Early+Years+Writers


 * Early Years Writers **

// What have you learnt about Early Years writers, text types and phases of literacy development through your engagements with Early Years learners? //

Elena:

Although Aimee did not write much in our interview, Aimee’s writing sample indicates that she is showing emergent writing with quite decent scores of 4 and 5 out of a possible 6. Aimee’s scores were 4 for her written language, as she was able to write a simple sentence, 5 for her ideas, as she recorded her own idea in a sentence, and 4 for her text conventions, as she was able to use punctuation correctly, according to the writing assessment sheets (Hill, 2011 p. 290-291).

Aimee’s writing level, according to VELS is at a level 1.5, although with only a limited sample, it is quite hard to be able to tell. I was unable to tell what Aimee’s capabilities are like when it comes to writing in paragraphs, as the only sample I have of her writing is a single sentence she chose to write about the book that was introduced to her. However, from the answers from her writing interview, combined with her writing sample, it is safe to say that Aimee is a level 1.5 in VELS writing standards. This was evident through her “rereading of … own writing, checking that it makes sense” (Department of education and early childhood development, 2010) and also the correct spelling that she showed of words she was familiar with such as ‘missed’ and ‘his’, as well as her “plausible attempts at spelling unfamiliar words” such as dinner” (Department of education and early childhood development, 2010).

Topics Aimee likes to write about are photos and herself. She writes for her Mum, Dad, friends, and teacher, and enjoys writing on the computer, or at school because they have good pencils. Aimee uses spelling books or a dictionary when she has trouble spelling a word.

Grace:

For written language, I scored my student 4. This is because she can clearly write simple sentences; however her use of punctuation is not consistent and is not always evident. For ideas, I scored my student 4. This is because she is able to use sentence stems such as “I like…” but had trouble coming up with original and creative ideas when asked to write a sentence about a book she had just read. For text, I scored my student a 3. This is because she is using spaces between words and lines, the spelling was also correct. However, this child was not able to use capitalization and punctuation correctly.

After assessing the reading and writing abilities of this student, and cross checking with the VELS Progression Points for English (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2009), I have assessed this child to be reading and writing almost completely at level 1.75. The student displayed most of these progression points. The reading progression points were all fulfilled. The progression point that was not completed 100% in writing was: The student was not completely confident in the correct use of capital letters, full stops and question marks when writing.

My student likes to write made up stories, mainly writing at school for her teacher. If she has difficulty spelling words, she will ask her teacher.

Laura:

After asking Child A to read her book from her reader, I asked her to write a few sentences about the book. Her writing reflected a sound knowledge of basic words and phrases. Using the Emergent and early writing assessment sheet, (Hill:290/293) I have analysed the writing sample. For written language, Child A could write a simple sentence, therefore scoring her a 4. I scored her a 5 in ideas as she recorded her own ideas in the sentences after reading the text. With text conventions, I scored the child a 3 as she used spaces between words and lines. There was evidence of punctuation used, however used inappropriately.

Using the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), I assessed Child A’s reading and writing. For writing, I thought child A would be in level 1.25 as the child was able to write one or more generally readable sentences with some correct use of punctuation including capital letters and full stops, create a drawing that reflected the intended meaning of their writing, and plausible attempts at spelling unfamiliar words by matching letters to the sound they make.

Child A loves to write made up stories. She likes to invent her own characters and a story line. Child A also has family overseas and they frequently write postcards to Child A and her brother, which they love receiving! They get so excited to retrieve the postcard from their letterbox and get their mum or dad to read the postcard with them. Child A likes to write both at school and at home, but mostly at home when she has free time to invent a story.

Michelle:

Fred wrote a diary entry about taking the main character from the text, home to his house for the weekend. Using the Emergent and early writing assessment sheet (Hill p. 290) Fred received the following scores: Written Language = 5 with several sentences with punctuation. Ideas = 6 composing several ideas. Text conventions = 5 with spelling, punctuation, and capitalisation checked. With regard to his writing, Fred competently displays all of the early phase descriptors, and is well on the way to many of the transitional descriptors. Fred wrote several sentences with punctuation, checked his spelling on one word, correctly spelled high frequency words and made excellent attempts at more difficult words. Fred wrote as his ideas for his story came to him, rather than needing to concentrate on the physical act of writing each letter.

For Fred's writing, he definitely demonstrates all VELS skills required for 1.25 and more than 75% for the 1.5 Standard. He is able to sequence a small number of ideas in readable sentences, revised his writing, mostly correct use of capitals and full stops, plausible attempts at spelling unfamiliar words, and a drawing that supports meaning of his writing.

Fred enjoys writing about his weekend in his diary at school. He writes stories at home about his adventures. Fred enjoys typing on the computer. He writes letters, stories and birthday cards using textas and pencils, but doesn't really use pen. Fred identifies his brothers as the writers in the family because they write a lot for homework.

Rochelle:

Chantelle’s writing samples display attributes associated with the early writing stage. Hill (2006) explains ‘how within the early writing stage children continue to make up the spelling of words, they begin to leave spaces between words and they distinguish between upper and lower case letters’. The emergent and early writing assessment sheet (Hill, 2006) has been used to assess Chantelle’s writing (see below). Chantelle has written a simple sentence with the use of a capital letter to begin her sentence and a full stop at the end of her sentence (See Appendix 2) giving her a rating of five for written language. Chantelle was able to use her own ideas to simply summarise the text although she did leave out a few significant parts in the story thus resulting in a score of five for ideas. Chantelle wrote her sentences from left to right with appropriate spaces between lines and words. She made many spelling mistakes such as the misspelling of ‘Rosie’, ‘rain’ and ‘cave’ although she did proof read her writing she was only able to correct the spelling of ‘Rosie’. She also incorrectly used capital letters where it wasn’t required, resulting in a score of four for text conventions.

For writing Chantelle is currently at progression point 1.25, as she included one generally readable sentence with some correct use of capital letters and a full stop which is expected at this VELS level (DEECD, 2010). She made plausible attempts at spelling unfamiliar words, matching sound-letter relationships but did make quite a few spelling mistakes. She drew a picture to support her writing and the summary of the story was written based on her own ideas. Chantelle is working towards 1.5 but will need more practice with the correct use of capital letters and spelling before she is at that progression point. Chantelle is in the early phase for words and writing. She was able to write many words about meaningful topics, she is aware of the use of some punctuation and can write simple sentences. Due to her many spelling mistakes and misuse of capital letters through her writing sample she was not considered to be in the transitional phase as she was with her reading.

** Summary: **

** In summary, through our engagement with Early Years writers we learnt that all children whose writing samples were assessed were at varying levels, with each child being assessed using both the VELS and the writing assessment sheets (Hill). It was also evident that all children also had different interests when it came to writing. Some children preferred to write about themselves, and things they knew, whilst others preferred to write fictional stories. Some children enjoyed writing for their teacher, and others enjoyed writing for their families or friends. We have learnt that each child develops at a different pace, and that each child’s literacy strengths, weaknesses and needs are different. **

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