Summer Writing Prompts for Kids

Kids LOVE to persuade adults that they are right.  That is why one of my favorite summer writing prompts for children is the persuasive essay.  And the summer months are filled with fun activities that kids feel strongly about.

Here is an easy one: Summer should include at least one vacation destination.  Where should ours be this summer and why?

If you want to really encourage your child’s persuasive abilities try this one: Children should keep learning throughout the summer.

Which side of these summer writing prompts will your children choose? 

Take a moment to think about what motivates your child.  Is it edible treats?  Material things?  Money?  Time spent together?  Trips? Whatever the motivation, you can find a summer writing prompt to match.

Here’s an example: If children were paid in popsicles, what should you have to do to earn a whole box?

If your children are still resistant to the summer writing prompt idea, then let them choose their own.  Ask them what things they would love (or hate!) to do in the summer and why they should (or shouldn’t!) get to do them.  I think it is important to let your children know that, if you are persuaded by the results of their summer writing prompt, there might be a popsicle in their near future!

Summer Writing Activities for Children

The lazy days of summer bring picnics, swimming, vacation, and writing activities.  Wait! Summer writing activities for children?!  There is no better way to keep your child engaged and “in the swim” of learning than to arrange for a few interesting summer writing activities that will keep those imaginations turned on!

Summer writing activities for children don’t have to be boring.  In fact, they don’t have to be poetry or prose, either.  Simple writing tasks, like list-making, can help exercise memorization and categorization skills and improve spelling.  Engage your child in helping you make a grocery list, or a list of pantry essentials.  You can create lists of chores for everyone in the family, or organize everyone’s activity schedule.  Feel free to make it fun using colored inks and fun papers to engage their attention.  Not only will your child’s penmanship and spelling improve, but he or she will be learning important life skills, as well.

Another really fun summer writing activity is a “compare and contrast” essay.  Wouldn’t every child jump at the chance to compare Mom’s driving to Dad’s?  Or their favorite restaurant with their sibling’s?  There are endless ways to use the “compare and contrast” lesson that really give kids a chance to express themselves.  In my experience, this has been one of the most fun summer writing activities for my kids every year.

Focus Upon a Single Task

“One of your most important writing skills is the ability to focus on a single task at a time”, as stated by the creative writers desk site. Indeed, it’s true. Writing means putting yourself in a box of solemnity that is free from tones of noise and destruction. Writing fills you with wisdom and cleverness to produce an elusive writing. In addition, it takes the two-P’s to gain it; PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE. It plays a major role in the creation of a trendsetter and interesting writings. I believe that everyone has it, yet only few endure. Skills are everywhere that everyone can learn. But only rare people qualify to become one.

 Writing is talent which one acquires in the developmental years. Regrettably, this capacity is not given the importance needed. This is why one needs important skills to endure the race. Patience and perseverance have a lot to say when it comes to writing. You may crumple numbers of pieces of papers for a trial and error introduction. You must acquire a “can do” positive attitude to pursue your write-ups and have the mental willingness to overcome the temptations of giving up.

Once you have a focus of patience and perseverance, it will surely give you an open door to venture yourself into the world of becoming an effective writer. It’s the attitude that matters, even if your intellect is above average. If your character build is low, you’ll end up a failure. Because writing is like farming, you will reap what you sow. If you persevere, you’ll get a good reward.

Personal Skills in Writing

To have good and exceptional writing skills can help a writer gain fluency, comprehensibility and creativity in writing.  The aim of writing skills is to help writers master those skills so that their works are readable, not just by them, but also by other speakers of that language.  Writing skill is defined as abilities that help a writer gather their thoughts and make them into meaningful words that are readable and understandable.  Below are lists of different types of personal writing skills

1.  Comprehensibility – it is one’s ability to write in an understandable and meaningful manner.  It ensures that the writings communicate a message or information.

2.  Flexibility – flexibility in writing skills means that you are able to identify the linear sequence of sounds.  It also means that you master the writing motions as well as the shapes of the letter; recognizing every bit of the words, writing faster, and recognizing the need to put space between words.

