Beyond the ordinary

Writing Development 

• Pre-literate 

This is the beginning stage of the development process. Children are starting to make unique marks on paper with lines and shapes. This is the exploration stage of the writing tools combined with their fine motor skills. The age range for this stage is 0-2 years old.  

• Emergent  

Emergent literacy focuses on knowledge, strategies, and attitudes that children attain before learning to read and write. The age ranges from 2-4 years old, and it is where children start to incorporate letter-like forms and shapes into their drawings. This is where they learn the connection that their thoughts can be connected through these shape-like letters.  

• Transitional  

This stage is where children begin to understand the print atmosphere. Usually children ages 4-7 years old, this is where invented spelling and word recognition plays a key role. From my readings, “because reading is integral to writing, children glean knowledge about writing as they learn to read and are read to” (Sulzby, 1990). A big factor in this stage involves their ability to match the sounds they hear with letters and understand the relationship between the individual letters that make up the word together.  

• Fluent 

This stage is the goal, where children fully understand the words that allow them to have sentence structure. The age range here is anywhere beyond 5-7 years old, and with effective instruction, students should be able to produce more information in their writings, write more organized pieces, and show an understanding of producing overall quality writing.