Creating resource-rich environments
Judith Stevens

Creating a stimulating and resource-rich learning environment can help to support early writing in the foundation stage. Judith Stevens, early years adviser for the London Borough of Lewisham, explains.

As children's writing development in the foundation stage is pivotal to their future educational success, every early years setting needs to encourage children to write, 'mark-make' and explore oral language. This can be easily achieved by making resources accessible to children and, of course, providing some adult support.

Access to resources and tools for writing is key, and early years settings should have a permanent graphics workshop. This is a base for storing a wide variety of resources which children can use independently to support their writing throughout the environment. The workshop should be in a high-profile location to encourage participation.

Staff should consider including a small 'office' area adjacent to the graphics workshop, complete with equipment such as toy telephones and keyboards. This encourages role play and writing for a purpose.

There should also be a permanent display of children's mark-making and writing, near to the graphics area. This early mark-making will include marks which may indistinguishable from drawing, but which children identify as 'writing'. This display should include models of different writing children can explore, such as invitations, letters, forms and books. In order to stimulate other children's writing efforts, examples should be clearly labelled and include photographs.

However a learning environment is set-up, it is important that children have access to a wide range of resources most of the time. As a minimum, they should have access to: paper; mark-marking equipment (pencils, fibre-tip pens, crayons, chalk); clipboards with pencils; name-cards; tape and staplers; and an alphabet chart at child height, with photographic 'clues' and upper and lower case letters.

Children's oral language also plays a vital role in their writing development. They need opportunities to explore spoken language, and to use talk to develop their ideas. It is important that practitioners support children in developing their confidence and competence in using spoken language.

Some ways of encouraging oral language include:

• using puppets and props to retell favourite stories and create their own
• setting up a 'talk table' with telephones, pizza menus and mail order catalogues
• setting up scenarios that encourage children to use story or imaginative language. For example, recreating the environment from the book Handa's Surprise
• providing exciting artefacts which form the basis for discussion or imaginative play - a chest containing a cloak and crown, or a collection of interesting shells
• role-playing situations which extend children's use of language - a complaining customer or a worried parent
• creating a television for children to act behind.

These activities enable children to use talk to clarify and organise their ideas, which can lead to meaningful reasons for writing.

If children are to understand how writing is used to communicate meaning, they need to learn about the different reasons for writing. Early years practitioners should model writing for various purposes and plan a wide range of opportunities for children to write in meaningful ways. It is important for children to experiment with letter shapes and forms and to develop the desire and motivation to write. It is crucial that children have a positive attitude towards writing and develop the confidence and motivation to 'have a go'.

Practitioners should consider the opportunities for mark-making that different areas of provision can offer. This includes which resources can be made available to children and how adults can support children in using these. For example, providing resources such as message cards in a role-play florist shop will help to promote writing in this area. Including clipboards, paper and pens in areas set aside for investigation and construction will encourage children to record their ideas on paper. Large paper and pens can be set up so that children can draw their own road and farm mats.

Children are far more likely to become involved in mark-making activity, and indeed writing, if they see it as exciting and meaningful.

Writing for a purpose

Practitioners need to teach children about the different reasons for writing. Some examples of writing for a purpose could include:

• diaries, calendars, instructions
• memos, shopping lists, letters
• envelopes, invitations, recipes
  
• forms, books, addresses
• postcards, birthday cards, thank-you cards
• post-its, telephone messages, memo-boards
• lists, for example, children's names or registers
• signs and labels (for models, parcels, car wash)
• menus, orders, price lists
• adult scribing - children's names, comments, stories, using 'speech bubbles'

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