Hey teachers! When you’re setting up your writing center, there are a lot of things to consider. One of the key elements you need to decide is the type of elementary lined paper you will provide to your students. Offering a variety of writing paper options is crucial to meet the diverse needs and preferences of your young writers. In this blog, we’ll explore why having different kinds of elementary lined paper at your writing center is essential and how it can enhance your students’ writing experiences.
Why Choosing The Right Elementary Lined Paper Is Important
Choosing the right kind of elementary writing paper for your students at the writing center is important as it can significantly impact their writing experience and progress. The type of paper you offer should align with your students’ developmental stage and writing abilities. For emerging writers, providing primary writing paper with larger spaces between lines can foster confidence and encourage them to form letters and words more comfortably. As students progress, offering intermediate writing paper with narrower spacing can challenge them to write more complex sentences and paragraphs.
Additionally, having various types of paper, such as blank, lined, and picture-supported, accommodates different writing styles and preferences, promoting creativity and engagement among your young writers. Ultimately, the right writing paper sets the foundation for a positive and fruitful writing journey for your students, building their writing skills and nurturing a love for expressing themselves through words.
Which Writing Paper Should I Choose?
Believe it or not, you have several options for elementary lined paper to choose from. Let’s look at each one and discuss how it can help your students at your writing center.
Paper Rule Sizes
I remember taking my kids school supply shopping when they were getting older. The paper had to be “college rule” which means the lines are close to each other. We’re not going to need that kind for sure! The “rule” of a paper is the distance between the lines. Older students and adults have the fine motor skills to write smaller words, so college rule is fine for them.
You’ll need regular lined paper with enough space in between each line so your students can write bigger letters and words. Or even better, give your students blank paper. If you teach kindergarten, or you have first graders who are still learning to write, don’t worry about trying to get them to squeeze their letters in between two lines. Handwriting is important, but it’s for another lesson. Our goal is to get our students to feel comfortable and successful with their paper. Offering both blank paper and elementary lined paper will be great for them.
Primary Lined or Elementary Lined Paper
There’s a step between a blank paper and elementary lined paper, and that’s primary lined paper. This is where the top and bottom line are solid, but there is a dotted line in the middle. This dotted line helps young writers put the middle of their letters where they need to be. Offering this kind of paper is important as well. Some students may find primary lined paper useful, and others may want to use elementary lined paper.
As I began to teach more and more years, and unfortunately ran out of time or resources to teach handwriting as I once did, I found that the primary lined paper confused some of my students. When this happened, I allowed them to use the elementary lined paper instead.
The point of your writing center isn’t necessarily handwriting. That can absolutely be a component if you’d like, but the priority of your writing center is to build a love of independent writing. Provide the kind of paper that your students will find success using. I’m willing to bet they’ll use the kind that they are most comfortable using. If not, you can monitor which paper they choose.
They Don’t Have To Use A Full Sheet Of Paper!
When I was growing up, my mom felt it was important for me to write a thank you note for each gift I received. I didn’t really mind doing it, but she always gave me a large blank piece of paper and I felt so much pressure to fill the whole thing up. I’ve made this mistake with my students, all you’re going to get is several lines of “I love my mom. I love my cat, I love my teacher, I love my friends.”
Provide all kinds of sizes of paper for your students. I’ve even made little booklets out of plain paper that I fold into fourths. I’d rather have my students write meaningful sentences on a half sheet of paper than see them write the same thing over and over on a large sheet of paper, just to complete all the lines.
Leave Room For A Picture On Your Writing Paper
A big part of writing that we teach our students that pictures tell a story too. We want our students to draw a matching picture to their written work. Besides it being a good writing skill, it’s a fun way for your students to publish their stories.
Offer paper to your students that has a space at the top for a picture and lines below for their writing. Even better if you vary the types of lines like we just talked about. When your students are ready to write more than a half of the page, they can add to their story on a full page of lined paper to make a booklet.
Are You Looking For Elementary Lined Paper For Your Writing Center?
Or heck, any kind of paper for your students to use while they’re writing in your classroom? Our sister-site, Literacy Stations has seasonal writing paper that you can download for free! Also included are 20 seasonal writing prompts for each set of paper. Grab these to add to your writing plans today!
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