1. The Early Literacy Specialists of Eastern Ontario
From scribbling to writing: supporting pre-writing skills in young children
The Early Literacy Specialists of Eastern Ontario

2. Group activity # 1 Choose a card representing a child’s drawing.
Compare your card with the others and place in order of stage of development for picture making.
Source: Lullabies to Literacy Program, MaCaulay Centre, Toronto

3. Language, reading and writing skills develop at the same time and are intimately linked.
Preschoolers don’t have the skills required to write: they lack eye-hand coordination, pencil grip, dexterity, muscle strength in hands and fingers.

4. Fine motor skills
Fine motor skills are defined as small muscle movements which occur in the fingers, hands and wrists in coordination with the eyes.
Improvements depend on the gradual development of motor systems as well as the opportunity to practice fine movement skills.

5. The brain connection Myelin is a dense, fatty
substance that helps neurons
send and receive messages
faster and more clearly. The
myelination process occurs in
the first 2-3 years of life.
Also, the continued
development
of the cerebellum
affects the timing and
coordination of motor tasks.

6. Basic fine motor skill building activities
Play doe
Puzzles (includes self-correction)
Vertical painting and drawing (on big paper)
Cutting practice with scissors
Pasting and tearing
Building with blocs
Dressing dolls / self

7. At what age does a child become
right or left handed?

8. Answer: By the age of 6 or 7
I takes many years for handedness to become fully expressed in the brain.
Both genes and experience play a role in hand preference.
Switching back and forth is normal.
At 18 month, about 50% have stable hand preference.

9. Group Activity # 2
In small groups, find age-appropriate fine motor skill building activities using worksheet.
Please make use of your experience, imagination and available resources.

10. Writing skills
“Scribbling has been described as a type of ‘motor babbling’ and as the child matures, the forms that arise from scribbling gradually become transformed into printing and writing”
Craig, Kerms & Digdon, 2001

11. The developmental Stages of Writing Stage 1: Scribbling
Can be random marks on paper
Marks can be large, circular and resemble drawing
When the intention is to convey a message, it’s early literacy!

12. Stage 2 : Letter-like symbols
Letter/number like forms emerge
Child often uses same three letters
Often letters from own name
Writer can talk about own writings

13. Stage 3: Strings of letters
Some legible letters evident
Developing awareness of sound-to-symbol relationship but not matching most sounds
Usually capital letters
No spacing

14. Stage 4: Beginning sounds emerge
String of letters with beginning sounds to represent words
Start to see difference between letter and word
Message makes sense and matches the picture

15. Stage 5: Consonants represent words
Matches some sounds with consonants
Begin to see spaces between words
Often mix upper and lower case letters
Start to use punctuation
Concept of sentence emerges

16. Stage 6: Initial, middle and final sounds
Spelling for Macaroni can be Ma c r ni beginning and end sounds are present
Some words spelled correctly
Other words spelled the way they sound
Writing is readable

17. Stage 7: Transitional phases
Uses invented spelling ( iz for is shows phoneme awareness)
Writing is readable and approaches conventional spelling
Some words in standard form and patterns
Uses visual memory for spelling

18. Stage 8: Standard spelling
Most words are spelled correctly
Writers starting to understand root words, compound words, contractions and punctuation

19. Reflective questions
How can we share our knowledge about fine motor skill/writing development with parents?
What are the basic requirements (environment and materials) for setting up a preschool writing centre?