Writing Descriptors 40-60 months

[edurning]

Can I ask how others are interpreting these writing statements from Development Matters as I find them confusing...

'Begins to break the flow of speech into words'...'Continues a rhyming string'

Does this mean purely in a writing context as the rhyming string also appears under reading?

Does anyone know of exemplification material specific to writing which would make things clearer?

Thanks

Liz

 

 

[catma]

They're all inter-related skills really. For the breaking speech into words, typically it will be seen in both reading and writing but applied in different ways. in reading a child will understand the unit of text is a whole word and in writing they will understand that each word requires a unit of text to be complete.

Cx

[Guest]

EYFS profile exemplification for writing is here

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/360534/ELG10___Writing.pdf

but it doesn't really help with the rhyming question. I rarely see this but just sometimes a child will use a known word -eg cat as a prompt for spelling a new word 'that'

the concept of a 'word' is something we struggle with teaching, but children show their understanding even in 'seagull' writing by intentionally leaving spaces between marks.

[edurning]

Thanks for your help. I use the exemplification materials when assessing against the ELGs but have always felt it would be useful to have something similar for the 40-60 statements too.

I had been led to believe that the 'rhyming string' statement in relation to writing could only be attained if the children were actually writing the words; e.g. cat, hat, bat etc. Most of my children can manage this orally but not all are ready to write.

Thanks again

Liz

[catma]

I think it's important to remember that the development matters statements are non statutory guidance - they do not have to be "achieved" in any specific way or indeed at all, they are merely typical things children are likely to be doing at that stage of development. You could also refer to any academic study re stages of writing development, such as this based on Nathan Temple and Burris' work.

Some children may write out rhyming words independently, others may not, but they could be demonstrating a similar level of writing development appropriate for their age/stage and physical development too.

Cx