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There are many different ways to encourage writing skills with preschool aged children. Today I'm going to share with you some of the ways we encourage beginning writing in our preschool classroom...

When it comes to writing, the most important thing to remember is that it should be fun! Shouldn't that apply to all learning? From time to time, a follower on Facebook will ask for advice about how to get their child to enjoy "writing practice." The first thing I suggest is to make the "writing process" fun! Put away the workbooks until the time comes when the child is interested in them, and instead incorporate writing activities into their daily play...
1. Start with their name
When introducing writing to your children or students, you want to make it relevant to them. What is more relevant than their own name? Begin by pointing out the letters in their name when you see them in environmental print. You can say things like, "This cereal starts with the letter R, just like your name." Or "Will has four letters in his name, just like Jack has four letters in his name." This year, at school, we have tested out a few ways to get our children to sign in each morning. Our young threes may not grasp all the letters in their name, but we still encourage them to "make their mark." We want them to know that their name is important, and also that we are glad they came to school. You can read more about our signing into preschool process here...

All good artists will want their name on their artwork and all teachers need a way to remember whose artwork belongs to who. So, we like to encourage our children to put their name or make their mark on all of the art work that they do in class. This is also something that you could do at home...
2. Use your fingers
You can begin the writing process with the tools you were born with-your fingers! Writing doesn't have take place with pencils or crayons. In fact, using your fingers helps to develop the strength that is needed to eventually be able to grasp a pencil or crayon later on. Squishy gel sensory bags are a lot of fun to make and to write on...

Sand or salt trays are also an interesting medium for children to write in. The children can practice writing their names in the salt tray or use the trays for drawing or printing...
3. Offer interesting tools
Paint trays are another super fun way to encourage writing. Rainbow writing in a paint tray is a bright, colorful, and inviting way to get young preschoolers interested in writing...

If you have students that do not enjoy finger painting or having messy hands, then you can certainly offer other tools to use in their paint trays or salt trays. Q-tips work well for writing in paint and an unsharpened pencil works well in a salt tray. Paper, crayons, pencils, and markers are often abundant in our homes and classrooms. But if your children are not showing an interest in writing, you may want to consider offering some unique tools to spark their interest. We keep a set of clipboards out almost all the time in our classroom. We introduce the clipboards at the beginning of the school year, along with some telephones and calculators in an office dramatic play set-up. These tools for play inspire the desire for writing that will hopefully last throughout the school year...

Other unique writing tools could include smelly markers, colored pencils, chalk, oil pastels, different types of paint, or even water. Next, play around with your canvases. What will the children be writing on? Chalkboards, cardboard, sidewalks, wood, and dry erase boards are all great canvases for writing practice. These mini plexiglass easels and window crayons are a great example of using unique materials to spark new interest in the writing process...

If you are working on letter formation, consider using another type of medium for exploring the different shapes of each letter. Letters can be formed out of scraps of paper cut into strips and then glued on to a piece of paper. Students can trace letters in glue and then sprinkle them with colored salt or glitter. Letters can be formed out of play dough or clay. Here we used yarn to practice letter formation ...
4. Offer unique writing experiences
Not only are all of these great ways to practice writing, but the children are also working on building strong muscles in their hands so that the writing process eventually comes easier for them.

Make writing fun by offering unique writing experiences. Writing in shaving cream is a blast and one that children won't soon forget. And how often do children get the opportunity to make their mark in snow?
5. Keep a journal
Tracing designs on a window on a sunny day is another interesting way to invite your children to write. You can also offer tracing on a light table ...
6. Set up a writing station
Journaling is a great way for children to practice writing. It can also be a fun way for children to express themselves creatively. Invite children to journal about an enjoyable experience that they've had either at school or at home. Children can journal about a story or movie or even their favorite color. Keep in mind that young children's first attempts at journaling will probably take the form of drawing pictures and that is okay. Have the children describe their picture to you or "tell you their story." Write it down as best as you can word for word to show children that their words have value. Here are ten tips for keeping a journal in preschool ...

If you have room in your home or classroom, a writing station is a perfect place to invite children to write. A writing station consists of different types of paper or cards, stickers, writing tools, scissors, and glue. Varying the materials that you offer in your writing center will keep children interested in coming back. If you don't have the space to keep a writing station up permanently, consider offering a temporary writing station for birthdays and holidays. Children love making cards and gifts for their family and friends, especially around the holidays. You can read all about our Christmas writing station here...
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Remember that the most important part of all early learning experiences is that they should be fun and based in play. We want children to associate writing with enjoyable experiences that they are happy to take part in. How do you make the writing process fun and enjoyable for your children? Let us know in the comment section below!

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6 ways to encourage writing in preschool | Teach Preschool

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There are many different ways to encourage writing skills with preschool aged children. Today I'm going to share with you some of the ways we encourage beginning writing in our preschool classroom... When it comes to writing, the most important thing to remember is that it should be fun!

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Pre-writing activities for preschoolers not only help our youngest learners learn the shape and structure of the letters in the alphabet, but they also serve a number of other functions as well. According to education blogger Lisette, from Where Imagination Grows, pre-writing practice teaches directionality in writing, encourages fine muscle development and coordination, and also helps students process sensory information critical to the writing process.

Here are 22 super fun, easy-to-make activities that your preschoolers will love!

1. Squishy Bags

Source: Learning4kids

All you need to make these awesome sensory bags is resealable zipper storage bags, flour, water, and food coloring. Kids can use cotton swabs or their fingers to draw shapes, lines, and letters on the bag.

2. Bubble Wrap

Source: Coffee Cups and Crayons

What a great way to recycle all that leftover bubble wrap! Simply write letters on sheets of bubble wrap with a Sharpie and let kids pop their way to letter recognition.

3. Play-Doh Snakes

Source: In My World

Kids can't resist the sensory lure of Play-Doh! For this activity, kids can roll small balls of dough into long snakes and form letters by bending and joining the snakes together.

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4. Play-Doh and Drinking Straws

Source: KidActivitiesBlog

Flatten out a medium-size piece of Play-Doh on a flat surface. Then use a sharp object to draw a letter on the flattened area. (Make sure that the letter is large enough to be easily recognizable when filled with straws.) Cut plastic straws into one-inch segments. Let kids "trace" the letters with the colorful straw segments.

5. Dot Markers

Source: 3 Dinosaurs

Students use dot markers to practice the mechanics of writing and get used to the angles and curves of letters. Click on the link above to download 12 free pages of pre-writing dot marker worksheets.

6. Cotton Swabs and Paint

Source: Lessons Learnt Journal

This is a fun activity to help kids work on their fine motor skills and get the hang of the all-important pencil grip.

7. LEGO Blocks

Source: Wildflower Ramblings

Blocks! Young kids can't get enough of building and creating with them. Put their creative energy to good work with these free printable letter cards.

