Have you wondered how you could support your child with their Writing at home? Parents can make a profound impact on their child's learning progress and we thought that it could be a good idea to share with you some ideas (ideas were taken from tki.org.nz):

• Tell me stories about family events, and then ask me to re-tell in my own words. (My teacher says it doesn’t matter if I miss some things out).
• Tell me stories about events that are important to our hapu and or iwi and help me to think about how and why they are important today.
• Help me see that reading and writing go together, by leaving notes for me and encouraging me to leave notes for you. You could put them under my pillow, in my lunch box, on the kitchen bench or on the bathroom mirror.
• Share with me the myths and legends of our tipuna. Help me to consider what messages these carry about tikanga Māori.
• Ask me to write short messages e.g. e-mails and texts to my nana and grandad.
• When the reading book I choose seems a bit hard, take turns at reading it with me and talking about the story - for example, ask me things like: What do you think will happen next? Do the characters remind you of anyone you know?
• Help me see that words can be organised in different ways on a page by helping me to read bus timetables, maps and recipes.
• When we visit our whānau marae, help me to ‘read’ each pou so that I understand their meaning.
• Help me to write for different purposes - for example, ask me to write a shopping list, a menu for a special dinner, or thank you messages.
• Talk to me about the books I am reading and the authors I like. It would be great if you could take me to join the local library to find more books by the authors I like.
• Talk to me about interesting new words and what they mean. Have turns with me to find a new word to discuss each day.
• Talk to me about your understanding of whakatauākī. Ask me how it might be applied to a situation today.
• When I read to you, use the Pause, Prompt, Praise strategy we discussed at school. When I stop at a difficult word, remind me to pause and give me about five seconds to think. If I can’t figure out the word on my own, prompt me by reminding me to use one of the strategies my teacher talked about e.g. say Try that again, or ask me a question about the meaning of the story, or ask me to think of a word that makes sense. If I don’t know the word after I have tried it twice, tell me what the word is. When I try hard praise me, tell me something good you noticed. You might say:
  • I like the way you tried to work that out.
  • I’m glad you noticed that didn’t make sense/sound right/look right.
  • I saw you checking the picture. Good idea.
  • I like the way you skipped the word and then went back.

• Help me to write to elders in my family in te reo Māori (or other first language) to find some information about where I come from.
• Talk to me about words in te reo Māori and talk to me about what they mean.
• Watch kapa haka with me. Talk with me about the various ways meaning is made and communicated with an audience through words, actions and facial expressions.
• When you are reading to me, pause occasionally and talk with me about what’s happening in the story and any new or interesting words.
• Tell me about a TV programme you liked when you were my age and ask me to tell you what I like about the characters in my favourite TV programme.
• Talk to me about the steps you are taking as you make dinner or as you fix something. Tell me about the steps you take to make a hangi or karanga to manuhiri. Ask me why particular steps are of importance.
• Talk about the things we see when we travel together, interesting signs, cars, buildings, and people. Play I Spy.
• Take turns reading with me, one page each.
• Encourage me to read, for example, by letting me choose reading or sleeping for the first 30 minutes of bedtime.