page+8+-+stages+in+children's+writing

STAGES IN CHILDREN’S WRITING Based on Sulzby, 1986 and Teale, 1986 research there are 6 stages of writing that children will develop. Most agree that although there are stages, they are not well defined or sequential. (Hill, 2006, p. 283)  ·  ** Beginning Writing ** : the child might use drawing to communicate a message and then read out the message in the drawing. Writing can occur in large circle shapes or in scribble – like lines that may proceed from left to right. The child is exploring the writing they have observed when adults write in a flowing cursive form in a continuous line. Sometime numbers and some letter shapes may appear as individual symbols.  ·  ** Early emergent writing ** : in early emergent writing, children explore the use of symbols-either drawings or letter-to represent words. The separation of pictures and letter symbols is an amazing leap in development.  ·  ** Emergent writing ** : in emergent writing, the child begins to create more letter-like shapes. There may be spaces between the letters, and letters begin to represent sounds in words such as ‘llk’ for //like// and ‘PPL’ for //people//. The child may begin to use sequences of letters like those in their own name. Sometimes there will be strings of repeated letters, as the child refines the way the letters are made. The writing may appear in lines from left to right.  ·  ** Early writing ** : in early writing, children continue to create or invent spellings of words. In invented spelling, a letter may represent a syllable such as in //Bcos//. Children often repeat phrases and sentences as if they were practising or building confidence with what they already know. The difference between capital and lower case letters is apparent, and spacing between words becomes consistent.  ·  ** Transitional writing ** : in transitional writing, the volume of writing increases and there may be many repetitive sentences and phrases-quantity not quality becomes apparent. The plots in narrative writing may be episodic and finding a satisfactory ending might be a challenge. Punctuation is well developed.  ·  ** Extending writing ** : in conventional writing, there is punctuation and the writing resembles that of an adult. Spelling is accurate most of the time. Children learn to use different text types that are appropriate to different audiences, for example a narrative with direct speech to tell a story, a report about information, an argument to persuade someone to a particular point of view. Today I went to the beach and I had alot of fun. I hope I can back to the beach tomorrow and swim in the water and play on the sand.

(Hill, 2006, p. 283)