8. Shaving Cream

Source: Mess for Less

This classic activity is a great starting place for pre-writers. All you need is a tray and a can of shaving cream.

9. Glitter Glue

Source: Growing Hands-On Kids

Pre-writing lines are important building blocks for any preschooler to master before learning letter formations. Download this glitter glue pre-writing line practice for preschoolers activity.

10. Beads

Source: Artsy Momma

Just like the one above, this activity builds fine motor skills that your young students need to begin writing. Instead of using glitter glue, though, students use inexpensive pony beads (found at any craft store) to follow the lines.

11. Sand Tray

Source: Our Little House in the Country

One of the simplest activities to put together for your students to practice pre-writing is a sand tray. Kids can use their fingers or an unsharpened pencil to practice writing. As an alternative to sand, you can fill your tray with salt, flour, cornmeal, or rice.

12. Squeeze Bottle

Source:: Playdough to Plato

Fill a plastic squeeze bottle with salt or sugar and let students trace letters on cards.

13. Rainbow Tray

Source: Where Imagination Grows

This resource is so simple to make, and kids love it! Simply tape colored tissue paper in a rainbow pattern to the bottom of a clear plastic tray. Fill it with sand, and as the kids trace lines and letters, the colors below are revealed. The image above shows the tray on top of a light table, which adds another dimension of fun to the activity!

14. Masking Tape

Source: And Next Comes L

A roll of colored masking tape and a clear surface make this a fun center activity at writing time.

15. Magnet Board

Source: Days with Gray

Tape letters onto a magnet board and let your little ones trace them with magnets. In the example above, the teacher made the letters into roads, and the students drove their car magnets along them.

16. Lacing Cards

Source: Teaching Mama

Grasping a string between tiny fingers and threading the end through the holes in a lacing card is great fine motor practice for preschoolers. It also begins to build muscle memory for holding a pencil properly.

17. Buttons

Source: Learning4Kids

Preschoolers will have so much fun creating patterns, swirls, squiggles, and zig-zags with colorful buttons. And they'll be building skills while they're at it!

18. Sticker Line Up

Source: Busy Toddler

Preschoolers need to use a pinching motion, which builds fine motor skills, to peel sticker dots off the page. Then, they use hand-eye coordination to place each sticker on the drawn line. This activity would be perfect for a writing or free time station.

19. Fingerprint Writing

Source: Happy Toddler Playtime

Some kids may not like to get their fingers this messy, but others will adore it! For this activity, you will need poster paper and a palette of washable ink. Draw letters, shapes, and lines on a clean piece of paper. Then, show kids how to dip their pointer finger onto the ink pad, then follow the lines dot by dot.

20. Clothespin Clipping

Source: Teaching Mama

Using a clothespin takes a lot of grip strength. This image shows a student using a clothespin to choose the correct answer to a number problem, but any activity that involves clipping will help them build the fine motor skills required for writing.

21. Cutting

Source: Play of the Wild

Cutting and snipping activities with scissors are excellent ways for children to practice fine motor skills and control. Give your students lots of opportunities to practice their cutting skills with paper, string, card stock, even Play-Doh!

22. Scrunching Paper

Source: Gympanzees

Scrunching paper into a ball is great for building hand strength. Let your students use computer paper, newspaper, tissue paper, or wrapping paper. Then play a game of paper ball tag!

What are your favorite pre-writing activities for preschoolers? Share in the comments below.

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22 Pre-Writing Activities for Preschoolers

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Use these pre-writing activities for preschoolers to help your students develop the fine motor skills they'll need to write.

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There are many ways to teach your little learners about the process of writing in preschool. This is the process that works best for the children in my full-day public Pre-K classroom. Hopefully you will keep an open mind and embrace these new ideas as you explore the best way to teach writing to the young children in your own classroom.

Preschool Journals

Before we begin a conversation about journals, first, it's important to define what they are. Journals are a place for free writing and drawing.
Journals are not:

For handwriting practice

Workbooks filled with assignments

For writing prompts

How to Teach Writing in Preschool

Why is free writing and drawing important for young children? Writing and drawing are ways to communicate our thoughts and ideas on paper. The thoughts and ideas that children communicate on paper are usually in the form of drawing in the very beginning, and they gradually progress to include writing. If we ask children to draw (or write) about a particular topic, we are essentially telling them what to think and say. This makes drawing and writing less meaningful and motivating for young children.

If we really want young children in Preschool and Pre-K to learn how to draw and write, then inviting them to draw and write about what is most meaningful to them is going to be more effective than telling them what to draw or write.

Writing Prompts

When it comes to writing prompts, or asking children to write or draw about a certain topic, there is a time and a place for that too. Writing about a field trip or making a class book is a perfectly fine activity for young children, but it should take place separate and apart from their dedicated writing time or space and not in place of.

Here's a bit of the backstory on how the way I see writing has changed over time:
Pre-K Pages was founded in 2001, over the years the site has changed as it has grown. In 2008 I read two eye-opening books: Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten and About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers. It was then that I made the decision to remove the "old-school" information about journals from Pre-K Pages. I realized new advances and insights into the way children learn to write had emerged and I wanted to adopt these new ideas in my classroom as well as share them with you here. I encourage you to read the books listed above before deciding to do journals in your classroom.

At first I was a bit skeptical that young children, especially those who were only 4 years old, at-risk, or Dual Language Learners, could handle bookmaking, but I decided to give it a try anyway. The results were amazing and enough to convince me that this is a very powerful method for teaching young children how to become writers, much more so than journaling.

Journals in Preschool

With the old-school journal method, children were invited to write or draw on one page of paper per day and then dictate what their drawing or writing was about to an adult. If they were lucky, kids would engage in this process a few times a week at most. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this method, but it's not highly effective in teaching young children about how the writing process works. The adults do most of the work in the old-school journaling method, which teaches the kids that writing is an adult job and not something they can do. But there's so much more you can do to make the writing process deeply meaningful.

In the book Already Ready the authors dispel some common misconceptions about writing and young children, such as:

Children don't need to think about writing until they begin reading.

Children need to be given a topic for writing

Writing on a single sheet of paper is all a child this age can handle, they're too young for making books.

Children's attention spans are too short to write an entire book. They will never remember what they wrote.

Making Picture Books

Why make picture books with young children instead of just drawing on a single sheet of paper and calling it a day?

Picture books are familiar to young children.

Children have background knowledge of how picture books work and therefore can relate to them better than journals.

Picture books help children read like writers.

Making picture books builds stamina, an important part of being a good writer.

Making picture books is fun and developmentally appropriate.

Making picture books aligns with current best practices in education

How to Make Picture Books

Allow children to choose their own topics when writing books.

