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Promoting Early Writing Skills through Morning Meeting Routines: Guidelines for Best Practices

Early Childhood Education Journal volume 46, pages 547–556 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Observational studies suggest that early writing instruction rarely occurs in early childhood classrooms, despite the importance of supporting young children’s writing development. Morning Meeting Time (MMT) routine is a typically occurring large group activity in early childhood classrooms that is interactive and familiar to teachers and children. Because it is interactive, occurs daily in most preschool classrooms, and is comprised of regular routines that can easily be modified, MMT provides a meaningful context for promoting young children’s writing development. This article describes the characteristics of MMT, discusses the rationales for infusing interactive writing instruction into MMT, and provides seven research-based guidelines for adding writing to MMT in early childhood classroom environments.

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Funding

Funding was provided by Spencer Foundation (Grant No. Post-doctoral Fellowship).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA

    Chenyi Zhang

  2. Child and Family Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Margaret F. Quinn

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  1. Chenyi Zhang
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  2. Margaret F. Quinn
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Correspondence to Chenyi Zhang.

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Zhang, C., Quinn, M.F. Promoting Early Writing Skills through Morning Meeting Routines: Guidelines for Best Practices. Early Childhood Educ J 46, 547–556 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0886-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0886-2

Keywords

  • Writing instruction
  • Classroom routine
  • Morning meeting routine
  • Writing activity