3.+Early+Years+Writers

3. Early Years Writers:

During multiple observations and through my engagements over a short period of time of Early Years learners, I have learnt much about Early Years writers. I have learnt that they often only focus on either the content of the writing or the quality of the handwriting, not both at the same time, that some of the students struggle and write their letters backwards or have trouble sounding out the words for spelling purposes.

In these instances, I observed a use of "literacy techniques" through a board of clever options to help with spelling. These were intended as both reading and writing aides, however, some were more suited to either as opposed to both. Some of the key literacy techniques used in writing, were things like //stretchy snake// where students were encouraged to stretch out the particular word they were trying to read or spell and break it down into sounding out individual letters, also known as //isolation//; or //chunky monkey// where a multi syllable word was broken down into chunks or smaller parts of words they may already know how to spell and then they join those smaller words together, for example the word "**antenna**" would be broken down as "**an-ten-na**", three separate words that together spell the single, larger word, this is more often reffered to as //segmentation//. The last key technique used especially for spelling and writing was //cross-checking kangaroo// where the students were encouraged to cross-check their work, spelling and handwriting with a "buddy" or relate a particular word with something around them. During my recent practicum, I observed this technique during an Early Years handwriting session where students were writing out a "good copy" of a poem they had made earlier in the week. The students were to strongly focus on each letter individually as they wrote it, making sure their "t's" were the correct height and they had their captial letters and full stops in the correct places. If they needed help with spelling, they were encouraged to find it on the **word wall** or use a **THRASS chart** to help with spelling out the sounds. The students were also asked to show their work to a "buddy or neighbour" and get them to check their handwriting also. A major focus in this session was correct pencil holding technique, where the students were encouraged to make sure they were not gripping their pencils too tight and to make it like their thumb and forefingers were "kissing", with their 3 friends (other fingers) were closely watching. I also learnt that finger strengthening exercises were a big asset in handwriting technique and some stations were set up on a different occassion, one of which where students were encouraged to play with play-doh and roll it into little balls between their fingers.

The written language observed in Early Years writers was so inconsistent. Where one child may have better handwriting than many adults, another may struggle with legibility and over correction. Hill (2012, p.322) mentions that "Children may write lists of letters and words without spaces" and that this is normal at a developmental stage in writing known as //emergent writing.// The stages in the class I observed ranged from //emergent writing,// to a majority of //early writing// where spelling can be invented due to sounds for example, a student I observed spelled the word "awesome" as "orsem", but the legibility of writing is clear; then a few students were at a //transitional writing// stage where "The volume of writing increases and.... The plots in narrative writing may be episodic and finding a satisfactory ending might be a challenge" (Hill 2012, p.318). This generally means that the writing is improving and the sentences becoming slightly more complex, however the quality suffers because the phrases are often repeated.

There are many different text types to consider for Early Years writers and it is important that the students be aware of this. The different text types include; procedure, discussion, report, narrative, recount, and explanation. The purpose of a **procedure** text is to be instructional, often a step-by-step guide. A **discussion** text shows both sides of an argument and can also be know as an //exposition// text. A text using question/answer techniques or classifying, comparing or contrasting with a problem/solution technique in known as a **report**. A **narrative** has a sole purpose to entertain the reader, a **recount** is used to retell events and an **explanation** is used to simple do that, explain. Early Years writers need to be aware of these text types so that they can read them and understand them and can then model them within their own writing.