Provide opportunities for children to make books every day.

Provide supplies for bookmaking in an easily accessible area of the classroom.

Allow children to make revisions to their books.

Invite children to share their books with their classmates, friends, or other teachers and staff members.

Intentionally expose children to different genres.

Explicitly call attention to the different text features when you read aloud to your students.

Stages of Writing

The first basic stage is scribble writing.

The second stage involves "letter like" markings, some may resemble letters and others may look more like shapes.

The third stage is when the child makes continuous strings of letters.

In the fourth stage the child actually begins to make some letter/sound matches in his writing; for example he may write the letter "F" next to his picture of a fish.

In the fifth stage the child will begin to use more conventional spellings of words.

Purpose of Writing

What is the actual purpose of writing in pre-k? I once saw a poster in a classroom that said "The top ten ways to become a better reader: read, read, read, read, read, read... ". The very same is true for writing, the best way for children to understand that print carries a message and to begin developing their writing abilities is to provide them with consistent opportunities to write. The more experiences children have with using writing tools and writing on blank paper, the more quickly they begin to understand the purpose of writing and how writing works.

Motivation to Write

In Matt Glover's book titled Engaging Young Writers, Preschool-Grade 1 he talks about ways to motivate and invite young children to write. I was fortunate enough to see Mr. Glover present at the NAEYC conference in Dallas. I highly recommend his book in addition to Already Ready. Already Ready addresses the process and the "why" behind bookmaking, Engaging Young Writers addresses the HOW in depth.

Questions About Writing

If you have questions about how any of this works, the best places to discuss ideas like teaching emergent writing in the early childhood classroom is in the Teaching Tribe. In fact, we have on-demand video training on this very topic where I share my best tips and tricks to make it work in your classroom. If you want to get on the waiting list for the Teaching Tribe, do it soon so you don't miss the next open enrollment period!

The information contained on this page is research-based and developmentally appropriate for all young children in Preschool and Pre-K.

If you're looking for handwriting practice ideas, go HERE.

For information about workbooks or worksheets, go HERE.

Writing Resources

More Teaching Tips from Pre-K Pages

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There are many ways to teach your little learners about the process of writing in preschool. This is the process that works best for the children in my full-day public Pre-K classroom. Hopefully you will keep an open mind and embrace these new ideas as you explore the best way to teach writing to the young children in your own classroom.

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What Effective PreK Literacy Instruction Looks Like

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What Effective PreK Literacy Instruction Looks Like

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Introduction

During free-choice time, Mrs. Jackson (all names are pseudonyms and vignettes fictional) moves around her preschool classroom. Her students are busy in centers - some engaging in dramatic play, some working in journals, and some drawing animals at the science center. Carmen looks up to Mrs. Jackson as she passes her table and asks, "How do I write snake?"

Mrs. Jackson looks around the classroom at her students, who are just beginning to experiment with writing. Some students, like Carmen, know the names of all the letters and can produce most of them accurately. A lot of Carmen's classmates, however, are still learning to write their own names, and others do not yet know the difference between drawing and writing. How can Mrs. Jackson help all of her students when they are in such different places in their development?

How should Mrs. Jackson respond? Should she name the letters of the word? Focus on the sounds in the word? Encourage Carmen to write down her "best guess" and praise her hard work? And how should Mrs. Jackson help the next child, and the next?

Many preschool teachers recognize the importance of early writing by making writing materials available in their classrooms and providing opportunities to write during the school day (Gerde & Bingham, 2012). However, for teachers like Mrs. Jackson who want to offer explicit writing instruction to their students, the diversity of skill levels in a typical classroom presents a real challenge. Preschool teachers receive limited practical guidance about how to apply the research on early writing to help individualize instruction for children. Not surprisingly, recent research indicates that few teachers understand how to appropriately scaffold instruction to help children take the next step in their writing development (Gerde & Bingham, 2012).

In this article, we offer a straightforward framework that teachers can use to easily evaluate children's writing and help children take the next step in development. We address why it is important to foster early writing skills, how writing typically develops in young children, and how teachers can actively support this development. We discuss in detail four different students who might appear in a typical preschool classroom and how teachers can use their understanding of early writing to shape instruction for these students.

We also provide examples and concrete suggestions for fitting individualized writing instruction into common classroom contexts, including centers, journaling, and morning message. This article will help teachers individualize early writing support for all students and at the same time foster other important early literacy skills through writing.

Early writing and why it matters

Early writing, often used synonymously with the term emergent writing, encompasses the following: (a) the manual act of producing physical marks (i.e., mechanics), (b) the meanings children attribute to these markings (i.e., composition), and (c) understandings about how written language works (i.e., orthographic knowledge; Berninger, 2009). Although mechanics and composition are important features of early writing, we focus our attention on orthographic knowledge-how children's marks reflect growing understandings of the writing system.

These understandings include both general conventions (e.g., print goes from left to right on a page) and understandings of specific features (e.g., speech can be represented by individual sounds, which can be written down using letters). We use the term early writing to refer to children's representations of their knowledge about the writing system (i.e., orthographic knowledge).

Early writing is one of the best predictors of children's later reading success (National Early Literacy Panel [NELP], 2008). Specifically, early writing is part of a set of important foundational literacy skills that serve as necessary precursors to conventional reading (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998), including developing understandings of both print (i.e., print concept and alphabet knowledge) and sound (i.e., phonological awareness).

Print knowledge includes general understandings of how print works (e.g., left-to-right directionality) and the names and sounds of the alphabet. Knowledge about sound, or phonological awareness, includes the ability to attend to and manipulate sound structure of language, progressing from awareness of larger chunks (e.g., sentences, rhyme, beginning sounds) to blending and segmenting individual units of sound (i.e., phonemic awareness), for example, understanding that the word cat is made up of /c/, /a/, and /t/. These early skills work together to lay a foundation for later reading success (NELP, 2008).

As children integrate their knowledge of print and sound, they begin to grasp the alphabetic principle, a critical achievement in early literacy. The alphabetic principle is the understanding that oral language is made up of smaller sounds and that letters represent those sounds in a systematic way. Children can grow in their understanding of how print and sound work together through experimenting with writing. Writing serves as a type of laboratory, in which even very young children are actively creating and testing hypotheses about how writing works (Bissex, 1980). Children notice print in their environment and use their experiences to invent and revise ideas about the rules that govern writing, "cracking the code" of literacy one piece at a time.

For example, a child might believe based on his experience with print and knowledge of the world that really big animals have really big written representations. So he might represent the word elephant with a very big and wide scribble and might represent the word bee with a very short, tiny scribble. As he begins to grasp the alphabetic principle, his hypotheses change, and he may later represent the word elephant with an L and the word bee with the letter B.

