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What
is the Connection Between Reading and Writing?
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Many people
believe that, upon entering school, children will first learn
to read and then learn to write. The process to learning to
read and write begins very early in a child's life, as children
have contact with many forms of communication right from the
start. Most children can identify common signs and logos by
the age of 2-3 and they will begin to experiment with written
forms of communicating long before they can read by scribbling.
Reading
and writing develop at the same time in young children and
are interrelated. Children to not learn how to read first
and then learn how to write, as writing is often easier for
some children to begin with than reading. Children love to
make marks on paper and, as they begin to realize that the
symbols on pages are letters that form words, they will attempt
to put their thoughts down on paper as well. The development
of writing skills, as holds true with the development of speaking
or reading, consists of stages that children pass through.
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* Children begin their writing development by
scribbling and otherwise making nonsense marks on paper.
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As their fine motor skills improve and they become
more aware of what print looks like in books they may
try to imitate it with nonsense letters.
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Once children can begin to reproduce letter forms, they
will string letters together in a random order.
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As they begin to notice print in their environment,
they will start copying words that they see around them.
Some they will know the meaning of and some they won't.
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After children have learned that there is an association
between letters and sounds they will begin one of the
most important stages: invented spelling |
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Invented
Spelling
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I
liked when the cow was in the moon. |
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As
children become writers, they begin to invent spelling for the
words that they wish to put on paper. Invented spelling is sometimes
referred to as "temporary spelling" because it is
used by children until they learn the conventions and rules
that adults use when they spell. Invented spelling is a developmentally
appropriate step in the process of learning to read and write.
It does not interfere with a child's ability to spell correctly
in later years. When children first learn to speak, we welcome
the attempts they make to reproduce the sounds that they hear.
This is exactly what beginning writers are doing with invented
spelling.
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Benefits
of invented spelling include:
*encourages
children to make vital connections between letters and sounds
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helps children to become independent writers as they ask for
less help spelling words
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gives them the ability to write anything they say, leading
to longer and more interesting stories
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allows children to write more words than they know how to
read
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encourages children to take responsibility for their own learning
as they have more control over what they write
*allows
for extensive practice of phonics as they use letters to represent
the sounds that they hear
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Notice
in the examples below that children begin invented spelling
by reproducing the phonetic sounds that they hear. They usually
leave out vowels and letters that don't make a distinct sound
in a word.
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My family
went swimming. |
My dog almost
ran away. |
My birthday
is coming soon. I'm going to have balloons. |
I am good
at playing football. |
We don't fight.
We listen to our teacher. |
I like to
catch snow flakes. |
I like my
Mom's dress. |
My birthday
is coming up. I will invite Rachel. |
I like to
pick flowers in the spring. It is fun. I like red flowers. |
Children
will move toward more conventional spelling as their exposure
and learning increase by adding vowel sounds, digraphs,
etc. As
their confidence grows, they will begin to put sentences
together to tell a short story. This one, by a Kindergarten
student in March, says:
Last year my mom and me planted a tree. We grew it
from a seed. The seed already had a tree growing in it. |
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