Kids these days are hooked to their gadgets and desktops that they missed the opportunity to hone their hidden talent and make use of it. It’s true that for a young age, writing can be tedious for kids. It might appear boring because you see essay writing from the academic perspective rather than the art wherein essays are powerful ways to express oneself. However, if you allow your kids to explore writing by letting them show themselves through writing essays or writing in their journals, you will get to know them better.
How to start writing an essay with kids
Writing an article for kids does not have to be extended. A matter of 5 sentences as a starter is enough. To get them started to write and love writing more, here are a few quick tips to help them.
- Make sure that your kid can spell and can grasp the basic rules for grammar (the subject and predicate, the singular and plural, as well as the past, present, and future). At a young age, it is advisable to practice your kid to spell words found in Dolch basic sight words and help them understand what those words are. From those sight words, you can even form simple sentences, for instance, Anna dances, Tim plays basketball — just two or three letter sentences are enough as basic.
- Explain what the main idea and topic sentences are. Explaining these concepts to kids could be challenging, but this is possible if you give them clear directions and expectations.
- Show the kids how an essay is outlined. It is where you show the kids the outline and the parts, wherein the supporting ideas always follow the main idea. Also, it is essential to make them understand the difference between the main idea and the supporting idea. You can provide worksheets for this matter.
- Give and show examples. You can provide them with a short example and let them identify the parts. Afterward, allow them to write on their own in an outline format. Don’t expect that they will know it already in the first draft. It can be developed through constant practice.
- Allow the kids to write their first draft. To make it engaging to your kid, have them write in their favorite notebook or create a diary so that you can see their progress as they write. In correcting your kid’s writing, never use a red pen. You can note down some mistakes they encounter and use it for another session of teaching essay writing to your kid. Once they have corrected themselves from previous errors, you can move on to another topic or technique that can be useful to your kid in writing an essay. In teaching your kids how to write an essay, you don’t have to rush them. Teaching them the basics of writing an essay is enough. Let them explore on their own because the more they write, whether it’s for school requirements or self-expression, they will eventually improve.