How early writing develops

To help young children develop as writers, teachers need to understand typical writing development and use this knowledge to identify what children already know and what they are ready to learn next. Specifically, each child's writing provides teachers with a window into what that child knows about print and sound.

Children learning to write in an alphabetic language such as English typically follow a specific sequence of development (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008; Clay, 1975; Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982; Hildreth, 1936; Kaderavek & Justice, 2000; Lieberman, 1985; Schickedanz & Casbergue, 2009; Temple, Nathan, & Temple, 2012). Drawing on this body of work we next describe four levels of early writing development, designed to provide teachers with a straightforward framework with which to evaluate children's written efforts.

Drawing and Scribbling

Early in development, children's drawings are their writings, and children make no distinction between the two when asked to write. Children then begin to make separate marks representing "writing" apart from their drawings, a key developmental event indicating that children have begun to grasp the functionality of writing as separate from illustration. These early marks are often directionless scribbles. These scribbles then begin to take on features of written text children see in their environment, becoming horizontal and moving from left to right on a page. The scribbles eventually evolve into separate, distinct characters (e.g., Lieberman, 1985).

Connections to other literacy skills

Children who are drawing and scribbling usually do not yet understand that writing is related to speech. Similarly, when listening to a storybook being read aloud, children at this level may not understand that the text carries its own meaning, and that the words the teacher is saying to tell the story come from the text (Justice, Pullen, & Pence, 2008). Their alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness skills are at the beginning points in development. They may know a few letter names, such as the first letter in their name. They may also be working on phonological awareness skills that attend to larger units of spoken language, such as rhyme.

Letters and Letter-Like Forms

Next, children begin to write with letter-like forms and a few letter shapes. Although these early forms mimic letter shapes, they are at first not conventional letters. When children do begin writing conventional letters, they often produce what may appear to be random strings of letters because they do not yet connect letters to the sounds in spoken language. Children typically begin by reproducing letters found in their names. The first letter of their first names, along with other name letters, are usually seen repeatedly in children's early writing (Treiman, Kessler, & Bourassa, 2001). Children at this level may mix symbols and numbers with random letter-like forms and conventional letters.

Connections to other literacy skills

When children are consistently writing with seemingly random letters and letter-like forms, they understand that print carries meaning, but they still do not generally understand that letters represent the sounds in spoken words in a systematic way. Although they may be growing in phonological awareness and developing knowledge of the alphabet, including the names of some letters, they have not yet made the speech-to-print connection. Because they represent their knowledge of print in their writings without representing sounds, their messages cannot be understood by adults without children's interpretations.

Salient and Beginning Sounds

Children reach a critical point in writing development when they start to represent the sounds that they hear in spoken language. Relying on their growing knowledge of both print and sound, children begin to invent spellings, which means they create logical phonetic spellings based on their knowledge.

They often represent salient sounds, or the sounds that are the most prominent because of the way they feel in the child's mouth (Bear et al., 2008). For example, a child might write B for the word baby, because her lips come together twice when saying the word. She might spell V for elevator, because that sound is the most distinct due to the vibration felt when saying the word. She might logically substitute F for V because the sounds feel similar on the lips. Beginning sounds in words are often the most salient ones, so children will have many beginning sounds in words represented. When writing a sentence, children may represent a letter for each salient sound they hear, for each word or for each syllable. For example, when writing the sentence, I like juice, a child may write IKJ without any spaces.

Connections to other literacy skills

Children who are writing with salient and beginning sounds are beginning to grasp the alphabetic principle. At this point, children combine their knowledge of print and sound for the first time. They are just beginning to understand this principle and cannot yet identify where spoken words begin and end in written text (Morris, Bloodgood, Lomax, & Perney, 2003), so they usually do not use spaces between words while writing. This understanding shows up in in children's "reading" as well. When finger-pointing to the words in memorized texts such as songs and nursery rhymes, children will most likely point to words according to stress units or syllables, getting off track on multisyllabic words (Flanigan, 2007).

Beginning and Ending Sounds

As children's phonemic awareness grows to the point at which they can attend to individual sounds in words, they begin to represent beginning and ending sounds of words in their writing. They also consistently write with spaces between words, indicating that they understand where word boundaries occur. When writing the simple consonant-vowel-consonant pattern word map, children at this level will write MP.

Children also use a letter-name strategy when beginning to spell, using their knowledge of letter names to create spellings; for example, eight might be spelled AT. Children who are writing with beginning and ending sounds generally do not consistently represent the middle sounds in words, especially vowel sounds, until the next phase in their development (see Bear et al., 2008).

Connections to other literacy skills

Children's invented spellings mirror their early reading ability very closely (Morris et al., 2003). At this level, they are able to finger-point accurately to the words of a memorized rhyme and make self-corrections if they get off track. They actively use their knowledge of letter sounds and letter names to help them identify words, but often guess based on the first letter and sometimes last letter of a word, not yet attending to the vowel sounds; cat and cut would be most likely read the same way (Ehri, 2005). Over time, children's spellings become more conventional as they learn to represent all the sounds in words.

Providing appropriate support for young writers

This developmental writing framework provides teachers with guidance for appropriately scaffolding young children's efforts in early writing. The next sections provide classroom examples of individualizing writing support for children in each of the four developmental levels. In each example, Mrs. Jackson uses her observations of what the child already knows (as represented correctly in his or her writing) and what he or she is on the verge of learning (according to his or her level of development) to scaffold work for that child within his or her instructional range. By using the framework outlined in the Table 1, Mrs. Jackson is able to efficiently provide support to each child, moving him or her toward the next step of writing development.

Drawing and Scribbling: Katrina

"This says castle," Katrina says, pointing to her drawing of a castle in her journal. Katrina is an imaginative young girl who, inspired by story time today, wants to build a castle in the block center. The center is already full, so Katrina must sign up for the next turn, writing her name as a single horizontal scribble. While she waits, she draws a plan for her castle in her journal. Mrs. Jackson provides time in class every day for students to write or draw in their journals and encourages their use throughout the day.

At this point in her development, Katrina has had little experience with print and pays more attention to the pictures in books. Her journal pages contain only drawings, and she draws or scribbles when asked to write. She can recognize her name and about three letters that appear in her name, but she has not yet begun to learn the sounds associated with these letters and does not yet incorporate them into her writing.

As indicated by Table 1, there are three important goals for Katrina's writing development. She needs to develop a distinction between pictures and text, start using individual units while writing, and develop her representation of her own name beyond the first letter.

Mrs. Jackson decides to focus on the first goal today and uses the picture book from story time as an example of the difference between pictures and print. "I love your castle, Katrina! Let's look at our book again. Yes, there's a picture of a castle there too! And let me show you one other thing, over here, there is the word castle. See, the book tells the story in two ways - in the pictures and in the writing." Mrs. Jackson coaches Katrina to add some scribbles beneath her picture and praises the result - "It looks like the book now!" She then directs Katrina's attention back to the book, highlighting how each word is made up of letters. She focuses on some words that include the letter k, the letter most familiar to Katrina.

