Stages in Early Writing Development:
Hello parents!
I believe that idea-making is the heart of writing, and starts very early in life, even if children are still emergent readers. I would like to talk a little about idea-making and emergent writing, and invite you to come and volunteer at our school to contribute in developing reading and writing with our students. We can start on the first day of preschool or kindergarten establishing expectations for our students’ reading and writing. Students are eager to write in preschool and kindergarten. We don’t need to wait until children know all letters, their sound-to-symbol relationships, or how to spell all the words they want to use. Youngsters, who learn that idea-making is more important than correct spelling, experiment with the wonder of language, and delight in the process of creation. Harste (1982) has found evidence in children’s early writing of intention (purpose in writing), invention (creativity of ideas), and organization (logical development of ideas) (as cited in Hennings, 2002).
As teachers and as parents, we need to keep in mind a few points when we work with children who are in early writing stages.
· Young children can write creatively before they can spell, before they know the conventions of written language, and before they read
conventionally.
· Teachers and parents need to provide young children with opportunities for writing.
· Children should be encouraged to use talk to expand the ideas they have expressed through drawing and print.
· Children need to participate in a host of literacy events and oral encounters with print, which means communicating with them about what the print means so they can observe the characteristics of print, and use them in their writing.
I believe that idea-making is the heart of writing, and starts very early in life, even if children are still emergent readers. I would like to talk a little about idea-making and emergent writing, and invite you to come and volunteer at our school to contribute in developing reading and writing with our students. We can start on the first day of preschool or kindergarten establishing expectations for our students’ reading and writing. Students are eager to write in preschool and kindergarten. We don’t need to wait until children know all letters, their sound-to-symbol relationships, or how to spell all the words they want to use. Youngsters, who learn that idea-making is more important than correct spelling, experiment with the wonder of language, and delight in the process of creation. Harste (1982) has found evidence in children’s early writing of intention (purpose in writing), invention (creativity of ideas), and organization (logical development of ideas) (as cited in Hennings, 2002).
As teachers and as parents, we need to keep in mind a few points when we work with children who are in early writing stages.
· Young children can write creatively before they can spell, before they know the conventions of written language, and before they read
conventionally.
· Teachers and parents need to provide young children with opportunities for writing.
· Children should be encouraged to use talk to expand the ideas they have expressed through drawing and print.
· Children need to participate in a host of literacy events and oral encounters with print, which means communicating with them about what the print means so they can observe the characteristics of print, and use them in their writing.
The first example is a group effort created anchor chart on how to support emergent writers.
The second is an example of the evolution of a child's writing anchor chart retreived from the link below.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/2251868537498732/
The second is an example of the evolution of a child's writing anchor chart retreived from the link below.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/2251868537498732/
The above are some examples
of my kindergarten ELL students’ emergent writing.