Writing

Skills taught:

Practice correct letter formation with emphasis on uniformity of size and correct spacing
Journal and story writing: Children have daily writing periods. Assignments include: free writing, reading responses, theme or topic writing, creative fiction, observation journals.
Children are encouraged to write the sounds they hear for unfamiliar words.

Writing approaches that are used include:

Modeled writing (teacher writing)
Shared writing (child joins in the writing)
Guided writing (helping the child write)
Independent writing (child writing alone)
Collaborative writing (writing with friends)
Performance writing (watching the child write)

Stages of Writing

Beginning Writer:

Ideas:	Scribbles or draws mock letters
	Draws pictures with a few letters or numbers to describe the picture
	Uses environmental print
Organization:	Beginning to adapt to traditional directionality (top to bottom, left to right)
	Strings of letters
	Random sight words
Word Choice:	Uses limited number of memorized or copied words
	Repetitive
Conventions:	Upper and lower case letters used randomly
	Runs memorized or copied words together
	Sometimes able to write initial sound of word
	Beginning to use some developmental spelling

Developing Writer:

Ideas:	Writes about self, family, immediate environment
	Can write 2 or 3 related sentences
	Simple message
Organization:	Uses sequential order to express thoughts
	Noun/verb pattern
Word Choice:	Uses short familiar words
	Writes short sentences (noun/verb pattern)
	Starting to include some details
Conventions:	Leaves spaces between words
	Beginning to use capital letters correctly
	Beginning to use . and ?
	Able to use beginning and ending sounds to spell words

Fluent Writer:

Ideas:	Original message; writes fiction
	Writes for a variety of purposes
	Story has clear beginning, middle, and end
	Message has 2 or more sentences and gives main idea and details
Organization:	Uses web for writing
	Develops involved plots
Word Choice	Uses wide variety of words, including descriptive words
Conventions:	Uses vowel sounds and middle consonants to spell unfamiliar sounds
	Edits for spelling and uses writing dictionary as a resource
	Uses capital letters correctly
	Consistently uses.?!

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