Basic Emergent Literacy Assumptions
Through a variety of literacy experiences at home and school children learn concepts about print. Reading aloud to children helps them to understand that pictures relate to the meaning of a story, that letters are put together to form words, words are separated by spaces, and there is a definite progression from beginning to the middle to the end of a story.
Emergent Literacy Concepts 
- We use pictures and words to communicate.
- Pictures have meaning.
- Pictures tell stories.
- Words have meaning.
- Words are used to tell stories.
- The words tell about the pictures.
- Children can make their own stories using pictures and words.
- Stories have a sequence.
- Stories have characters, actions, and settings.
- Stories have a beginning, middle, and an end.
- We read words from the top of the page to the bottom
- There is a one to one correspondence between written and spoken words.
- Each word we say can be written down, using one or more letters of the alphabet.
- Written words are separated by spaces, just as spoken words are separated by pauses.
- Writing emerges in children's drawings.
Stages of Writing
The following stages of writing are taken from Project ELIPSS, Head Start Emergent Literacy Project, Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood. Module Two: From Scribbling to “Real” Writing: Stages in Early Writing Development.
Scribbling
Children's first exploration with writing can occur before the age of two. In this stage, random marks or “scribbles” often occur on a page with drawings. Toddlers use the terms drawing and writing to describe their marks; however, three- and four-year-olds generally understand the difference between the two.
How Adults Can Promote Scribbling:
- Provide children with lots of blank paper, and many kinds of drawing and writing tools and media (crayons, chalk, paint, markers).
- Invite children to talk about their writing and accept their responses, without criticism.
Mock Handwriting
Children in this stage produce lines of wavy scribbles as they imitate adult cursive writing. Their writing often appears on a page with drawings. Mock handwriting is also used in dramatic play situations.
How Adults Can Promote Mock Handwriting:
- Provide many opportunities for children to write.
- Model conventional print on a daily basis.
Mock Letters
Children make letter-like shapes that resemble conventional alphabet letters. Mock letters may appear spontaneously around children's drawings.
How Adults Can Promote Mock Letters:
- Support children in this stage by continuing to provide many kinds of writing materials, including typewriters and computers.
- Continue to model conventional writing.
Conventional Letters
Real letters of the alphabet begin to appear as children's mock letters become more and more conventional. The first letters are usually the letters in a child's name. Children may create strings of letters which are “read” as a sentence.
How Adults Can Promote Conventional Letters:
- Provide a classroom or home environment that is rich in print.
- Point out print in the outside world to children.
- Give children plenty of opportunities to write and to talk about what they have written.
- Model writing for children.
Invented Spelling
At this stage children begin to cluster letters together to make word forms.These words do not look like or sound like “real” words.
How Adults Can Promote Invented Spelling:
- Point out words in the environment, particularly those that appear frequently.
- Serve as a good model for writing.
- Offer to write down the children's words to make cards, letters, or stories.
- Identify the letters that a child has written.
- Supply the child with words similar to ones he/she has created.
- Ask the child to tell you what he/she has written.
Approximated (Phonetic) Spellings
Children attempt to spell words based on their growing awareness of letters and sounds, and on their memory of words they have seen repeatedly. The beginning words are generally written with capital letters or a combination of capital and lower-case letters. Children move from spelling words by writing the beginning consonant letter, to writing both the beginning and final letters, to writing words with a beginning, middle, and final letter-sound.
How Adults Can Promote Approximated (Phonetic) Spellings:
- Provide children with many correct models, without calling attention to their nonconventional spellings.
- Help children listen for the sounds in words.
- Use software which promotes writing to support children's early attempts to spell words.
Conventional Spellings
Children's approximated spellings gradually become more and more conventional. The child's own name is usually written first, followed by words such as mom, dad, and love.
How Adults Can Promote Conventional Spellings:
- Be patient and continue to serve as a good writing model.
- Read to children and provide them with simple books which contain repetitive phrases.
- Answer children's questions about words.
- Provide access to computer programs for writing.
Source- Barclay, K. (1996). From Scribbling to “Real” Writing: Stages in early writing development. Head Start emergent literacy training guides. Macomb, IL: Western Illinois University.
