Nursery World - Write stuff:Early learning goals: writing for a purpose

Practice at writing should go hand in hand with children's learning how to read, says Lena Engel. When young children view letters and words, they see them as symbols: pictures that are a collection of shapes. In fact, written English to children is similar to hieroglyphics, or Chinese scripts as viewed by adults. Children require a great deal of support and daily practice to begin to decipher and attempt to write in English or to read it. Practitioners therefore should:

When young children view letters and words, they see them as symbols: pictures that are a collection of shapes. In fact, written English to children is similar to hieroglyphics, or Chinese scripts as viewed by adults. Children require a great deal of support and daily practice to begin to decipher and attempt to write in English or to read it. Practitioners therefore should:

* provide an environment that is conducive to learning about letters and words and to promoting a child's enjoyment and confidence in learning n emphasise the basic literacy skills throughout the daily routine

* acknowledge that developing skills in reading and writing go hand in hand, and that children's recognition of letters and their sounds should be followed shortly by their attempts to draw them

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