Children are already writers and illustrators! Scribble-writing, drawing, symbols that look like letters, or random letters are the natural beginning stages of writing development for young children. Educators can best support young children’s writing by encouraging them to express their growing understanding of words wherever they currently are along a continuum of writing development.

A writing continuum can help teachers to notice and name what emergent writers are already doing and identify the next steps to nudge towards.

Download a PDF version: Writing Milestones Continuum.pdf

Writing skills emerge with frequent opportunities to draw and write. Meanwhile, ongoing phonological awareness and phonics teaching and learning support the emergent writer's movement from scribbles, to invented spelling, to conventional spelling of words.