In elementary school you will see your child progress through several stages of writing.
The Developmental Stages
The Developmental Stages
**Writing is a process that flows gradually. As you give your child time to explore and experiment with writing, you will begin to see evidence of growth. Since writing is a process and stages are connected, your child may show evidence of more than one stage in a single piece of writing.
Scribbling Scribbling looks like random marks on the page. Although the marks do not resemble print, they are significant because the young writer uses them to show ideas. Letter-like Symbols Letter-like forms emerge, sometimes randomly placed, and are interspersed with numbers. The child can tell about his drawing or writing. In this stage spacing is rarely present. Strings of Letters At this stage, children are developing awareness of sound-to- symbol relationship, although they are not matching the sounds. They write in capital letters and have not yet begun spacing. Beginning Sounds Emerge At this stage, students beginning to see the difference between a letter and a word, but they still may not use spacing between words. Their message makes sense and matches the picture, especially when they choose the topic. Consonants Represent Words Students beginning to leave spaces between words and may often mix upper and lower case letters in their writing. Letters may represent entire words, and use of vowels is limited. Students begin to use punctuation and usually write sentences that tell ideas. Initial, Middle and Final Sounds Students in this phase may spell correctly some sight words, names but other words are spelled the way they sound. Children easily hear sounds in words, and writing is very readable. Transition Phase The writing is readable and approaches conventional spelling. The writing is interspersed with words in standard form and standard letter patterns. Misspelled words are written the way they sound. Standard Spelling Students in this phase can spell most words correctly and are developing an understanding or root words, compound words, and contractions. |