The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Spellers
On the Write Track

Spellers are hard at work learning, practicing, and mastering letter formation. What an important stage! I can’t stress enough how critical it is for children to learn the most efficient way to make each letter during this stage. Otherwise they tend to reinvent the wheel each time they make a letter, drawing it instead of writing it automatically. This almost always leads to bad habits that are tough to break later on.

But, fear not! With a little know-how (see the next chapter, “All the Write Moves”), it’s as easy as can be to show emerging writers the best way to form each letter. And rest assured, the same techniques are also useful for helping children relearn letter formation if they have already begun making any letters incorrectly.

After Spellers learn to write letters, they start to string them together to form their first written words. What an accomplishment! Cherish and celebrate these first words, awkward invented spellings and all. It is very exciting for children in this stage when they start to put the pieces of the writing puzzle together for the first time. Share in the enthusiasm; this is where a love of writing is born.