3.  Creativity – this is one’s ability to write whatever goes on in your mind.  For example, you want to write about your favorite books, the best music you like, and many other topics that pops up on your mind.

To make your work an exceptional one, there are some things you should keep in mind.  First, you should avoid wordiness.  Too many words having the same meaning could make your work erroneous, and hard to understand.  Second, write for your audience.  Use common terms that your audience can easily understand.  Avoid using jargon and not widely used terms.  Lastly, always check your grammar by proofreading.  Don’t just rely on the word spell checker.

Simple Steps to Improve Writing

If you want to be an exceptional writer, it is a must that you practice writing regularly.  To improve your skills in writing, below are tips on how to do it.

First, create an outline.  This outline should contain important things that you need to discuss in your report, letter, or any form of writing.  Second, organize the items from least to most important.  Third, gather information by doing research.  This is to provide you a backup, or help you to draw your points.  Fourth, gather information or ideas from persons involved in your project that you want to discuss.  Fifth, always make a brief and concise synopsis of your work.  This summary is usually seen on the first paragraph of your work.  Sixth, make the body of your work.  Base this on the outline that you have made.  Seventh, your last paragraph should be ended by giving your audience the choices they need to make necessary actions.  Lastly, always proofread your work.  This is to double check for errors like grammar, misspelled words, or unnecessary punctuations.

It is also important to clearly state your thoughts.  Avoid redundancy and too much word use. Use simple language understandable to everyone.  Don’t try to impress your audience, that you have a wide vocabulary.  They might just have a hard time trying to figure out or decipher what you are trying to say.  Most of all use active voice.  This will make your sentences shorter, but at the same time stronger.

Methods for Teaching Writing Skills

Teaching children how to write could be a difficult thing for a mother to do. It’s extremely time-consuming and could become frustrating for a few individuals. There are some tricks to get it done more efficiently and faster than only watching the child have trouble repeatedly until both of you become frustrated and get ready to call it quits. Here are 3 great techniques proven to assist in teaching writing skills:

Utilize Relevant Situations and Words

Having a child apply vocabulary terms which fit within their day-to-day life will assist them in recalling them better. It’ll build up their terminology bank and keep it more solid. Possessing an expansive vocabulary includes an important skill a writer must have.

Tell Stories Concerning Real-Life Experiences

It’ll get them imagining relevant situations and they’ll understand what they’re writing of and how they can make it sound more intriguing instead of only writing mindlessly concerning something they do not wish to write on. Writing concerning individual experiences will keep them interested and they’ll learn something while concentrating upon the fundamentals and skills of writing.

Reflect on Writing

That way, they could read their own writing and think about what they have written from a different point of view. It’ll provide them an improved understanding for what their bad and good writing points are in order for them to improve their writing quality. If they could select 3 main points of their writing to write on, it’ll make them dig deeper and consider their techniques and style on a different degree.

Quality Writing Skills are Mandatory for Paralegals

As writing is an important portion of the paralegal career, writing skills prove to be an invaluable asset for these paralegals. The proven aptitude of communication skills is the deciding factor in being considered for the job you apply for. Additionally, paralegals who master the finer points of writing persuasive and concise communication typically set themselves apart from peers, giving them an edge in terms of future responsibilities and opportunities.

Legal Format and Styles

Paralegals are to develop communications utilizing various legal styles and formats. They are involved in motions, pleadings, briefs, correspondence and legal memorandums, just to name a few. The different documents range from complex to simple; therefore, paralegals need to possess a wide range of writing proficiency in order to pen documents using the required format.

Research Assignments

The standardized practice for paralegals within law firm settings are that attorneys, usually, assign research assignments to the more effectual paralegal writers. The assignments carry lots of weight and are of substantial importance due to being connected with a case. Thus, it’s necessary that a paralegal not just skillfully write, yet they have to additionally be skilled editors who are proficient at punctuation, spelling, grammar, and proofreading.

