Creating Writing Frames in Word

Introduction

Writing frames help to gather children's thoughts, organise them and provide a framework for their recording. Children can then concentrate on what they want to say rather than getting lost in the form.

ICT can be used to create writing frames for composing directly on screen. Angela Stafford explains how to set up documents in Microsoft Word for children to use in this way.

Why create a template with protected fields as a writing frame?

Have you ever used a table or a number of text boxes on a page and wished you could keep the thing from getting bigger or moving the other boxes further down the page as you fill in the box with text? With children it is ten times worse.

There is a solution! Create a document in Word with form fields, and protect the whole document. You can specify exactly which areas of a page children can type on to, and how much typing they can do.