## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Language Development and Communication (LDC)

#### Subdomain: Foundations for Writing

#### Goal: Children use writing and other symbols to record information and communicate for a variety of purposes.

#### Skill Progression: Use writing and other symbols to record information and communicate for a variety of purposes

#### Age: 36-42 Months

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### Draws circle spontaneously

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child writing a letter or note to a relative.

Elicitation Strategy

Give the child a pencil and paper and first ask the child to write a letter or message to someone she knows. Let her choose who she wants to write. After the child finishes, the adult asks, “Tell me what you said, and I’ll write it down below right here.” Have the child write her name at the bottom.

Behavior Observed

The child holds the pencil with a three-finger grasp.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Components of early writing include linearity (writing in a line), segmentation (letters are separate), presence of simple units, left-to-right direction, presence of complex units, random letters, and invented spelling. Learning to write their first name helps children learn a few letters and sound letter-correspondence. Early childhood educators and parents can give children reasons to write their name and provide paper and pencil in play areas, which will encourage them to practice writing. Adults can also help children learn the letters in the names of friends and family members.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.