There are lots of ways I write WITH my kindergartners.  One of our favorites is with the Name Game (as outlined in Month By Month Reading and Writing in Kindergarten by Patricia Cunningham .  We draw a name out of a can.  That person is the name game king/queen for the day!  We cut apart their name card, and the child puts it back together for us.  He/she cheers their name for us ("give me a T!, give me an R!"), and we talk about all the things we notice in his/her name...are their double letters, how many "beats" in their name, is it similar to any of the other names on our chart?

Next, we all learn how to write that child's name.  We talk about handwriting at this time...letters always start at the top...uppercase and lowercase...letters that go underground..."teenage letters" (letters that are lowercase, but are as tall as the uppercase letters).  We then draw a picture of the person.  We talk about the "Good Work Triangle"...that a picture should be careful, colorful, and detailed.  The name game child gets to take all the pictures home in a book.  His or her picture is put up on a bulletin board with the other self portraits for the whole year.

Another way I do writing with kindergartners takes place during my workshops.  Workshops is a time in my schedule when the kids are working in small groups, and rotate through activities in tubs, one per day, until they have completed all the activities.  One group works with me, one group works with a parent helper, and the other 2 groups work independently.

When the kids are with me, we do what I call a "shape book".  To be honest, not all of my books are "shaped" these days (not enough time).  I used to have an associate who would staple and cut the books out for me each week...most of the time these days they are just plain rectangles, but the kids love them anyway!

The shape books go along with our Literature Theme for the week and have a fill in the blank spot on each page for the child to put a word.  The child and I puzzle talk the word (say it slowly) and he/she writes down the sounds that they hear.