Writing is tough for students, especially when we are talking about first and second graders. However, the benefits of free and creative writing are numerous. Not only children develop good habits related to writing but it also builds confidence and develops their writing and language skills.
In first grade, we usually start our lesson by copying two words with their drawing from the board. Sometimes, to test their attention and reading skills we like to play a game in which we have to choose the word that is written correctly. We can't forget that they are still in an Early literacy phase, it's maybe the first time they see words in English and they are still perfecting their writing skills in their own language.
Here you can see some photos of the notebooks as an example of what we do:
As you can see, they don't always copy the words perfectly. However, this is a good way for them to get used to writing, and as the saying says, "practice makes perfect!".
In second grade we also start our lessons by writing in the notebooks. However, instead of copying words, they produce their own ones (or sentences). Students love challenges, so we usually choose a letter, a theme or a topic and they are given some time to write words or sentences (we use the bomb timer or any of the classroom timers from this website, which makes every activity more exciting https://www.online-stopwatch.com/classroom-timers/).
Which is great about this activity is the fact that their self-esteem is boosted, they realise they are able to write in English, that they know more that they thought...
The teacher doesn't tell them how to write words during this activity, neither corrects their spelling. Most of the times, when we use the word in the classroom, they realise by themselves that they didn't write the word properly and so they learn how to write it correctly. They LEARN BY DOING, and they have fun and are motivated, which is meant to be the best way of learning.
Here you can see the notebooks of some students from Second Grade:
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