My four-year-old granddaughter, Addison, has taken up writing now. She loves to scribble little notes and messages for her Mama and Dada. What looks at first glance like random letters, a trained eye can see exactly what she was trying to tell her Dada. (Of course, her Mama did ask what the message said and translated the message into standard written English in her text message to Nana and Papa)-- "I would like to snuggle." Do you see it? Addison even told her Mama she had run out of room on the page where she'd placed a Velcro sticker or else she would have "added more letters". The emergent writer, whether she is four or forty-four goes through the same stages. Knowing how to spell Dada is one thing, but using initial sounds to indicate full words is exactly appropriate at the beginning stages of writing development. Try reading it now and see how she used initial sounds. Proud Nana sees the use of "snog..." for snuggle and is quite thrilled! Can't wait to watch this process as Addison becomes a "writer", something so near and dear to my heart! I suppose this is what athletes feel when their children or grandchildren take their sports! Manipulating words on a page is mine!
Stay JOYful and Write On!
