[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-591061-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":79,"doc-detail-591061-en":129},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":72,"head_meta":74,"extra_data":76,"updated_unix":78},105,"en","writing-with-young-children-creating-meaningful-writing-experiences-for-young-children","Writing with Young Children - Creating Meaningful Writing Experiences for Young Children","","Guidance on early writing development shows how young children use scribbling, drawing, and inventive marks to communicate messages. It explains writing as both composition and transcription, linking creative message-making with handwriting and spelling development through sound–symbol correspondences. The text describes why early writing predicts later reading and writing, supports executive function and socioemotional learning, and illustrates practical classroom interactions and teacher feedback that connect oral language to written text.",{"@graph":14,"@context":71},[15,34,54],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/writing-with-young-children-creating-meaningful-writing-experiences-for-young-children/591061/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":48,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":49,"interactionStatistic":50},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/writing-with-young-children-creating-meaningful-writing-experiences-for-young-children/591061.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"McQueen","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":51,"interactionType":52,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":53},"ViewAction",{"@type":55,"mainEntity":56},"FAQPage",[57,63,67],{"name":58,"@type":59,"acceptedAnswer":60},"Why do early writing attempts matter even when children do not write conventionally?","Question",{"text":61,"@type":62},"Early writing attempts are meaningful communication. Even scribbles and drawings can convey messages, and recognizing this helps adults support children’s early written communication.","Answer",{"name":64,"@type":59,"acceptedAnswer":65},"What does “writing” include for young children according to the article?",{"text":66,"@type":62},"Writing includes composition and transcription. Composition is the creative process of generating and selecting words and ideas, while transcription covers handwriting and spelling conventions.",{"name":68,"@type":59,"acceptedAnswer":69},"How can teachers support young children’s early writing development?",{"text":70,"@type":62},"Teachers can use open-ended prompts, invite children to write and dictate messages, and help children use letters to label drawings. They also provide encouraging feedback that ties verbal messages to written marks.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":73,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":75,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":77,"site_id":7},591061,1792071037,{"code":4,"msg":80,"data":81},"success",[82,86,90,94,99,104,108,113,118,121,125],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":83,"show_sort_weight":84,"slug":85},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":87,"show_sort_weight":88,"slug":89},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":120},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":124},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":128},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":80,"data":130},{"doc_id":77,"user_id":131,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":105,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":100,"language":138,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":139,"faqs":140,"seo_title":141,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":78,"read_time":142},5909890329169,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Sharing Their Ideas with the World  \nCreating Meaningful Writing Experiences for Young Children  \nPHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS  \nILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF PENNY L I SHANSKY AND ZORA GONZALEZ  \nBy Hope K. Gerde, Tanya S. Wright, and Gary E. Bingham  \nW  \nriting gives children away to share their voices and ideas with the world. Even in early childhood, the purpose of writing is to communicate. All young children have messages to share, and writing is one  \ntool they can use to communicate those messages. But eventhough the adults—from teachers to family members—who are caring for and educating young children value those messages, it is easy to miss early writing attempts because these do not look like conventional writing.1 For example, when children scribble, they are often writing, and drawing and writing are not always easy to distinguish. If we invite children to tell us about their work  \nHope K. Gerde is a professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning & Culture at Texas A&M University and a former preschool teacher. Tanya S. Wright is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and a former kindergarten teacher. Gary E. Bingham is a professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education and the director of the Urban Child Study Center at Georgia State University, and a former preschool teacher.  \nin open-ended ways (“Tell me about what you’ve made…” rather than “Did you draw your puppy?”), they may reveal that they have been writing (“I made my name!” or “It says happy birthday to mommy”). Once adults are attuned to children’s early attempts at written communication, there is much they can doto be supportive. While this article offers detailed guidance for preschool and prekindergarten teachers on early writing development, there are also simple steps teachers can share with family members, like inviting children to both write and dictate their messages and helping children use letters to label their drawings. But first, let’s break down what writing is and why it is so important.  \nThere is strong agreement among researchers that writing includes both composition and transcription.2 Composition is the creative process in which writers identify the purposes of their messages, generate messages (including ideas and stories), and carefully select words to share them.3 For example, a preschooler might draw a red circle with a diagonal line through it and say,“This sign is so no one knocks down my tower.” Transcription—which includes handwriting and spelling—is the mechanical process that allows writers to represent their messages using established conventions (enabling others to understand them) . For young children, handwriting focuses on  \n34 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2021–22  \nlearning how to make the shapes of letters (i.e., not on making perfect letters or writing letters on lines). Spelling refers to skills for matching letters to sounds in order to write words. As young children transition from scribbling to writing letters and words, they invent much of their spelling by writing the sounds they hear in words. Through explicit teaching of sound-spelling correspondences in which reading and writing are practiced together, children slowly learn standard academic spelling across the early childhood and elementary years.4  \nEven for college-educated adults who no longer have to devote much thought to the mechanics of writing, capturing their ideas in textis a complex task. For young children, it is quite challenging to form and remember messages while also figuring out how to put them on paper. Studies demonstrate that executive function skills, including self-regulation, are needed so that children attend to and persist in this complex task.5 Writing engages young children across developmental domains and activates motor, cognitive, and socioemotional learning.6  \nWhy Is Early Writing So Important?  \nYoung children (ages 3 to 5 years old) learn alot fr","cbCaiaO896vqC6Lf","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaO896vqC6Lf","pdf",409641,"English","# Why Early Writing Matters\n## Writing as Composition and Transcription\n## Developmental Challenges and Learning Benefits\n# What Children Learn Through Writing\n## Communicating Ideas with Text and Images\n## Connecting Oral and Written Language","[{\"question\":\"Why do early writing attempts matter even when children do not write conventionally?\",\"answer\":\"Early writing attempts are meaningful communication. Even scribbles and drawings can convey messages, and recognizing this helps adults support children’s early written communication.\"},{\"question\":\"What does “writing” include for young children according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"Writing includes composition and transcription. Composition is the creative process of generating and selecting words and ideas, while transcription covers handwriting and spelling conventions.\"},{\"question\":\"How can teachers support young children’s early writing development?\",\"answer\":\"Teachers can use open-ended prompts, invite children to write and dictate messages, and help children use letters to label drawings. They also provide encouraging feedback that ties verbal messages to written marks.\"}]","Writing with Young Children - Creating Meaningful Writing Experiences for Young Children | PDF",15]