Discusses efforts at teaching children in kindergarten how to write, indicating that emergent readers can indeed write with scribbles, random letters, numerals, and sometimes words. Discusses their dictation, journal content, writing stages, and developmental trends. (HTH)

The validity of recent research concerning invented spelling, the developmental stages in children's writing, and whether children will attempt writing before reading and continue writing while learning to read were examined. Five developmental stages in spelling have been identified: (1) the precommunicative stage, involving the use of random…

Illustrates how school writing environments that encourage talk between peers can help children learn about writing and the writing process. Describes recurring patterns of language behavior at a kindergarten writing table and shows how children's natural conversations are often reminiscent of adult-child interaction in the home. (HTH)

A project developed a program for improving writing readiness skills. The targeted population consisted of 37 kindergarten students in an upper middle class southwest Chicago (Illinois) suburb. The need for writing readiness skills was documented through writing observation checklists, anecdotal records, writing portfolios, and diagnostic tests.…

A study was conducted in which word processing and voice synthesis were used to teach beginning writing skills to kindergarten and first grade students. Subjects, 46 children from two elementary schools enrolled in an early education summer school class in writing, were randomly divided into three groups. One group was taught writing using a…

To determine how children develop schema for text that include increasing sensitivity to text types, text categories, orthographic conventions in words, conventional story beginnings and endings, and text cohesive ties, a study examined the writing of four kindergarten children. The kindergarten had adopted a process-conference approach to writing…

Using data collected from kindergarten and second grade children in a study of young children's concepts about writing as reflected in their school writing behaviors, this report focuses on information gathered from second grade children. The introductory chapter restates the research questions guiding the study and briefly reviews the major…