Build confidence in writing – ideas for KS2
Children’s writing stamina is one of the areas most impacted by the pandemic according to Ofsted, and this finding rings true for many of the teachers and school leaders I talk to…
- by Kathy Ewers
While activities such as story time, reading and responding to texts and playing number games fitted into the routine of learning at home, some children had fewer opportunities to develop their writing skills during lockdown.
Helping pupils to see themselves as writers is proving to be a challenge.
The best way to get children writing again is to make it an enjoyable part of the school day rather than a daunting task. Here are some suggestions you can use to turn your pupils into confident, fluent and happy writers.
Different forms of writing
Keen readers make good writers, and exposing children to a wide range of written content will help them develop their skills.
While some of your pupils may not have read as much as usual when they were not in school every day through the pandemic, others will have read much more.
It’s also important to consider that some children might not think of themselves as readers if they don’t spend much time reading books, but they often read more than they realise.
You can open their eyes to all the reading they have done, from recipes and game instructions to comics and captions.
Similarly, children might be writing more than they realise. If you ask your class to make a list of everything they have written down in the last 24 hours – messaging friends, typing web addresses or writing lists, for example – they may be surprised.
Sharing a range of different formats also brings home to children that they can use writing to communicate in a variety of ways.
Poems, song lyrics and screenplays demonstrate how to use the imagination to engage readers, while blogs, articles and infographics show how writers get their messages across.
Celebrating writing in reliable publications – both physical and digital – is incredibly useful in helping children develop their own writing skills.
Provide a clear purpose
When children have a reason to write, the exercise immediately becomes more meaningful, so it’s a good idea to introduce a task which has a genuine purpose and audience. Letter writing, for example.
During the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow, many teachers encouraged their pupils to write to their local authority or MP.
Some pupils even wrote to the prime minister to express their thoughts on how the climate emergency should be tackled.
Children can also be inspired to write about local issues, for example, letters complaining about the planned closure of a town’s library or the increase in litter on the streets.
Talking about different audiences will help pupils understand how their writing style needs to differ for each one.
Giving pupils a controversial topic in which they are able to express their feelings to different audiences works well. Here’s a good example:
‘You have just been told that, in order to address lockdown gaps, you will have to come to school on a Saturday morning and you are not happy about it. Write about how you feel in a formal letter of complaint to the headteacher and governors, an email to a friend, a newspaper report, and a discussion with arguments for and against.’
A task like this will encourage children to think about what they would say to each different audience while considering the language, tone and style they might use in their writing.
Create themes for discussion
For some children, thinking of what to write is the hardest part of the task, and areas for debate can spark ideas and help children articulate their thoughts in writing. Topics on which they have strong views will work best.
You could try providing your pupils with some subjects to debate in their writing, then see how many children agree or disagree with the opinions.
Good examples are ‘dogs are better than cats’, ‘football is a better game than cricket’ or ‘diving in the sea is more exciting than climbing a mountain.’
Alternatively, you could give your pupils a thought-provoking statement and ask them to write a persuasive newspaper article to argue the theme.
Ideas which work well include ‘there should be no homework at school’, ‘Roald Dahl is the best children’s author ever,’ or ‘the Queen is the most important person in the world’.
Use props for inspiration
Objects can be a powerful way to free writer’s block. You could bring in a toy from your childhood, a top hat, a piece of jewellery or an old photograph.
Then ask the children to write about the person who found or owned the object, and what the history behind it might be.
Some children prefer to write non-fiction texts, and you can easily give them that option when writing about objects.
For instance, if you show the children a conker you could ask them to write about the tree it came from or the animals that live in the forest where it grows. A seashell could inspire a section of a travel brochure or a persuasive leaflet about keeping beaches clean.
The objects you choose could tie into a topic about which pupils have been learning in other areas of the curriculum. For instance, if you’ve been focusing on the digestive system in science, show them an apple and ask them to write about it travelling through the body.
As pupils explore their own authentic voice as writers, they will gain confidence, and their stamina and enthusiasm for writing will also grow.
As a result, children gain a richer learning experience along with effective writing skills which will serve them well in the future.
Writing prompts KS2
- Start a lesson by asking pupils to write a list. It could be a list of fruits, round things, red things, happy words or animals – the possibilities are endless.
- Set a timer and ask the children to write all they can about chocolate in one minute. Or try pandas, snow, parties, holidays or secrets.
- Ask pupils to write a short text without using any words containing the letter ‘a’.
- Get children to make a list of five objects they can see in the room, then choose one of them and write as though they were the object.
- Give the pupils a list of words – precious, elephant, joy, envelope, sausage, brutal – and ask them to come up with the funniest sentences they can from them.
- Ask each child to write 10 sentences starting with ‘I wish…’
- Challenge the class to write an A to Z of animals or places.
- Give pupils a slip of paper and ask them to write a topic on each one. Put all the slips of paper in a jar, take two out and ask the children to write all they know about one of the topics.
Browse more creative writing prompts.
Kathy Ewers advises subject leaders in primary English teaching as well as being an experienced KS1 and KS2 moderator and an accredited trainer for a number of effective literacy interventions. For more information on teaching and learning in primary schools, visit Juniper Education.
