ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the stages that children move through in learning to write. It presents a developmentally educational approach to early writing that allows every child to develop a voice as a writer while they learn the skills of writing, from their initial mark making, to the start of conventional spelling. In order to become a writer, children must develop transcriptional skills of handwriting, spelling and punctuation. Children who have rich experiences of oral language absorb the rhythms and patterns of everyday speech and learn the language of stories, rhymes and songs. They learn to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings orally and to enter into other worlds. When adults scribe children's words as they draw or play, or while they make cards for friends and family, children begin to see the connection between their oral language and the conventions of written language.
