ABSTRACT
Chapter 1, Setting the Stage for Success: Understanding the WHY and the HOW opens Part 1, The Emerging Writer. We highlight the important ways parents can encourage early writing based on their own understanding of the mind of the young writer. We note not only the ways that children's development patterns can vary from one child to another, but also the commonalities shared across all children as they acquire the foundation of the literacy skills of writing, reading, and critical thinking. Parents are shown how individual differences in strengths and interests can become opportunities for tailoring the home environment to be a starting point for personalized writing and reading activities. This approach, called the At-Home Model, allows parents to go beyond just the simple directions for WHAT to do with the activities, to understand HOW and WHY they are important for children. Tips are provided for how to give feedback to young writers and readers, detailing two levels of feedback: General Feedback, which is supportive in nature (with examples and with markers of progress), and Informative Feedback, which includes the use of informative labels that promote specific thinking strategies. Informative Feedback is referenced throughout the book. All chapters are well supported with abundant prompts for the activities and real-life examples of actual writing and story samples to show what can be done, At-Home.
