Standard 8: Independent Reading and Writing

Students will read and write for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, academic and personal.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

With guidance and support:

• Students will express thoughts and ideas through drawing and emergent writing.

• Teachers discuss ways to express thoughts and ideas.

• Teachers model expressing thoughts and ideas through a combination of drawing and emergent writing.

• Teachers provide guided opportunities for students to express their thoughts and ideas with support, using drawing and emergent writing.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback about their writing.

Supporting Resources

Teacher Insights

Emergent Writing Stages (webpage)

Emergent Writing Samples(webpage)

Reading Rockets:  Interactive Writing(webpage)

Reading Rockets:  Learning to Read and Write, What Research Reveals (webpage)

Scaffolding Suggestions and Emergent Writing Goals (webpage) 

• Children may need guidance and support when expressing their ideas through drawing and emergent writing.

• A classroom can encompass students from all the stages of writing development.

• Students need direction and modeling to learn to draw recognizable pictures. Without any drawing mini-lessons, most students will make similar scribbles for everything they attempt to draw.

• Dictating thoughts and opinions of students helps students to understand that print has meaning and carries a message.

• Modeling print awareness  during whole group shared writing experiences may help students understand and use print conventions in their writing.

• Modeling thoughts and opinions helps students express themselves using emergent writing and drawing.  Think alouds explaining what you are doing and telling why help students begin to understand the writing process. 

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.