WACO, Texas — Alta Vista Elementary School, part of the Waco Independent School District, launched "Write About It Wednesdays" last month, dedicating a day of the week for students to sharpen their writing skills, story formation and penmanship in classes outside of the traditional language arts realm.
"A lot of time when people think of math and science, people don't think there's a lot of writing and reading involved, but in life, everything you do will be writing and reading so it's really good to get the kids into it early," said Khris Alen, an Alta Vista Elementary School kindergarten teacher.
Outside of traditional assessment, students at the school will give written responses related to their respective subjects that are outside the reading and writing curriculum.
Just this past week, Allen said, the students created a response to a lesson on the basic wants and needs of humans, describing for themselves what the two mean to them.
"It opens up a lot of new possibilities, especially like in math, people think there's a right or wrong answer to a question but when you give kids a chance to answer an open-ended question it gives them the ability to show what they know in a different way," Allen said.
Allen said the practice encourages kids to think more freely when there is no right or wrong answer to the questions they're responding to.
"It’s really encouraging to see them broaden their horizons and become more comfortable while practicing their writing skills," Allen said.
In an effort to help students retain their skills and continue to practice, Allen said that she's sending the students home with journals over the summer.
The students are also provided with guided reading books and are given prompts to respond to based on the subjects they read, growing their confidence in their own writing as it improves, Allen said.
"If you perfect it and you look back on how much you did and what you were able to do, it makes a big difference," said Avery Rendleman, a 3rd grade student at Alta Vista.
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