My first observation on what good writers do may sound obvious to you but here it is anyway!

1-Good writers write!

They might write in their notebook or ipad. They might make notes, poems, stories or full chunks of stories. They might redraft or complete.

Important thing is that they write. Donald Graves, the writing guru teacher did a lot of research on this too. He found that children could only become more creative when writing by writing at least 4 out of 5 days every week. A teacher that can set aside 10 minutes every morning for the children and the teacher to write would be stimulating their creative brain. My teacher used a “Keeping busy” copybook. Whenever, I had a free minute, I could write, doodle, draw, anything at all as long as I was busy and involved. I wrote stories but not all children will.

It doesn’t matter what you call it but it is basically just a blank notebook or copy book where the children write into each day on anything that hits their fancy. It doesn’t really matter what they write about, as long as they are writing. You can give them prompts. Start with “I remember..” or write about what happened to them yesterday. They can write about the events of their life, dreams, things they’d like to do, why they love their dog or anything else that’s on their mind. Ignore incorrect grammar and spelling, proper punctuation does not even matter. It will matter but not at this moment, don’t wreck the flow of ideas! Enjoying the whole “process” is the most important thing. The key here is just to get them writing.

Another way for children to be motivated to write every day is to give short stimulating story starters. Here are a few ideas:

Donald Graves door free Good Writers html research