Oral to Written Ideas

To help children develop communication skills, emphasize the importance of first verbalizing one's thoughts and then expressing them in writing and drawing. Developing a purpose for writing is an effective scaffold and key to effective communication. Give students a focus by asking them to respond to some aspect of the story.

Procedure

Help children read the story with a particular issue or point of view in mind such as "What would you have done..." or "What do you think about..."

• Give students a prompting question.
• Go to the Read Aloud area and focus on the question while listening to/reading the story. This should be their second or third time through the book.

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Make sure a microphone is active on the computer. Tell children to say their response to the question out loud and record it using the Record tool so they can get out their ideas quickly without interference from the mechanics of writing.

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Encourage students to use their recording as a guide and reminder as they type their response to the prompting question. Note, their writing does not have to directly match their oral response. Students may also want to embellish their writing by drawing a picture using the paint tools.

Customize this Activity

For children who need more support, you can:

• Record the prompting question ahead of time using the Teacher Message feature so students can refer back to something concrete as often as they like in order to stay focused.
• Put a set of key words in the "My Words" list ahead of time. This gives a jump start for students who can place these words into their writing with a couple of clicks of the mouse.
• Encourage children to click the "Read" button as they are composing to hear the computer read back their writing to them. This puts them in the place of the audience and helps them focus on what they are trying to communicate.

For children who need more challenge, you can:

• Encourage students to use the text, audio, and drawing features in the Write area in a coordinated way to construct a mini multimedia presentation.

Related WiggleWorks Basics

• Using the Record and Play Tools

WiggleWorks Areas Used

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