Early+Years+Writers

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 Early Years Writing As we know, reading is a very important part of literacy and along with developing reading comes developing writing skills and comprehension, which is as equally important as it is a ‘two way process where both shed light on each other’ (Hill, 2011 p.287). Teaching writing in the early years may begin with the emphasis onthe physical ability to write letters and hold a pencil and then as students grasp that it extends with the ability to string together sentences with meaning and then extended even furthe r by asking children to write stories, recounts and letters which help the children relate and really know what the story they are telling is about.

During the early years writing sequence students are building the foundations of writing such as directionality, pencil holding, punctuation, high frequency spelling, editing text types and audience. These are all built up over the early year period of writing. The ‘Phases in literacy development’ table (Hill, 2011 p.6) shows the 6 phases (beginning through to extending) for early years development in three different areas; words, reading and writing. As students progress through each phase it is important that the next phase’s goals are in the mind of the teacher. Ideally at the end of the early year’s phases, all students will be at Level 2 working towards level 3 according to VELS progression points.

Assessment Assessment in early years writing is helpful and used for the teacher to figure out their next step and next goal for the student. Also, knowing where the students are at with writing skill can help plan the writing program. It will give theteacher knowledge of what the students understands about writing and what they don’t. There are numerous ways to assess early years writing and Hill’s; ‘Developing Early Literacy’ provides us with two separate examples, one is used for assessing more complex text. (Hill, 2011 p.290-292). When assessing student Student A, Student C and Student D the more complex sheet would be used.

Student A.
 * Grade 1.
 * VELS writing progression point: 1.5, close to 1.75.
 * Phase in literacy development: Transitional.
 * Demonstrates editing and produces quality work with consistent correct use of capital letters and spacing.

Student B.
 * Prep.
 * VELS writing progression point: 0.5.
 * Phase in literacy development: Early emergent.
 * Can write up to the letter ‘D’ and understands reason behind some writing. Student knows words have meaning behind them.

<span style="color: #e20808; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Student C.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Grade 1.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">VELS writing progression point: 1.5.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Phase in literacy development: Early almost transitional.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Student can break up words to help assist with spelling and can spell a lot of high frequency words correctly. Student can also link ideas together to form recounts and stories.

<span style="color: #a34891; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Student D.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Grade 1.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">VELS writing progression point: 1.75 or 2.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Phase in literacy development: Transitional.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Student can identify different types of text and audiences. Student can also re-read to correct meaning and punctuation and correctly spells most high frequency words and has decent attempts at other unfamiliar words.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;"> VELS - English progression point examples.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%; line-height: 25px;">Throughout the 4 students observed and questioned, there is a lot of difference in their abilities in writing this may be because of their out of school habits (funds of knowledge) and of course the difference in Year level of Student B. This is very evident when students are compared to the ‘phases in literacy development’ as student B who is in prep would stand in the Early Emergent phase and the others, well above. (Hill, 2011 p.6) Also when referring to VELS you can see that all students are on track according to the progression points outlined for writing. Student D has told that she likes to write out of school and in different text types, this may be evidence into her quick progression through VELS –writing.