Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: Guidance for Best Practices

  • Published:
Early Childhood Education Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Writing is a critical emergent literacy skill that lays the foundation for children’s later literacy skills and reading achievement. Recent work indicates that many early childhood programs offer children materials and tools for engaging in writing activities but teachers rarely are seen modeling writing for children or scaffolding children’s writing attempts. Early childhood educational settings hoping to support children’s literacy development should provide multiple opportunities for children to observe teachers model writing, provide teacher support and scaffolding for children’s writing attempts and engage children in meaningful writing in their play. This paper provides twelve research-based guidelines for supporting children’s writing development in early childhood classrooms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aram, D. (2005). Continuity in children’s literacy achievements: A longitudinal perspective from kindergarten to school. First Language, 25, 259–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bialystok, E. (1995). Making concepts of print symbolic: Understanding how writing represents language. First Language, 15, 317–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair, R., & Savage, R. (2006). Name writing but not environmental print recognition is related to letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness in 308 pre-readers. Reading and Writing, 19, 991–1016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloodgood, J. W. (1999). What’s in a name? Children’s name writing and literacy acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 34, 342–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabell, S. Q., Justice, L. M., Zucker, T. A., & McGinty, A. S. (2009). Emergent name-writing abilities of preschool-age children with language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40, 53–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, K. E., Gerde, H. K., & Powell, D. R. (2008). Development in early literacy skills during the pre-kindergarten year in head start: Relations between growth in children’s writing and understanding of letters. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 467–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drouin, M., & Harmon, J. (2009). Name writing and letter knowledge in preschoolers: Incongruities in skills and the usefulness of name writing as a developmental indicator. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24, 263–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerde, H. K., & Bingham, G. E. (2012, July). An examination of materials and interaction supports for children’s writing in preschool classrooms. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading. Montréal, Quebec.

  • Hammill, D. (2004). What we know about correlates of reading. Exceptional Children, 70, 453–468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, R. (1945/1973). The carrot seed. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers Inc.

  • Levin, I., Both-De Vries, A., Aram, D., & Bus, A. (2005). Writing starts with own name writing: From scribbling to conventional spelling in Israeli and Dutch children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 26, 463–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, E. (1985). Name writing and the preschool child. Phoenix, AZ: Early Childhood Center, Phoenix College.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuman, S. B., Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2000). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, C. (1975). Children’s categorization of speech sounds in English. National Council of Teachers of English Research Report no. 17 (pp. 189–201). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

  • Schickedanz, J., & Casbergue, R. (2009). Writing in preschool: Learning to orchestrate meaning and marks. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shatil, E., Share, D. L., & Levin, I. (2000). On the contribution of kindergarten spelling to Grade 1 literacy: A longitudinal study in Hebrew. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sulzby, E., & Teale, W. H. (1985). Writing development in early childhood. Educational Horizons, 64, 8–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Titherington, J. (1986/1990). Pumpkin pumpkin. New York: Greenwillow Books/Harper Collins.

  • Tolchinsky, L. (2006). The emergence of writing. In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 83–95). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welsch, J. G., Sullivan, A., & Justice, L. M. (2003). That’s my letter!: What preschoolers’ name writing representations tell us about emergent literacy knowledge. Journal of Literacy Research, 35, 757–776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worzalla, S., Pess, R., Taub, A., & Skibbe, L. (2009, June). Parental instruction and preschoolers’ writing outcomes in an American, middle SES sample. In D. Aram, & I. Levin (Organizers), Home literacy contributes to alphabetic skills: Evidence-based longitudinal and intervention studies in various populations. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Boston, MA.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hope K. Gerde.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 1.

Table 1 Guidelines for best practice in writing checklist

Appendix 2

See Table 2.

Table 2 Children’s books provide inspirational writing prompts

Appendix 3

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gerde, H.K., Bingham, G.E. & Wasik, B.A. Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: Guidance for Best Practices. Early Childhood Educ J 40, 351–359 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0531-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0531-z

Keywords

Navigation