Lucy Calkins and the teacher's college reading and writing project folks recommend letting students use pens. To me, this makes sense for many reasons: at the primary grades because kids like using pens since we normally make them use pencils; for classroom management and those students who like to avoid working (or just push too hard on their pencils) using a pen eliminates the time waster of sharpening pencils and allows me to worry about planning and prepping that doesn't involve managing the pencil sharpening job or worse sharpening pencils myself.
But I just read a better researched-based reason: THEY WILL WRITE MORE WITH PENS!!!!
Even if you only want to allow pens for writing. I did that in one classroom because the teacher didn't like letting kids use pens. The kids loved their writing pens. Make sure you have extras because losing one was like the end of the world.
Okay, the exact research details are as follows:
Special pencils, however, do not appear necessary. Research indicates not only that young children prefer adult pencils, but also that they do not write better when using a beginner's pencil. Furthermore, by the time children reach the third grade, they produce more letters when they are writing stories if they use ballpoint or felt-tip pens (Askov and Peck, 1982).
Source: (I've fogotten how to cite sources without looking it up!)
Koenke, Karl (1986). 'Handwriting Instruction: What do we know?': ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills Urbana IL. Online Access: 12/23/08: http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-924/know.htm
Lucy Calkins writing program
We use this program at my daughters school and they love it. Within the classroom they have special tubs with dividers that hold all of their writing equipment from colored pencils, markers and pens. The kids really enjoy writing with these "special" tools and seem to be more focused on the task. I think this is the same writing program that teachers will read a certain story and the class will take about the book and then go back for a writers workshop and write about small moments that have happened to them and then expand those ideas into longer stories.
Small Moments
Yes, it sounds like the writing program your daughter is experiencing is one in the same. How lucky she is! The program is world class and more importantly her parent engages in dialogue about her education.
Thanks for sharing a parent perspective!
I found the same thing with my class
In my district we use Lucy Caulkins Units of Study. It really does improve the students writing. I found that my class hated writing with the beginners pencils. I decided to give them regular pencils. They began to write more. In the last days of each unit, I allow the students to use pens and other materials. I found that the students began to write even more. I decided to allow the pen to always be an option for my students.