As you have heard, and probably read about here and here, April is National Card and Letter Writing Month. In honor of this holiday, Scholastic, The United States Postal Service, writing expert and author Ruth Culham, and Parent & Child Magazine editor Elizabeth Shaw joined forces for a Twitter chat to share tips and answer questions around letter writing. With all the invaluable content generated from the chat around writing, we thought we would share it with you all right here on OOM!
One of my personal favorite tips (and most retweeted from the chat!) came from Ruth Culham when she shared, “The best writing tip is to be fearless. Don't be afraid to write what you think and feel."
As mentioned in the chat, to help encourage kids to be fearless writers, parents and teachers should be writing role models. To be a writing role model, make sure students see you writing—after all kids will be what they see! And parents don’t forget writing should be fun. Parent & Child Magazine editor Elizabeth Shaw reminds us to never underestimate the power of cool. Colored pencils, marker and a personalized return address stamp can excite kids to write.
In addition, to being fearless and cool, here are some other great ideas on how to help your child enjoy writing:
●Don’t forget the envelopes! Learning how to address one is an essential skill. Just choose a paper pattern and then trace, cut, and fold for a custom design.
●Remember the old 2-in-1 airmail letters? Kids will get a kick out of this printable version.
●Check out the new educator’s kit Scholastic and The United States Postal Service created for great letter writing tips and tricks!
●Teach your child how the mail moves with The United States Postal Service Systems at Work video!
●Kids love having their own stationary, with this free resource, your child can create his own personalized stationery set in just a few simple steps.
●Who knew? Reading ability improves as handwriting does. Here are three simple tips to help.
Looking for books about letter writing? Ruth Culham suggests these titles:
●The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt
●Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James
●Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters by Allan Ahlberg
●With Love, Little Red Hen by Alma Flor Ada
●Dear Mrs. Laura: Letters From Obedience School by Mark Teague
●First Year Letters by Julie Danneberg
●Yours Truly, Goldilocks by Alm Flor Ada
●Dear Peter Rabbit: A Story with Real Miniature Letters by Beatrix Potter
●Delivering Your Mail: A Book About Mail Carriers by Ann Owen
●The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Moves by Gail Gibbons
●Seven Little Postmen by Margaret Wise Brown
●Sincerely Yours: Writing Your Own Letter by Nancy Leowen
●Letters to Children by Beatrix Potter
●Letters of Note by Edited by Shaun Usher
●Eight or Nine Wise Words about Letter-Writing by Lewis Carroll
●The American Revolution by Douglas Rife and Gina Capaldi
●The Civil War by Douglas Ride and Gina Capaldi
