Adapted from the work of Richard Gentry & the Conventions of Writing Developmental Scale," The Wright Group
1. Scribbling
Scribbling looks like random assortment of marks on a child's paper. Sometimes the marks are large, circular, and random, and resemble drawing. Although the marks do not resemble print, they are significant because the young writer uses them to show ideas.
2. Letter-like Symbols
Letter-like forms emerge, sometimes randomly placed, and are interspersed with numbers. The children can tell about their own drawings or writings. In this stage, spacing is rarely present.
3. Strings of Letters
In the strings-of-letters phase, children write some legible letters that tell us they know more about writing. Children are developing awareness of the sound-tosymbol relationship, although they are not matching most sounds. Children usually write in capital letters and have not yet begun spacing.
4. Beginning Sounds Emerge
At this stage, children begin to see the differences between a letter and a word, but they may not use spacing between words. Their message makes sense and matches the picture, especially when they choose the topic.
5. Consonants Represent Words
Child begins to leave spaces between their words and may often mix upper- and lowercase letters in their writing. Usually they write sentences that tell ideas.
6. Initial, Middle, and Final Sounds
Children in this phase may spell correctly some sight words, siblings' names, and environmental print, but other words are spelled the way they sound. Their writing is readable.
7. Transitional Phases
This writing is readable and approaches conventional spelling. The writing is interspersed with words that are in standard form and have standard letter patterns.
8. Standard Spelling
Children in this phase can spell most words correctly and are developing an understanding of root words, compound words, and contractions. This understanding helps students spell similar words.