We are a family of writers. Sometimes we are scribbling on napkins, ATM deposit envelopes, dollar store notepads or tapping our ideas out on a keyboard. Our children watch us.

Mia usually has a pint size notepad that fits perfectly in her uniform jumper pocket. She calls it her “just in case” notebook that goes along with her “just in case” pencil box in her backpack. The notebook is stuffed with ideas and drawings that she jots down during recess with her friends. She has started an anthology about about the land of Sweetopia. Yummy with a spoon.

Max announced this week, “I want to be a writer like Dad, but I don’t know how to write all the words.” He shrugged, shoulders plopping on the floor.

I smiled thinking to myself, “A chip off the old block and prodigious in my mind no matter what he chooses to do in life.”

“Well Max, a writer doesn’t just write the words,” I smiled. “A writer also thinks about the words that draw the pictures.”  He looked at me curiously.  “You know, like a movie in your mind.”

“A Mind Movie?”  he exclaimed.

Exactly.

“When I say words like slippery, smooth, and soft what do you think about?”

“My mint chip colored “night night” that I sleep with.”  he said.

“If I say creamy, sweet, and cold…”

“Ice cream!” he started to jump.

Without boring him with a lesson on adjectives, we “popcorned,” passing 3 describing words back and forth and making it a guessing game of which word the other was thinking about as we strolled to the library on our way to check out AUDIO BOOKS and a fresh set of stories.

Max is 4.  He IS a writer, but needs us to show him the power he possesses and guide him in a developmentally appropriate way so that he can produce the words to express all the beautiful ideas he has in the mind movie his brain is constantly creating.

Max has ideas, his pictures tell stories and most importantly, he has language – the greatest gift of all.

Max, you are a writer and we will lead you the way with an unlimited number of language experiences to help you write in your best voice.

What are some ways your family celebrates language?

Cindy

Sign up for our Children Write the Future Newsletter for tips on how to make your child a better writer.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

One of my greatest teaching adventures was moving to Taipei, Taiwan and teaching English in a Chinese kindergarten where students start school at the age of two. I gathered a great deal of momentum and inspiration from the region’s immersion of language, culture and lifestyle. I realized I could teach anything anywhere as long as I had an audience and an open, passionate heart for the art of learning and instruction.

The greatest  teaching honor I have experienced was being the recipient of Teacher of the Year for the Houston Unified School District, hand selected by Rod Paige who emerged as Secretary of Education for the United States from 2000 – 2004. I had the opportunity to work with relentless and progressive educators and learned from the best.

My final prize immediately preceded a migration to California where I was recruited by the West Ed Research Lab to work in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University. I joined a team of educators whose sole purpose was to instruct others in best practices for most effective teaching in reading and writing. My calendar was divided between days spent developing curriculum in the lab, amidst weeks of heavy travel between the east and west coast.

I am a born teacher and missed having students, so I left the lab in exchange for the eager minds of a classroom. Shortly after the birth of my son, my husband persuaded and afforded me the opportunity to open a preschool and abandon the security and bureaucracy of the school district. We fulfilled that  dream for three years and are now in the process of creating new e-learning projects that involve technology and understanding the needs of the 21st Century Learner, starting with reading and writing.

I love to travel and teach. The world wide web will become my new platform to perform and practice what works best for early learners and leave a legacy for my children to see and know who I am as we make every day count, for this day will come no more. Our children will write the future, I want the confidence mine will do it well.

Whether your children are in public school, private school, or home school – this site is for you.

Tomorrow starts today.

Cindy

Subscribe to my feed (for free) by RSS or Email. Thanks!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.