Going forward, Mrs. Jackson will engage Katrina in a dialogue about her journal entries, over time encouraging her to incorporate familiar letters into her writing. Although Katrina's journal does not at all resemble conventional writing at this point, it is the first step toward making print concrete for Katrina. At this point, Katrina's writing development focuses on increasing her knowledge of print; she is not yet ready to integrate phonological awareness or her letter-sound knowledge into her writing activities.

Letters and Letter-Like Forms: Marvin

Marvin is playing doctor in a dramatic play center, writing and signing prescriptions for other students in his group. All of Mrs. Jackson's centers include opportunities and materials for writing. Mrs. Jackson encourages students to make signs and labels for their creations at the blocks and clay centers, draw and label animals and plants in the science center, and incorporate writing into dramatic play, for example, taking orders in a restaurant. Centers give children the chance to experiment with writing at their own level in playful, authentic contexts.

Each prescription Marvin writes includes his name, which he writes as MAV, along with a few other characters that look like letters or numbers. As is often the case for young writers, Marvin's name writing is more advanced than his other writings. He remembers what his name looks like from memory rather than writing letters based on the sounds he hears; he doesn't yet understand that Marvin starts with the /m/ sound. Over the course of the week, Marvin has written several journal entries using a combination of M, A, V, and other characters that resemble letters and numbers, as is typical for children at this second level of writing development.

Judging by the letter-like forms he includes in his writing, Marvin does understand that he should be writing more than three letters, but he isn't sure what to add. Because Marvin's writing does not have any connection to the sounds in the words, the goals for his instruction should push him toward making that connection and developing the alphabetic principle. As indicated by the Table, Marvin needs to make connections between print and sound and use that knowledge to begin to represent beginning or salient sounds in his writing.

When Mrs. Jackson stops by the play center, she praises Marvin: "I like how you wrote your name! Let's write your friends' names on their prescriptions, too!" She then talks to Marvin about the letter M - it is the first letter in his name, and the first sound in his name is /m/. They practice saying "/m/, /m/, Marvin" together while pointing to the letter M. Then Mrs. Jackson asks Marvin which of his "patients" in the dramatic play center have names that start with /m/. With her support, Marvin identifies Maria and Meredith and writes their names down as M's combined with scribbles. With Mrs. Jackson's direction and support, Marvin is also able to identify the /s/ at the beginning of Sam and /l/ at the beginning of Liz. In each case, Mrs. Jackson identifies the letter that makes the target sound and helps Marvin write the letter on the prescription.

Marvin is developing an understanding of how letters represent sounds at the beginning of words, a first step toward grasping the alphabetic principle. Going forward, Mrs. Jackson will encourage Marvin to identify beginning and salient sounds and to match those to letters in his writing in play centers and in his journal, embedding this systematic connection in his mind.

Salient and Beginning Sounds: Carmen

"How do I write snake?" asks Carmen. Carmen is working on a draw-and-label activity in the science center. Because centers allow each child to work at his or her own level, Carmen has labeled a picture of a tiger with T, an elephant with L, and a snake with S. Her ability to identify a salient sound in each word and match it to a letter indicates that she has begun to sound out the words she writes phonetically, and this pattern holds throughout her other class writings this week.

Carmen has an initial understanding of the alphabetic principle and understands that speech is systematically connected to print in a left-to-right fashion. Like most children in this level of writing development, she often uses only one letter to represent syllables or entire words, rather than representing each individual sound.

Her writing skill reflects her other literacy skills; Carmen knows all the letter names and letter sounds and has excellent awareness of the beginning sounds in words. However, when finger-pointing to a known text, such as a nursery rhyme, she often gets off track when she encounters two-syllable words. She generally cannot distinguish between written words that begin with the same sound. For example, she may identify the same word as mom or mother.

As indicated by Table 1, the key goal for Carmen is beginning to hear and represent additional sounds in words in her writing, in particular identifying both initial and final sounds in words. Mrs. Jackson looks at the S on Carmen's paper. "I like the way you wrote down the first sound you heard in the word snake. S-s-s-nake. Great job! Do you hear any other sounds in snake? Let's say the word together and stretch it out."

As they stretch out the word, Mrs. Jackson emphasizes the final /k/ sound, which Carmen identifies. Mrs. Jackson follows up by asking, "How do you write [the sound] /k/?" Carmen might choose the letter C, because that letter represents the /k/ at the beginning of her own name. Carmen settles on the spelling SC, and Mrs. Jackson praises her effort, because Carmen is using the letter-sound correspondences she knows to write based on the sounds she hears within words. During both center and journal time, Mrs. Jackson will encourage Carmen to listen for the final sound in the word and represent that sound in her writing as well as the initial sound. Carmen is spelling!

Beginning and Ending Sounds: Jayden

Jayden is working in the story-writing center, recounting and illustrating the class's recent field trip to a farm. He has written his own name and the names of his friends accurately and has begun to list some animals they saw on the trip, for example, DG for dog, GT for goat, and PG for pig.

Jayden is a diligent writer of words, working very slowly and carefully sounding out words. He has memorized a few simple words that he always writes accurately, such as his friends' names. His other writings this week show that he is primarily writing with beginning and ending sounds in words. He represents most consonant sounds correctly in writing but may still exhibit some confusion with letter names, such as writing YN for when because the pronunciation of the letter-name Y ("why") makes the /w/ sound.

Jayden knows virtually all letter names and letter sounds. In terms of vowels, he is most familiar with the long sounds, which match the names of those letters. For example, he writes snow as SO. He is also able to track a memorized rhyme, self-correcting as he attempts to make the speech-to-print match. He is also actively using his knowledge of letter names and letter sounds to help him sound out words, but this process is slow and labor-intensive for him. He has trouble distinguishing between similar words such as bed and bad, as he does not always attend to vowel sounds in words. When reading, he relies heavily on contextual clues and picture supports to guess the right word when he is unsure.

Because Jayden is working at the fourth level of writing development, two goals are appropriate for him: consistently representing middle vowel sounds in his writing, and writing some simple, complete words. Achieving these goals will also support his reading development by helping him sound out words more accurately.

Mrs. Jackson tries to draw Jayden's attention to the vowel sound in simple words. To build on Jayden's spelling of the word goat ( GT), Mrs. Jackson draws a rectangle with three sections, or boxes, on a piece of paper. She writes the letters G and T in the first and last boxes, respectively. "You wrote two sounds, but there are three. G is at the beginning of goat; T is at the end of goat. What do you hear in the middle?" Mrs. Jackson emphasizes the long /o/ sound. Jayden identifies the sound and writes an O in the middle box, spelling GOT. This spelling represents a step forward in that Jayden is focusing on the medial vowel sound. Moving forward, Mrs. Jackson will support Jayden by continuing to work on both long and short vowel sounds in other simple words.

