Developmental Spelling, the Writing Process, Modes of

Writing, and Sample Lessons

Catherine Thompson & Mandi Ulmer

Hand-N-Hand Primary School

Developmental Spelling: Stages and Teaching

Strategies

Precommunicative Spelling:“Role Play Writing”

Characteristics of Writing• Use scribbles, letters, letter-like forms,

numbers.• Show no understanding of phoneme-

grapheme (letter-sound) relationships.• Show a preference for uppercase

letters.• Write from left-to-right, right-to-left,

top-to-bottom, or randomly on the page.

• Know that the print carries the message.

Precommunicative Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Develop interest in print: Read aloud daily, create a print-rich environment, spend time with books.

• Encourage children to write. • Use LEA and teacher/student

modeling.• Teach letter names with letter forms.

Precommunicative Spelling:Teaching Strategies, cont.

• Introduce concepts and terms: letter, beginning/ending sounds, word, sentence.

• Begin developing understanding of letter sounds, concept of rhyming.

• Discuss and model directionality.• Discuss spelling with children & family

members.• Find an appreciative audience.

Semiphonetic Spelling:Experimental

Characteristics of Writing

• Sometimes have not developed directionality: write from left to right, top to bottom.

• Use letters to represent sounds.• Use abbreviated 1, 2, 3 letter spellings;

omit some important letters in words.• Use letter-name strategy for spelling.

Semiphonetic Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Encourage attempts at writing.• Continue to develop phoneme-

grapheme correspondence.• Do LEA, asking for help with spelling.• Model writing.• Read daily.• Brainstorm words (& spelling) to

make word banks prior to writing (sometimes).

Semiphonetic Spelling:Teaching Strategies, cont.

• Encourage children to write by representing sounds in the order they hear them.

• Display words used frequently in writing.

• Let children see what other children write.

• Discuss developmental spelling with children and family members.

Semiphonetic Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Encourage attempts at writing.• Continue to develop phoneme-

grapheme correspondence.• Do LEA, asking for help with spelling.• Model writing.• Read daily.• Brainstorm words (& spelling) to make

word banks prior to writing (sometimes).

Phonetic Spelling:Characteristics of Writing

• Select letters on basis of sound alone.

• Spelling represents all essential sound features.

• Spelling is readable (more or less).

Phonetic Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Read daily.• Model writing and encourage children

to write.• Develop awareness of correct spelling,

emphasizing visual features of words.• Expose children to word families,

spelling patterns, word structure.• Teach students how to study a word.

Transitional Spelling:Characteristics of Writing

• Include a vowel in each syllable. • Apply many spelling rules; may over

generalize.• Spelling resembles English spelling.

• Spelling is easily read.

Transitional Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Provide correct model of spelling.• Have students identify misspelled

words by circling them.• Provide writing resources and teach

students to use them independently.• Provide a spelling program. • Study affixes, root words, and

homophones.

Transitional Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Provide word-sorting activities.• Extend use of personal word banks.• Encourage use of mnemonics.• Emphasize importance of dictionary

spelling for public sharing.• Model writing and encourage children

to write. • Let students see what others write.• Read daily.

Correct Spelling:Characteristics of Writing

• Have internalized the alphabetic principle.

• Have learned basic spelling words.• Spell words according to adult

standards.

Correct Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Teach students to spell multi-syllable words that contain common word parts (-tion, -able, inter-).

• Provide spelling instruction: increase spelling awareness & correct misspelled words.

• Keep spelling notebooks or personal dictionaries.

• Develop proofreading skills.

Correct Spelling:Teaching Strategies

• Develop responsibility for identifying & correcting own spelling.

• Encourage use of various strategies when spelling.

• Provide quality writing experiences.• Continue to model and share writing.• Read daily.

References

Some of the examples of student writing are from Temple, C., Nathan, R., Temple, F., & Burris, N. (1993). The beginnings of writing (3rd edition). New York: Allyn and Bacon.

Tonja L. Root, Ed.D. & Margie Tullos, Ed.S. Department of Early Childhood & Reading

Education. Valdosta State UniversityValdosta, Georgia 31698

The Writing Process:

Prewriting & Beyond

Root, VSU 24

Writing Process: Overview

•It is a process.•It is not linear.•It is recursive.•Discuss stages to communicate the process.

Stage 1: Prewriting• It is the getting-ready to write stage.• Up to 70% of writing time needs to be

spent in prewriting. • Teach the structure of the written form:

narrative, poetry, biography, correspondence, or another written language form.

Stage 2: Drafting

• Drafting is forming ideas into complete sentences using the prewriting graphic organizer.

• Label drafts “Draft,” “Rough Draft,” or “Sloppy Copy” to prevent students from thinking they can make this the final copy.

• Have students skip every other line to leave space for making revisions.

Stage 2: Drafting

• Drafting is forming ideas into complete sentences using the prewriting graphic organizer.

• Label drafts “Draft,” “Rough Draft,” or “Sloppy Copy” to prevent students from thinking they can make this the final copy.

• Have students skip every other line to leave space for making revisions.

