How to improve creative writing of Y1

[twinsyang]

Dear DD wrote this piece this morning. She was October born. one of the oldest in her year (Y1). She started to show interest writing things down. How to encourage her to write stories with more imagination?

Forgot to attach her writing.

Praise.
Ask questions about the story - what happened next?
Praise.

That looks ace for y1 to me (and the handwriting.)

Has your child been taught joined up writing in year 1? My child is in year 1 and their writing is still huge and letters round the wrong way and so on and has not been taught to write joined up especially as they missed months of school last year. I'm shocked that is year 1

@TeenPlusTwenties

Praise. Ask questions about the story - what happened next? Praise.

That looks ace for y1 to me (and the handwriting.)

Thank you for your tips. That's a wonderful idea!

@willien

Has your child been taught joined up writing in year 1? My child is in year 1 and their writing is still huge and letters round the wrong way and so on and has not been taught to write joined up especially as they missed months of school last year. I'm shocked that is year 1

In the March lockdown when she was in reception, the teachers started to teach some kids ( I guess differentiated in a small group) joint up writing.

You can feed her imagination by doing role play or going on magic walks and talking about the things you see. You can play games where you make a story together based on objects you find around the house - taking it in turns to tell the story.

You can also take some of the story structure out of the equation (and children's stories can start of strong and start to meander - they need to plan them) by using a story she already knows well and changing the characters, settings...etc - so you could use, for instance, Goldilocks and replace the setting and the characters, so that the structure stays the same, but you end up with a totally different story.

Do a character plan, so she has drawn the character and written adjectives around them, so she has the words to hand.

There's loads you can do if she is keen.

Oh so your child was in school during the March lockdown? Clearly huge variation in what education children have received throughout this pandemic.
You're child is doing well, keep encouraging them to develop their imagination and reading.

There are some KS1 story writing videos and activities on Oak Academy

@maudspellbody

You can feed her imagination by doing role play or going on magic walks and talking about the things you see. You can play games where you make a story together based on objects you find around the house - taking it in turns to tell the story.

You can also take some of the story structure out of the equation (and children's stories can start of strong and start to meander - they need to plan them) by using a story she already knows well and changing the characters, settings...etc - so you could use, for instance, Goldilocks and replace the setting and the characters, so that the structure stays the same, but you end up with a totally different story.

Do a character plan, so she has drawn the character and written adjectives around them, so she has the words to hand.

There's loads you can do if she is keen.

Thank you so much! Fantastic ideas!

• Individual sentences could be made more interesting with adjectives.

• You could also encourage her to use more 'connecting' words so that the sentence lengths vary (she's already made a good start there by using "and" in her sentence).

• She could look at starting her sentences in different ways rather than just "A" or "The".

Sometimes children of this age can find that by the time they've reached the end of a sentence they've forgotten what they wanted to say next. Let her record herself telling the story verbally so that she can get her story out. She could follow it up by listening to it again afterwards and then writing it down.

Well done to your DD.

Usbourne has a good creative writing ideas book you can give her....it's a cross between a diary and a work book.

Thank you all for the great ideas! Really helpful!

Maybe story cards? Or a selection of images printed for her to build adjectives into her writing? I believe twinkl have some prompt cards for stories.

Get some story cubes and tell stories together. Not that I think there is anything unimaginative about this writing unless you've recently had an actual encounter with a lace-tailed mermaid.

@willien our state schools starts with cursive writing in reception. They don't want to teach print and then teach cursive all over again. They are taught cursive letters in reception which kids later start to join as per their ability as and when they are ready. I think that's a very good approach.

Well I think that is wonderful.

What amazing writing - so very neat.

Looks very imaginative to me. It’s a story about a mermaid!
I think best way is to read stories every night and encourage them to read for fun. The more they read, the more they will be able to think of stories to write themselves. Y1 is what, age 6? So that’s a great age to start reading myths and doing a chapter a night of longer books like Monkey King, Treasure Island, Call of the Wild...the great classics.

This book is handy. If you scroll down to the reviews, there are internal pictures of the book.

amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1409523357/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1]]

Year 1?

Seriously, let her be a child.

Opps looks like it did not link

It's a book called Write your own story book. from Usborne.

www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Your-Storybook-Louie-Stowell/dp/1409523357/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=write+your+own+story+book&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1609942743&sr=8-1

Good on you for encouraging your little one who clearly has a creative talent.

@Mummy195

Opps looks like it did not link

It's a book called Write your own story book. from Usborne.

www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Your-Storybook-Louie-Stowell/dp/1409523357/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=write+your+own+story+book&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1609942743&sr=8-1

Good on you for encouraging your little one who clearly has a creative talent.

Thank you! Just ordered. I am sure she would enjoy using this book!

My dds school used this site in lockdown. It’s got some amazing pictures and then some questions to get the imagination going.
www.pobble365.com/

[quote ILiveInSalemsLot]My dds school used this site in lockdown. It’s got some amazing pictures and then some questions to get the imagination going.
www.pobble365.com/[/quote]
Thank you! What a great idea! This morning she was talking about a shopping trolley "swallowing" milk bottles ... She really enjoyed the swapping character games mentioned above. We will try these pictures tomorrow

Well I think it has amazing and as the mother of a y1 who I thought was doing quite well (August born but still!) this has sent me into a bit of a panic!

@sashh

Year 1?

Seriously, let her be a child.

Some children love stories and writing. Should op stop supporting her child’s interests because they are not ‘childish’ enough?

Op you have a talented little girl there, I am sure no matter what advice you follow on here she will thrive.