Putting it all together

As demonstrated by Mrs. Jackson's classroom, preschool children vary widely in their ability to write, and individual instruction is key to scaffolding each child's development. Teachers can also support children of all levels of writing ability within one activity, however, by strategically individualizing how they involve each child.

The morning message is one activity Mrs. Jackson uses to engage children in the process of writing by cocreating a meaningful message for the class. Although this activity is teacher directed, Mrs. Jackson creates an interactive writing environment by modeling the writing process for all children and engaging some children each day in writing as they share the pen.

Mrs. Jackson begins, "Children, we are going to write the words to our message so we can read them." This statement reminds children such as Katrina that we read the words we write. She says and writes, "This week we are studying transportation. Mrs. Jackson peddled her bicycle to school today." When she comes to the word bicycle, she asks, "Who can help me begin the word bicycle? Marvin, what sound do you hear at the beginning of b-b-bicycle?" Mrs. Jackson calls on Marvin because she knows he needs practice making connections between letters and their sounds. Marvin responds, "b-b-bicycle." "Great, Marvin, bicycle does begin with /b/. Does anyone know what letter makes the /b/ sound?" Carmen exclaims, " B!" "Yes, B!" Mrs. Jackson offers Marvin the marker so he can write the B.

Next she asks the children, "How did you get to school today?" Both Katrina and Carmen rode the bus, so Mrs. Jackson brings them up together. She reads aloud as she writes, "____ and ____ rode the____." She invites Katrina and Carmen to write their names in the blanks. Katrina scribbles from left-to-right, and Carmen writes all the letters in her name. Pointing to each word, Mrs. Jackson reads, " Katrina and Carmen rode the... What word is next, Katrina? What type of transportation did you and Carmen take to school?" Katrina says, " Bus."

Mrs. Jackson draws three small boxes in the last blank, one to represent each letter in the word. She says to the class, "Let's write the word bus together. Bus has three letters, 1, 2, 3 [points to the three boxes]. Let's think about the first sound in the word bus. Bus and bicycle begin with the same sound! What letter should I write? ...Great, bus begins with B. Carmen, what other sounds do you hear in bus?" She emphasizes the /s/ at the end of bus. Carmen replies, " S," and Mrs. Jackson directs her to write the S in the last box. "Great you heard /b/ for B and /s/ for S. Listen closely because there is another sound in the middle of the word. Buuuuuus. Jayden, what do you hear?" Jayden says, " U" and adds the U into BUS. At the end of their writing, Mrs. Jackson reads the entire message, pointing to each word and asking children to read along with her.

Conclusion

In this article, we have provided a framework for teachers to understand the goals and types of activities for supporting children at each level of early writing development (see Table 1). How can teachers use this framework to help children move forward in their writing development? The first step is to determine each child's current level of development through observing children's writing. A thoughtful, ongoing examination of children's early writing can provide teachers with a window into children's knowledge of print and sound that can inform productive instruction.

Although writing progresses in a developmental order, it is not necessarily the case that children master one level before moving to the next. Many children move back and forth between levels of difficulty, particularly across writing tasks (e.g., name writing vs. story writing), sometimes exhibiting different levels on the same day! Because children show this flexibility in their writing, it would be helpful for teachers to evaluate three or more writing samples taken over the course of a few days across different classroom contexts. Only one of these samples should be name writing, as children tend to write their names at a more sophisticated level than they do other words (Levin, Both-de Vries, Aram, & Bus, 2005).

From these writings, a teacher can identify the highest level at which children are consistently writing (apart from their name-writing representation). There is one key question to consider when determining writing level: Are children representing any sounds in their writing? The answer to this question tells teachers whether children are beginning to grasp the alphabetic principle (i.e., salient and beginning sounds; beginning and ending sounds). After determining each child's level, teachers can use Table 1 to readily identify the appropriate goals and teaching strategies for each level across common classroom writing contexts.

Effectively incorporating support for children's varying writing skills provides a gateway to developing other critical literacy skills and significantly contributes to later reading achievement (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). The knowledge teachers gain from assessing children's writing samples can be used to select appropriate, individualized strategies for scaffolding and expanding children's writing efforts. Individualizing writing instruction provides meaningful and approachable writing experiences for all children, setting the stage for reading and writing success for years to come.

Note

The preparation of this article was supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through grant R305A060021 to the University of Virginia-funding the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (NCRECE). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.

Biographies

Sonia Q. Cabell is a research scientist at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. e-mail [email protected]

Laura S. Tortorelli is a graduate student at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

Hope K. Gerde is an assistant professor at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

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How Do I Write...? Scaffolding Preschoolers' Early Writing Skills

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During free-choice time, Mrs. Jackson (all names are pseudonyms and vignettes fictional) moves around her preschool classroom. Her students are busy in centers - some engaging in dramatic play, some working in journals, and some drawing animals at the science center. Carmen looks up to Mrs.

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Emergent writing is young children's first attempts at the writing process. Children as young as 2 years old begin to imitate the act of writing by creating drawings and symbolic markings that represent their thoughts and ideas (Rowe & Neitzel 2010; Dennis & Votteler 2013). This is the beginning of a series of stages that children progress through as they learn to write (see "Stages of Emergent Writing"). Emergent writing skills, such as the development of namewriting proficiency, are important predictors of children's future reading and writing skills (National Center for Family & Literacy 2008; Puranik & Lonigan 2012).

Teachers play an important role in the development of 3- to 5-year-olds' emergent writing by encouraging children to communicate their thoughts and record their ideas (Hall et al. 2015). In some early childhood classrooms, however, emergent writing experiences are almost nonexistent. One recent study, which is in accord with earlier research, found that 4- and 5-year-olds (spread across 81 classrooms) averaged just two minutes a day either writing or being taught writing (Pelatti et al. 2014). This article shares a framework for understanding emergent writing and ties the framework to differentiating young children's emergent writing experiences.

Understanding emergent writing

Researchers and educators often use the term emergent literacy to define a broad set of language and literacy skills focused primarily on the development and significance of emergent reading skills. To better understand writing development-and to support teachers' work with young children-researchers have proposed a framework to explain emergent writing practices (Puranik & Lonigan 2014). The framework is composed of three domains: conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and generative knowledge.

Conceptual knowledge includes learning the function of writing. In this domain, young children learn that writing has a purpose and that print is meaningful (i.e., it communicates ideas, stories, and facts). For example, young children become aware that the red street sign says Stop and the letters under the yellow arch spell McDonald's. They recognize that certain symbols, logos, and markings have specific meanings (Wu 2009).