Stage 3: Revising

• Refine ideas and content.• Anticipate/meet the needs of readers

through changing, adding, deleting, & rearranging content.

• Requires rereading the draft after 1-2 days.

• Requires making notes, questions, & changes as needed.

Stage 4: Editing

• Editing is proofreading.• Requires word-by-word reading &

attention to form: spelling, capitalization, punctuation, paragraph formation.

• Have students set writing aside for 2-3 days.

• This allows them to see it fresh without being able to read what is not there.

Stage 4: Editing• Explain the differences between regular

reading & proofreading.• Teach proofreading marks.• Focus on particular categories of errors.

Teach 5-10 min. mini-lessons.• Provide editing checklists to help

students locate & correct mechanical errors.

• Do not expect students to locate & correct every error.

Stage 5: Publishing & Sharing

• Put the piece in final written form.• Rewrite the piece (if developmentally

appropriate) applying handwriting skills.

• Add visuals as appropriate.

Stage 5: Publishing & Sharing

• Share finished piece with appropriate audience.

• Writing is meant to be read by readers, so share the published piece.

• Writing may also be shared by writer reading the piece.

Assessing Writing: Scoring Guide

• Differentiate levels of student performance on a task or process.

• Inform teacher and students about evaluation criteria.

• Assign a score for each attribute separately and individually.

• Give students diagnostic feedback individually.

ReferencesTonja L. Root, Ed.D. Early Childhood &

Reading Education. Valdosta State University. Valdosta, GA 31698troot@valdosta.edu

Modes of Writing For Kindergarten

Narrative Writing• Contains a “story” that may be only a

single event or several events loosely linked, which the author may react to, comment on, evaluate, sum up, or tie together

• Tells events as they move through time (control for chronological ordering)

• May include gestures, drawings, and/or intonations that support meaning

• May incorporate story book language (“and they lived happily ever after”)

Informational Writing • Students will gather, collect, and

share information about a topic• Students maintain a focus - stay on

topic• Students exclude extraneous

information when prompted

Functional Writing

• Tells someone what to do (i.e. give directions, send messages)

• Names or labels objects or places

Responding to Literature

• Students re-enact and retell stories (borrow and burrow into stories, poems, plays, and songs)

• Students create their own stories, poems, plays, and songs

• Students use literary forms and language (i.e., if they produce a poem, students should write with some poetic language, perhaps even some poetic devices, such as imagery and repetition)

References

New Standards Primary Literacy Standards: Reading and Writing Grade by Grade. NCEE, 1999.

Sample Lessons

Georgia Performance StandardsELAKW1 The student begins to understand the principles of writing.

The student • A. writes or dictates to describe familiar persons, places, objects,

or experiences • B. uses drawings, letters, and phonetically spelled words to create

meaning• C. accurately prints name, all uppercase and lowercase letters of

the alphabet, and teacher selected words• D. uses left to right pattern of writing• E. begins to use capitalization at the beginning of sentences and

punctuation (periods and question marks) at the end of sentences.SKL2 The students will compare the similarities and differences of

groups of organisms. • E. Recognize that you are similar and different from other

students. (senses, appearance)SKE1 Students will describe time patterns (such as day to night and

night to day) and objects (such as sun, moon, stars) in the day and night sky.

• B. Classify objects according to those seen in the day sky and those seen in the night sky.

• Grade Level: Kindergarten• Content Area and Topic:

Science and All About Me• Mode of Writing: Narrative

Narrative writing is telling a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Content Area Connections: Read book, When I was Little, by Jamie Lee Curtis. Explain “All About Me Bag”. Discuss characteristics of yourself.

Stages of the Writing Process

• Prewriting: Graphic OrganizerStudents will complete an “All

About Me” graphic organizer with characteristics of themselves.

• Drafting: Sloppy CopyStudents will write a story about themselves using their graphic organizers. Students will

illustrate their work.

• Revising: Adding and deleting content

Students will add or delete details to their drafts.

• Editing: ProofreadingStudents will proofread their

work looking for errors in capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Students will not be required to correct all errors.

• Publishing: Rewriting and illustratingStudents will rewrite their

narratives with the corrections that were made. They will create a

final illustration.

• Grade Level: Kindergarten• Content Area and Topic:

Science and Day and Night• Mode of Writing: Informational

Informational writing is gathering, collecting, and sharing information about a topic. Students stay on topic and exclude extraneous information when prompted.

Content Area Connections: Read book, Morning, Noon, and Night, by Jean Craighead George. Classify objects according to those seen in the day sky and those seen in the night sky.

Stages of the Writing Process

• Prewriting: Graphic OrganizerStudents will complete a day

and night graphic organizer with pictures of objects seen during the day and night.

• Drafting: Sloppy CopyStudents will write, sharing

information about things that are seen in the day and night using their

graphic organizers. Students will illustrate their work.

• Revising: Adding and deleting content

Students will add or delete details to their drafts.

• Editing: ProofreadingStudents will proofread their

work looking for errors in capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Students will not be required to correct all errors.

• Publishing: Rewriting and illustratingStudents will rewrite their

informative pieces with the corrections that were made. They will create a final illustration.