How do you get your 3rd grader to write more?

[mom2]

My 3rd grader hates to write and I don't know how to get her to write.  Her handwriting is really good when she wants it to be.  I have tried different journals, etc.  Even to correct a sentence she rather just use the symbols to correct the words then to write.  Any ideas would be great!

[SKL]

My reluctant writer is more inspired the more freedom she has about topic, materials, location, etc.  I will tell her to go play with some imaginative toys and then write something about the story she made up in play.  Last time she decided to staple four sheets of printer paper into a large rectangle and then began to write her story (in her play area) in green pen.  Then she was eager to share.  She didn't finish the story, but at this age I think just writing something with purpose is the main goal.

 

This doesn't work all of the time.  She isn't easy to lead.  But it works better the less imposed structure there is.  (At home, anyway.  At school, she tends to do what the teacher asks, for the most part.)