Procedural knowledge is the mechanics of letter and word writing (e.g., name writing) and includes spelling and gaining alphabet knowledge. Learning the alphabetic code (including how to form letters and the sounds associated with each letter) is an essential component of gaining procedural knowledge. Children benefit from having multiple opportunities throughout the day to develop fine motor skills and finger dexterity using a variety of manipulatives (e.g., magnetic letters, pegboards) and writing implements.

Generative knowledge describes children's abilities to write phrases and sentences that convey meaning. It is the ability to translate thoughts into writing that goes beyond the word level (Puranik & Lonigan 2014). During early childhood, teachers are laying the foundation for generative knowledge as children learn to express themselves orally and experiment with different forms of written communication, such as composing a story, writing notes, creating lists, and taking messages. Children can dictate words, phrases, or sentences that an adult can record on paper, or they can share ideas for group writing.

Developing conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge of writing

Children gain knowledge of and interest in writing as they are continually exposed to print and writing in their environment. There are multiple strategies teachers can use to scaffold children's writing, such as verbally reminding children to use writing in their classroom activities and providing appropriate writing instructions (Gerde, Bingham, & Wasik 2012). By being aware of children's current fine motor abilities and their progress in emergent writing, teachers can use a mix of strategies to foster growth in each child's zone of proximal development (Vygotsky 1978).

Practicing name writing

One of the first words children usually learn to write is their first name (Both-de Vries & Bus 2008). Name writing increases children's conceptual and procedural knowledge. Names are meaningful to children, and preschoolers typically are interested in learning to write the letters in their name, especially the first letter (Both-de Vries & Bus 2008). Namewriting proficiency provides a foundation for other literacy knowledge and skills; it is associated with alphabet knowledge, letter writing, print concepts, and spelling (Cabell et al. 2009; Drouin & Harmon 2009; Puranik & Lonigan 2012).

Preschoolers benefit from daily writing experiences, so it is helpful to embed writing in the daily routine, such as having children write (or attempt to write) their names at sign-in and during choice times. Be sensitive to preschoolers' varying levels of fine motor skills and promote the joy of experimenting with the art of writing, regardless of a child's current skill level. Encourage invented spelling (Ouellette & Sénéchal 2017) and attempts at writing letters or letter-like symbols.

As Ms. Han's preschoolers enter the classroom, they sign in, with parental support, by writing their names on a whiteboard at the classroom entrance. Children in Ms. Noel's classroom go to a special table and sign in as they enter the room. Ms. Patel instructs her preschoolers to answer the question of the day by writing their names under their chosen answers. Today, the children write their names to answer the question "What are your favorite small animals-piglets, ducklings, or kittens?" Juan and Maria help their friends read the question and write their names under the appropriate headings. Pedro writes Pdr under the piglets heading, Anthony writes his complete name under ducklings, and Tess writes the letter T under kittens. In Mr. Ryan's class, children write their names during different activities. Today, children sign in as they pretend to visit the doctor in one learning center and sign for a package delivery in another. Meanwhile, Tommy walks around the room asking other preschoolers to sign their names in the autograph book he created in the writing center.

Tips for teachers

Develop a sign-in or sign-out routine that allows children to write, or attempt to write, their names each day. In some classrooms, or for some children, the routine may begin with writing the first letter instead of the whole name or with scribbling letterlike symbols.

Use peer helpers to aid children with the name-writing process.

Model writing your name and promote name-writing activities in several centers through the day, such as having children sign their name as they write a prescription or when they complete a painting.

Learning from teacher modeling

Children benefit from teachers modeling writing and from opportunities to interact with others on writing projects. Teachers can connect writing to topics of interest, think aloud about the process of composing a message (Dennis & Votteler 2013), and explain how to plan what to write (e.g., choosing words and topics, along with the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation). Children struggling to attain early writing skills benefit from explicit teaching (Hall et al. 2015). Teach children that letters create words and words create sentences. Use environmental print (e.g., labels, charts, signs, toy packaging, clothing, and billboards) to help children realize that print is meaningful and functional (Neumann, Hood, & Ford 2013). These types of activities build both conceptual and procedural knowledge.

When Ms. Noel sits with the children during snack, she talks with them about the different foods they like to eat. Ben tells her he likes chicken. She writes on a small whiteboard, "Ben likes chicken." She asks Ben to read the phrase to a friend. Later, Ben writes the phrase himself.

Mr. Ryan conducts a sticky note poll. He creates a giant spiderweb and writes the question, "Are you afraid of spiders? Yes or no." He gives the children sticky notes so each can write either yes or no and then place it on the giant web. This activity is followed by a discussion of spiders.

Tips for teachers

Explicitly model writing by showing the writing process to children and thinking aloud while writing. Instead of writing the question of the day or the morning message before the children arrive, write it in front of them.

​Label specific items in the room, and draw children's attention to the written words. Write out functional phrases on signs related to routines, such as "Take three crackers" or "Wash hands before eating," then read and display the signs.

​Have the children paint large classroom signs related to themes being explored, such as the National Weather Station, Snack Bar, Public Library, or Entomology Center.

Writing throughout the day

Preschoolers enjoy experimenting with the writing process. Emergent writing experiences can include spontaneous writing during center time and teacherguided writing activities. Writing can become an important component of every learning center in the preschool classroom (Pool & Carter 2011), especially if teachers strategically place a variety of writing materials throughout the classroom and offer specific guidance on using the materials (Mayer 2007). (See "Learning Centers: Adding Meaningful Writing Materials and Literacy Props.")

Teachers can intentionally promote peer-to-peer scaffolding by having children participate in collaborative writing experiences. Read-alouds are also a wonderful means of promoting writing; there are a number of stories that feature characters in books writing letters, stories, messages, and lists (see "Books That Promote Writing"). Model writing stories, making lists, or labeling objects, and then encourage your preschoolers to write a response letter to a character in a story, create their own storybook, or write a wish list or a shopping list. Such a variety of writing experiences will also build their generative knowledge of writing.

Ms. Han has strategically placed a variety of writing materials throughout the classroom-a scientific journal in the discovery area so children can record their observations and ideas; a graph paper notebook in the block area for drafting blueprints with designs and words; and a receipt book, paper, and markers in the dramatic play area. Savannah sits at the discovery center looking at a classroom experiment. Ms. Han asks, "Savannah, could you write about your observations in our science journal?" Savannah begins writing in the journal.

Three boys are playing in the block area. Ms. Han asks, "What are you building?" Marcus replies, "We are going to build a rocket ship." Ms. Han says, "Could you create a blueprint of your rocket and then build it?" The boys eagerly begin drawing a plan. Several children in the dramatic play center are drawing different types of flowers for a flower market. Ms. Han says, "In a flower market, signs tell customers what is for sale and how much it costs. Would you like to create some signs?" The children readily agree and start to create signs.

