Linking Reading and Writing

     Reading and writing will forever be linked.  In Kindergarten our literacy coach tells us that if you write you will read more actively and reading is the goal for all children.  Reading is the window to the world.
     How are reading and writing linked?  In Kindergarten we learn the letters and the sounds.  Next we start to blend the letters into words and the reading process begins.  Writing takes it one step further.  We say a word, break it into parts and write each part down, forming a word on paper.
     In Kindergarten we teach students that anything you say you can write.  This is a new and exciting concept to children.  As teachers we are open for inventive spelling.  This means the words are just spelled with the sounds that the children can hear.  This helps children get their words down on paper.  Once we get their ideas down, then we can move on to illustrations, editing, spelling, spacing, capitals, and embellishing the story with more words.
     Writing is a powerful tool.  I remember Brad, a young boy who was very quiet in class.  I couldn't get him to open up and talk to me.  During a writing project he was busily working.  He finally finished his thoughts and brought his work up for me to read.  In a halting sentence with mostly consonants and very few vowels, I was able to read a story about how he, his little brother and his grandparents were traveling to Salt Lake City and their truck got stuck in the snow. They finally got to Salt Lake to see a huge dinosaur display in Energy Solutions Arena.
     When I read his sentence and could understand it, he opened up to me with wide eyes and told me of his adventure.  That day was the turning point in his Kindergarten career.  He began to open up more.  He slowly became more assertive.
     Writing is powerful.  It releases who we are to the world.  Beginning writing may look like scribbles to you... but encourage it.  Writing not only leads to more reading, it leads to better comprehension.  Let your children write.  "...Reading and writing are ways in which human beings find significance and direction, beauty and intimacy, in their lives." (Living Between the Lines, Lucy McCormick Calkings p. 23)