5 Ways to Connect Reading & Writing Skills 

Reading and writing are reciprocal. Students who improve their reading become better writers. Conversely, students who learn to write well also read with greater skill. Yet all too often we don’t take advantage of the opportunities to make natural connections between reading and writing in our daily teaching. And that means our students may not see, and benefit, from the links between reading and writing skills and strategies. Also, we miss out on an opportunity to maximize teaching time by aligning reading and writing work across the day and week. 

Beyond having students write about their reading, which I suggest they do daily, teachers often ask me how best to connect reading and writing lessons to maximize teaching time and student learning. Below are five interrelated skills with strategies for both reading and writing drawn from my books The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 and The Writing Strategies Book. 

1. MAKE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN ENCODING AND DECODING. Encoding (sound to print) and decoding (print to sound) both rely on phonics to boost reading and writing fluency.
   1. Reading Strategy: Fix It by Checking Each Letter. When you read a word and it doesn’t make sense in the sentence, find what needs to be fixed. Move your finger under each letter or word part as you look across the whole word from left to right. Don’t skip any letters; one letter can make a difference in reading the word correctly.
   2. Writing Strategy: Talk Like a Turtle. When you don’t know how to spell a word say it slowly like how a turtle might talk.  Listen for each sound as you say it and write the sounds you hear. When you have the word written on your page, say it again slowly, this time running your finger under the letters you wrote. If you realize you are mixing letters for any sounds, fix it!
2. EXPLORE DEEPER MEANING THROUGH THEMES. When reading or writing, students who can uncover (or create) the big ideas that drive a story improve their ability to think abstractly, interpret meaning and explore textual layers.
   1. Reading Strategy: Consider Last Words. Reread the ending of a story or article. Study the narrator’s or character’s last words. Think about how these last words connect to and expand your understanding of the central theme(s).
   2. Writing Strategy: Find the Heart. Reread your story and think to yourself, “What is the most important, exciting, and/or interesting part?” Box out the part that best conveys what is most important. Lengthen that part of the story by adding more sensory details.
3. SAY IT WITH PICTURES. Students can learn how to bring a story or an article to life by studying and creating images. Making either mental or actual pictures helps students access background knowledge, engage their senses, and clarify their thinking.
   1. Reading Strategy: Bring Pictures to Life. Look closely at photographs and illustrations and any accompanying caption. Imagine the picture in real life. What does it feel like? Smell like? Sound like? Move like?
   2. Point Around the Pictures. If you’ve created illustrations to accompany your writing, point around the image. When your finger lands on a part of the image, say all you can about that part. Move your finger to a different part and elaborate.
4. INTERPRET PUNCTUATION CLUES. Whether reading or writing, punctuation helps students structure ideas, emphasize information, clarify meaning, convey tone and emotion, and control pacing.
   1. Reading Strategy: Attend to Extra Information. Notice the type of information set off by em-dashes or parentheses. Think about the context and purpose. Now, read the extra information with expression that matches the meaning.
   2. Writing Strategy: Say It with Feeling. Think about the tone you are trying to convey in your draft. Determine what types of punctuation can help you best communicate that feeling. Try out different types of punctuation and keep the one that best conveys the feeling or tone
5. STUDY THE ART OF WORD CHOICE. The just-right word shapes tone, imagery, mood, character, and more. Readers who pay attention to word choice uncover deeper meaning. Writers who spend time shaping their language express themselves with greater precision and nuance.
   1. Reading Strategy: Insert a Synonym. When you come across an unfamiliar word, insert a word you know would fit the meaning and structure of the sentence and makes sense with the overall context. Use your knowledge of the familiarity words to help you understand (and learn) the new word.
   2. Writing Strategy: Not “So” “Very” “Nice”. Review your draft for vague words, such as nice or qualifiers such as very or so. Cross out the vague word, re-read the sentence, and replace the vague word with a precise one that conveys exactly what you want to say.

For more information about how to teach reading and writing seamlessly across the day, download this free Reading and Writing Connections resource. For hundreds more use-tomorrow strategies, check out The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 and The Writing Strategies Book.