Tips for teachers

Strategically place writing materials, such as sticky notes, small chalkboards, whiteboards, envelopes, clipboards, journals, stencils, golf pencils, markers, and various types, sizes, and colors of paper throughout the classroom.

Provide specific teacher guidance to scaffold children's writing. While some children may be off and running with an open-ended question, others might be better supported if the teacher helps write their ideas-at least to get them started.

Create writing opportunities connected to your current classroom themes or topics of interest. Involve the children in collaborative writing projects, such as creating a diorama after a farm visit and making labels for the different animals and the barn. With teacher support, the class could also develop a narrative to describe their farm visit.

Home-school connection

Both preschool writing instruction and home writing experiences are essential components of helping children develop writing skills. A major advantage of the home- school connection is that children see the value of what they learn in school when parents actively participate in the same type of activities at home. Teachers can encourage parents to display photos of their child engaged in writing activities at home and to share samples of their child's writing or drawings from home to inform instruction (Schickedanz & Casbergue 2009). To maximize parental involvement and support, teachers should be sensitive to the diversity of the families in their programs and be inclusive by promoting writing in children's home languages. These experiences can help promote children's conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge.

Ms. Noel wants to strengthen home-school connections with the families in her program. She decides to introduce the children to Chester (a stuffed teddy bear). She tells the children that Chester wants to learn more about what the children do at home and to go on some weekend adventures. She says, "Each weekend, Chester will travel home with a child in our class. During the time Chester stays at your house, take pictures of the activities you do with Chester and write about them in the Chester Weekend Adventures journal. At the beginning of the week, bring Chester and the journal back to school to share what you did. We will put Chester and the journal in the classroom library when he is not on a visit, so everyone can see where he has been." The children are excited about taking Chester home and writing about their adventures.

Tips for teachers

Find writing opportunities that strengthen home-school connections. For example, encourage families to create books at home related to a particular theme or a specific topic. Invite children to share their books with the class and then add them to the library.

Invite families to share the types of writing activities their children engage in at home. Encourage parents to establish routines that include writing lists, messages, stories, and letters.

Give families postcards to mail to friends in other states and countries. Have them ask their friends to mail a reply to the preschool class. Create a display of the return messages and postcards.

Teachers play an important role in promoting emergent writing development by scaffolding writing activities that engage young children in building their conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge. Writing can easily be embedded in daily routines as children write their names, engage in learning centers, practice writing for a purpose based on teacher and peer models, and contribute to group writing activities. Be intentional during interactions with children and incorporate best practices. Promote the development of emergent writing-and emergent literacy-by implementing purposeful strategies that encourage writing in the classroom and at home. Teachers who provide young children with a diverse array of early writing experiences lay the foundation for kindergarten readiness.

Authors' note: A special thanks to all of the teachers who participated in the Striving Readers Literacy Program and shared their literacy ideas. Thanks to Barbara Berrios for sharing the Chester Bear idea.

References

Both-de Vries, A.C., & A.G. Bus. 2008. "Name Writing: A First Step to Phonetic Writing? Does the Name Have a Special Role in Understanding the Symbolic Function of Writing?" Literacy Teaching and Learning 12 (2): 37-55.

Cabell, S.Q., L.M. Justice, T.A. Zucker, & A.S. McGinty. 2009. "Emergent Name-Writing Abilities of Preschool-Age Children with Language Impairment." Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 40 (1): 53-66.

Dennis, L.R., & N.K. Votteler. 2013. "Preschool Teachers and Children's Emergent Writing: Supporting Diverse Learners." Early Childhood Education Journal 41 (6): 439-46.

Drouin, M., & J. Harmon. 2009. "Name Writing and Letter Knowledge in Preschoolers: Incongruities in Skills and the Usefulness of Name Writing as a Developmental Indicator." Early Childhood Research Quarterly 24 (3): 263-70.

Gerde, H.K., G.E. Bingham, & B.A. Wasik. 2012. "Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: Guidance for Best Practices." Early Childhood Education Journal 40 (6): 351-59.

Hall, A.H., A. Simpson, Y. Guo, & S. Wang. 2015. "Examining the Effects of Preschool Writing Instruction on Emergent Literacy Skills: A Systematic Review of the Literature." Literacy Research and Instruction 54 (2): 115-34.

Mayer, K. 2007. "Emerging Knowledge about Emergent Writing." Young Children 62 (1): 34-41.

National Center for Family Literacy. 2008. Developing Early Literacy: A Scientific Synthesis of Early Literacy Development and Implications for Intervention. Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

Neumann, M.M., M. Hood, & R.M. Ford. 2013. "Using Environmental Print to Enhance Emergent Literacy and Print Motivation." Reading and Writing 26 (5): 771-93.

Ouellette, G., & M. Sénéchal. 2017. "Invented Spelling in Kindergarten as a Predictor of Reading and Spelling in Grade 1: A New Pathway to Literacy, or Just the Same Road, Less Known?" Developmental Psychology 53 (1): 77-88.

Pelatti, C.Y., S.B. Piasta, L.M. Justice, & A. O'Connell. 2014. "Language- and Literacy-Learning Opportunities in Early Childhood Classrooms: Children's Typical Experiences and Within-Classroom Variability." Early Childhood Research Quarterly 29 (4): 445-56.

Pool, J.L., & D.R. Carter. 2011. "Creating Print-Rich Learning Centers." Teaching Young Children 4 (4): 18-20.

Puranik, C.S., & C.J. Lonigan. 2012. "Name-Writing Proficiency, Not Length of Name, Is Associated with Preschool Children's Emergent Literacy Skills." Early Childhood Research Quarterly 27 (2): 284-94.

Puranik, C.S., & C.J. Lonigan. 2014. "Emergent Writing in Preschoolers: Preliminary Evidence for a Theoretical Framework." Reading Research Quarterly 49 (4): 453-67.

Rowe, D.W., & C. Neitzel. 2010. "Interest and Agency in 2- and 3-Year-Olds' Participation in Emergent Writing." Reading Research Quarterly 45 (2): 169-95.

Schickedanz, J.A., & R.M. Casbergue. 2009. Writing in Preschool: Learning to Orchestrate Meaning and Marks. 2nd ed. Preschool Literacy Collection. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Ed. & trans. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman. Rev. ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wu, L.Y. 2009. "Children's Graphical Representations and Emergent Writing: Evidence from Children's Drawings." Early Child Development and Care 179 (1): 69-79.

Photographs: pp. 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, courtesy of the authors; p. 74, © iStock

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Emergent writing skills, such as the development of namewriting proficiency, are important predictors of children's future reading and writing skills.