Stage 1: Emergent Readers and Spellers

“pretend read” stories
can sing their ABC’s, may or may not be able to single out particular letters
may recognize the first letter of their name
recognize environmental print, such as the name of their favorite cereal or those famous golden “M” arches

may be able to “read” some words that are important to them, such as their name, but may think that other words beginning with the first letter of their name are also their name
knows most of their letters, possibly even some sounds
have some books favorite books memorized and can “read” them
environmental print becomes more important (STOP sign, etc.)
are curious about words and may ask, “What’s that word?”

may be able to track the print as you read simple books
understands more “book language” such as author, title, etc.
knows ABC’s and most consonant sounds
uppercase letters are easier to identify than lower case letters
add a few more words to their sight vocabulary (important words to them)
can read their name and realize that other words also start with the same letter as their name
some children may be able to “play games” with word sounds–rhyming, syllables, and individual letter sounds (phonemes) within words /c/ /a/ /t/

symbols that resemble letters or numbers may be used
real letters and numbers may be used, but the speller does not understand that letters represent sounds in words, so house may be spelled A1XT
prefer writing uppercase letters over lowercase letters
begin to write from left to right
drawing and writing begin to become distinguishable
do not put space in between words

begin to match letters to sounds in words, so a word such as ball may be spelled with just the letter B, or G for alligator
still tend to prefer writing with uppercase letters over lowercase letters
may confuse letters that sound and/or look the same (b, d, p, q)
spacing in between words becomes more regular, but can still be random at times

Teaching suggestions for a child in this stage are listed here.