Writing Development:

1
Writing Development

• One Child's Journey From Scribbles to
  Stories www.pbs.org

2
Toby's Writing Age 18 months

• Toby starts to scribble at 18 months. His parents
  provide him with unlined paper and thick markers
  that are easy for him to grasp.
• His ability to make dark marks and to write in a
  circular motion indicate that he is gaining
  control over the small muscles in his hands.
• Although he will not write real letters for quite
  some time, Toby's scribbling prepares him for
  this step

3
Toby's Writing Age 3

• At home, he chooses to write on his own. He
  spends time filling pads of paper with "writing"
  similar to this page. He combines scribbles,
  which are around the edges of the paper, with
  many figures that have a letter-like appearance.
• Toby begins to write some letters in his name. In
  the center of the paper, he writes an upside down
  "T" and an 'o" to the left. The letter-like
  figure to the right of the "T" may even be a "B."
  
• As is typical of toddlers and young children,
  Toby is not yet sure of how individual letters
  are oriented in space and does not know that
  print goes from left to right. However, he is
  beginning to use real and letter-like letters in
  his writing.

4
Toby's Writing Age 4

• Four-year-old Toby also enjoys writing and
  drawing at school. He draws a picture of a fire
  truck, writes a label for his picture, and also
  writes his name.
• Like most children his age, Toby has learned a
  lot about the printed word in just a year. He now
  writes from left to right.
• Toby is beginning to use invented spelling,
  writing "fire truck" as "FRTRK."
• Typical of young children, he does not yet use
  any vowels in his invented spelling..

• He does not put a space between the words "fire"
  and "truck" and may not even know these are two
  words.
• He writes using only upper case letters, and
  nearly all are correctly formed

5
Toby's Writing Kindergartner

• Toby continues to write a lot in kindergarten.
• He draws a picture of a crane and labels it,
  "Crane lifting a house." Similar to a year ago,
  he combines a picture with a label, but he now
  uses a label of several words.
• He still uses mostly upper case letters, as is
  typical for kindergartners.
• Toby now uses spaces between words.
• He continues to use invented spelling, but he has
  learned how to spell the common ending "ing" the
  correct way.
• He continues to use mostly consonants in his
  invented spelling, which is also typical of
  kindergartners.

6
Toby's Writing First Grader

• In first grade, Toby uses writing a lot both in
  and out of school.
• At home, when he is mad at his parents, he writes
  them a letter to express his feelings.
• Toby is able to write much more than he could
  just a year ago.
• He has learned lower case letters in first grade
  and uses mostly lower case letters now.
• He has learned some more about conventions of
  print, such as an upper case letter to start
  "Bob" and "Mom."
• He is exploring punctuation by using exclamation
  points, a period, and an apostrophe, but he has
  not yet mastered how to use these.

• Like most first graders, Toby uses some invented
  spelling to tackle harder words such as "meanie,"
  but he now spells most simple words correctly.

7
Toby's WritingSecond-Grader

• Toby's classroom encourages children to express
  ideas through journal writing. In this journal
  entry, Toby creates a story about some animals
  playing baseball.
• Toby is now able to write very long stories.
  Although just a page is shown here, this story
  continues for four full pages!
• Toby is more secure with conventions of writing,
  such as when to use upper case letters and
  periods.
• He still relies on invented spelling to spell
  harder words, but spells many common words the
  correct way.

8
Toby's Writing Third-Grader
9

• In third grade, Toby continues to write in his
  journal daily.
• In this typical entry, he writes about the
  highlights of his weekend.
• Toby's handwriting is much smaller, showing that
  he now has greater control over his handwriting
  and that he forms letters smoothly and easily.
• He now uses upper case letters correctly at the
  beginning of sentences and for proper names, such
  as Nathaniel, Mr. Holland, and Super Muncher.
• He places punctuation marks at the ends of
  sentences and uses points and periods.
• Toby now uses correct spelling almost
  exclusively.