Writing Skills Enhance Verbal Skills

Outstanding writing skills enhance verbal communication skills. Paralegals who have the ability to communicate masterfully on paper easily can translate data in person, making them efficient in dealing with clients. Paralegals are typically more accessible than the lawyer, therefore communication skills, whether verbal or written, are crucial to maintaining a strong rapport with a lawyer’s clients.

Are Writing Skills Improving in our Students?

As we go into a more modern and increasingly technological realm, the capability of writing well is becoming a stronger issue. Graduates of college are going into the job marketplace they’re not ready for, requiring well-developed and strong writing skills. It’s time to take a closer look at writing skills of college graduates and students. Are they suitable to the necessities of our society? If not, what’s hindering the growth of those critical skills?

Professors Expect Student’s to Be Good Writers

Professors expect well written papers and a writer’s style that a student should have developed through much attention, irrespective of a class subject. From Introduction to Business to English Comp, writing skills are meant to be proven in lab reports, essays, and everything else the students hand in written. Correct grammar, coherent sentences and well-structured paragraphs must be utilized.

English Courses Must Teach Good Writing Skills

Nevertheless, not every one of these college courses will expect this. A few professors require little writing or don’t place too much of an emphasis on reading. These types of courses ought to teach writing in some fashion (how a student can write research
papers, develop effective arguments, essays, and so on).

Students Use Email, Text Messages and Online Chat Daily

Nearly every student sustains long-distance conversations through technology, writing back as rapidly as probable. However, this could be disrupting their capability of performing well in writing. As they write papers, they might slip into this ‘text-talk mode,’ and forget how to spell out certain words, and ignore the necessity for capitalization and punctuation.

Utilizing Content Writing Skills to Produce Links

Content writing includes a vital tool in SEO, or search engine optimization. It’s a crucial Internet marketing means utilized extensively to link websites for desired results. If used correctly, content writing will garner a good amount of target consumers to the desired website with good results.

Vary Anchor Topic

When writing these articles, you easily can vary the anchor text or topic from one article to another while keeping the articles keyword oriented and ultimately relevant to your website. The targeted audience will go to your website just if the relevance is sustained even if a topic might be written in different perspectives.

Make Articles Interesting and Exciting

While writing the articles, you must make certain of making it exciting, informative, and interesting for readers. All substandard articles that have no relevant data won’t attract visitors to your website. Adequate keywords that have relevance ought to be included for the ideal results, although the frequency shouldn’t be overwhelming as to annoy readers.

Contain Relevant Keywords

Articles ought to feature relevant keywords all the time. These keywords, in no way, ought to be distant or irrelevant from your site. Frequency of this keyword is important. Within many instances, it shouldn’t exceed three percent. Over usage certainly won’t serve any purpose.

Keywords in Title

The title will make an important impact in utilizing content writing skills to produce links. These keywords ought to be included within your title. The title itself ought to be catchy in order to attract a reader’s attention.

Taking the Time to Write

Taking the time to write is important for those who like blogging. Oftentimes, we find ourselves so busy, that we lose our focus in blog writing. I personally make a living online by writing web content for a variety of people. Many times, I miss my time to write with my own focus.

If you are busy and love to blog, I encourage you to take some time to write for yourself. Take time to put your thoughts on internet “paper” by blogging. It is fun to see comments made by others. It is pleasurable to share thoughts and ideas with others.

Remember: Take the time to write for yourself!

Welcome to a New Year in Writing for 2014!

Welcome to a New Year of writing for 2014!

Can you believe another year has come and gone? I am amazed at how time really does fly, especially when you get older!

Currently, I am working on a new writing project for one of my clients. I have written a host of materials in a variety of styles. For this new client, I am writing in conversational style. This is very different for me, but it allows me to sharpen my writing skills in a different area.

Have you thought about the skills you would like to work on for this New Year? Do you desire to write in a different style? Maybe, you desire to learn how to create business documents. The possibilities are endless; think about some areas you would like to work on when you are making your resolutions. This is the time to think about change in different areas of your life.

Why not make some goals for the New Year in the way of your writing skills?