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=="Writing and reading do support each other and it is a two- way process..." (Hill, 2006 pp. 287) ==  **The Early Development of Writing**

The Sign Principle- children realize that letters and symbols stand for a meaning. For example, the large golden archers is a symbol for McDonalds. In this stage children can draw, however they may draw a picture of a dog, but they need to learn that the written print of dog does not look like the animal itself.

([|http://www.nurseryeducationonline.com/preschoolbooklist-p-117.html)]  The Flexibility Principle- at the next stage children understand the difference between letters and symbols. For example G is a letter and > is a symbol. Children also are aware that letters can be written in different ways.

The Linear Principle- this maybe a difficult step for children as they grasp the concept that language is written from left to right.  Spaces between Words- children learn where one word ends and the next begins. There is both a positive and negative space, with positive space being what you put in and negative being what you leave out, meaning the spaces between words. A good rule to teach children is to leave two finger spaces between each word. (Hill, 2006) **Stages in Children's writing **

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">**<span style="font-size: 90%; color: rgb(55, 27, 238)">Beginning Writing **- the child begins to explore writing through drawing pictures and talking about what it represents. The large circles or scribble may be drawn from left to right, that try and mimic the adults the child has observed writing. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">**<span style="color: rgb(64, 176, 143)">Early Writing- ** children repeat sentences to practice there fluency in writing. Their spelling of words is still based in sound and invention, but they also copy words from sentences to help them better understand. They are also introduced to different genres of writing, such as narratives and information texts. <span style="color: rgb(195, 0, 255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">**<span style="color: rgb(82, 16, 188)">Transitional Writing -** in this stage there is a lot of repeated sentences with well developed punctuation. In narrative writing, children may find it hard to make the piece of writing flow and develop a well structured end.
 * <span style="color: rgb(43, 187, 197)">Early- Emergent Writing -** children draw symbols and distinguish the difference between pictures and symbols.
 * <span style="color: rgb(66, 101, 189)">Emergent Writing -** child begins to create shapes that look more like letters. Words are represented by sound, such as //wot// instead **what**. They begin to leave spaces between words and write on lines from left to right.
 * <span style="color: rgb(32, 125, 217)">Extending Writing **- at this stage child's writing resembles that of an adult with well structured writing, punctuation and handwriting. They use varitites of text types to suit different audiences such as an argumentative essay, report or letter. (Hill, 2006)

__**Handwriting Activity**__ **//An activity that students can do while learning how to write is Rainbow Names, where students practice writing their names in different colours. The green dot symbolizes where to start to write, with the red meaning stop//:

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