (2 years)
      • Preschool (3 years)
      • Pre-Kindergarten (4 years)
      • Pre-Kindergarten (4 years – 2017)
      • Preschool (5 years)
      • Kindergarten (5 years)
      • First Grade (6 years)
      • Charlotte Mason Schedule: Year One
    • 12 Months of Sensory Dough
    • Sensory Play
    • Crafts through the Bible
    • Practical Life Ideas
    • Before Five in a Row – ISH
  • Baby
    • Montessori Baby Room
    • Treasure Bins for Baby
    • 21 Activities for One Year Olds
  • Tot School
  • Preschool
    • What is Number Sense?
    • ABC Felt Animals
    • Preschool Alphabet Book
    • Our Preschool Notebook
    • Preschool Circle Time Schedule
    • Free 24 Preschool Chants
    • Free Preschool Songs
    • Our Preschool Plans
  • ABC
    • Letter A
    • Letter B
    • Letter C
    • Letter D
    • Letter E
    • Letter F
    • Letter G
    • Letter H
    • Letter I
    • Letter J
    • Letter K
    • Letter L
    • Letter M
    • Letter N
    • Letter O
    • Letter P
    • Letter Q
    • Letter R
    • Letter S
    • Letter T
    • Letter U
    • Letter V
    • Letter W
    • Letter X
    • Letter Y
    • Letter Z
  • Toys & Resources
    • 20+ Tools for Hyperactivity
    • What is Sensory Processing?
    • Best Workbooks & Readers {Ages 2-5}
    • Essential Preschool Tools
    • Essential Craft & Homeschool Tools for Mom
    • Best Art Utensils for Kids
    • Bible Resources for Kids
    • Our keeping and recording memories series
  • Health
    • Herbal Remedies
    • The home birth of my son
    • The water birth of my daughter
    • her waterbirth
    • When your baby has a fever
    • Example of Hospital Birth Plan {free printable!}
  • Books
    • My AMAZING Book Store
    • Books for Children
    • Pop! Squirt! Splash! Ebook
    • Learn with Play Ebook
You are here: Home / Homeschooling / mailing thank you notes {early writing skills}

mailing thank you notes {early writing skills}

September 16, 2014

DSC02019

Early writing skills begin long before a child can either write sentences or dictate a story.  These skills are developed through free play and free drawing.  Children can create stories through speaking.  And children can create stories through drawing.  I have been challenged, as a parent to a child who doesn’t love to draw or color, to create experiences for my son to express his ideas.  When I gently press him to tell a story, I am amazed by his thought process and creativity.

For the activity illustrated in this particular post, I asked John {who just turned four} to draw pictures for the family or friends who provided gifts for him at his birthday party.  He isn’t new to my asking him to “draw a picture” — we began this work with creating “I’m sorry” notes to his sister or a friend when poor decisions were made.

Thank you notes are a way of life here at our house, so it’s best to get children accustomed to this courtesy early.  We had many to write, so we had to spread this work over the course of several days.  I had written cards and addressed envelopes, all that was missing was John’s picture — which I knew would be the most precious part of the note for the receiver.

At first, John was eager to get started.  His first note was to our neighbor’s son who gave John his old bike.  It is so exciting to see John’s formation of a bike — two wheels, him riding, Oliver riding, and some other lines that were well explained as he drew.

I have an upcoming series on how we document and record memories.  Here, I write exactly what John dictates, so John will know that his words are being written on the paper, and the receiver will understand the picture as well.  I also include the date.  If we are keeping the picture, I do the same — half the time, I take a picture of the treasured work of art, so I don’t have to end up keeping every picture!  

DSC02022

The next note was to a pair of brothers.  It was sweet to see John draw the two brothers with wild hair, while John had no hair {which is the opposite of reality — John is the one with the wild hair in real life}.  He put a circle around one of the friends and said that they were all playing together in the picture.

He tells a story through his racing thoughts and little fingers scribbling.  This early writing — including holding a marker with proper tripod grip — should always be encouraged and expanded upon by the adult.  Talking about the picture, and dictating a sentence below with permission of the child, helps the child know his work is valued.

Here are some phrases you could use:

“Tell me about your picture.”

“What is happening here?”

“Can you tell me more?”

“What else are you saying?”

DSC02017

Next is a sweet picture of John and Nana.  Nana is taller, with a lot of hair, and again, John doesn’t have hair here.  He’s added arms, instead of legs.  “What are you playing?”  “How does that make you feel?”DSC02020

“GG” is my grandmother and John’s great grandmother.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  This picture brought tears to my eyes as he shared it with me.  John’s arm is coming around GG for a big hug.
DSC02021I’m not including every picture here, but I hope this gives you an idea of John’s hard work in completing his thank you notes!  He helped fold and seal the envelopes, as well as bring them out to the mail.  Even though the work became tedious towards the end, he was very proud of what he had accomplished.

Creating notes like this, and especially writing his exact words below the picture, show children that his words and thoughts can be written down and have intrinsic value.  We are continuing to organically weave in writing experiences like this into our days.  {Just this week, we created a Treasure Map after John expressed interest from reading a book.}  This early writing will only progress and I can’t wait to continue this learning with him!!

More:

Connecting with my son and how boys learn

Creating “I’m sorry” notes

 

Related Posts

  • Owl Moon {Book-Inspired Elementary Printables}Owl Moon {Book-Inspired Elementary Printables}
  • Tot School – Letter BTot School – Letter B
  • the best & easiest frosting for {gluten free} sugar cookiesthe best & easiest frosting for {gluten free} sugar cookies
  • wordless wednesday: visiting the farmwordless wednesday: visiting the farm
Opt In Image
Free for email subscribers!!
Early Literacy Stages eBook

70+ pages to help you teach your child! This book helps you to define, and shares practical ways to teach, the developmental levels of literacy learning.

« learning sounds with montessori alphabet objects
reggio inspired play dough and math play »


Comments

  1. A Sarah says

    September 24, 2014 at 8:11 am

    Interesting post… Why didn’t you post a pic of my TY note…??? ;)

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      September 24, 2014 at 9:36 am

      HAHAHAHHA :)

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 50 Things You Can Do With Your Toddler While Caring For Your Newborn ⋆ Betsy's Photography says:
    January 14, 2015 at 12:44 am

    […] Mailing Thank You Notes – give your kid a paper and some markers, and you can send off some lovely thank you drawings. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Connect

Amy is a former Kindergarten teacher, M.Ed., turned homeschooling mom. Sharing her imperfect life and her love of teaching & learning, reading, herbal remedies, parenting and more.
Read More →

Search

NEWSLETTER

Join 30,000+ other subscribers! Receive weekly email updates and free printables, and as a thank you, you’ll receive my Early Literacy Stages eBook, 24 Preschool Chants, and the ABC Lego Cards for free!

banner-001 Shop Montessori Services

Favorite Posts

1legos 1quiet memories 1act 1chants 1closet hyp note classical dots 15act 1reggio 1turtle 1around 1bible1 sidebar bible1 crafts reggiomath essentialoils print

To Note

Unless otherwise stated, all words and photos on this blog belong to Wildflower Ramblings. You may pin from my site, but do not use a photo, or any text, without my permission. All content is copyrighted.   This is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links on the sidebars and in posts. I only share products that I love and enjoy with my family. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I receive a small commission. Occasionally, I will receive products free of charge and share them here.  Words and opinions expressed will always be my own. Please email me with questions or comments. Thank you for visiting.
Logo Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Categories

Archives

More

Copyright © 2022 · Wildflower Ramblings [footer_backtotop] · Genesis Framework · WordPress