Pre-K- (Pre-Literate) Children may “read” their scribbles and assign meaning (e.g., “This says my dog!”). Shows awareness that writing represents ideas.

 

Kindergarten- (Pre-Literate/Emergent) Random letters or strings of letters (e.g., “MRTLB”). Begins to recognize and write their name. Uses invented spelling to represent words (e.g., “KT” for "cat"). Drawings often accompany writing to tell a story.

 

First Grade-(Emergent/Transitional) Students are usually in the transitional writing stage. They must apply basic spelling patterns (e.g., CVC words like cat, dog, run).

 

Second Grade- (Transitional) Late transitional to early fluent writing stage. =The student should use phonetic spelling for unfamiliar words (e.g., “skool” for “school”), but spells many high-frequency and pattern-based words correctly. Applies common spelling rules and writes complete sentences with correct word order.

 

Third Grade- (Fluent) Writes complete, varied sentences (simple, compound, and some complex) and uses correct punctuation (periods, commas, question marks, etc.) Writes multi-paragraph compositions with a beginning, middle, and end. Organizes ideas logically and uses topic sentences and transitions.