Fall is an exciting time in the world of Pre-K. The crisp autumn air. The trips to pumpkin patches. The collections of leaves to gather and sort on the playground. And, what’s that? Already Pre-K teachers are worried about transitioning the children in their classrooms to Kindergarten? What? How can that be? They just started Pre-K. What’s the rush?
Alas, there are expectations. Whether they come from families, local elementary schools, or the nervous feeling we get when reviewing those Kindergarten standards, Pre-K teachers are already feeling concerned about the children they teach moving on to Kindergarten. And one way we see this concern play out in early childhood classrooms is with name writing.
It can become an obsession for some teachers.
If only they can write their names perfectly, they will be star Kindergarten students, and I will have done my job to prepare them!
And yet, it is still the beginning of the year. Expecting children who are barely four years old to write an accurate first name is inappropriate and, quite frankly, unacceptable. Perhaps it could help all of us relax a little to review the progression of name writing development and reflect on all of the skills that support children’s writing abilities.
Here is the accurate sequence of name writing development for children from Pre-K through first grade:
- Writes mock letters or letter-like forms—Pre-K
- Writes letter strings (creating some letters accurately)—Pre-K
- Writes a partially accurate first name (writes all of the letters in first name but some letters may not be properly sequenced or are not formed or oriented correctly)—Pre-K/Kindergarten
- Writes accurate first name (writes all of the letters in own name using upper or lowercase letters or mix of both)—Kindergarten
- Writes an accurate first and last name (correct upper and lowercase)—First Grade
This progression is based on the most current research literature review in our field. And even if we ignore the current research and rely solely on the Pre-K and Kindergarten standards of most states, completely accurate name writing does not appear as an expectation until the end of Kindergarten– at the earliest.
This, of course, is taking only one element of developmentally appropriate practice into consideration (i.e., age-appropriateness). If we also consider the critical importance of supporting each child as an individual learner, we know that using the same teaching practice for all children at the exact same time to develop a skill is ineffective and, in some cases, even detrimental.
The developmental place and knowledge, skills, and abilities of Pre-K children are widely variable. To support each child’s development and learning, great teaching happens on the individual level, rooted in an understanding of the discrete skills that eventually lead to name writing.
Children first need to understand that writing is recorded speech. They need to know that letters are symbols with associated meaning. They need to recognize their names (written by adults) in a variety of contexts and be able to name the individual letters in their names. Without this understanding and background knowledge, name writing is a meaningless, adult-driven exercise. Name writing should be more than practice in rote memorization.
Writing letters requires children to know how each letter looks and how to put line segments together to form them. They must also know the orientation of letters and learn the particular order of the letters in their names.
Fine-motor skills and strength are needed to hold writing tools. Most children don’t develop a sophisticated grasp of writing and drawing tools (using three-point finger grip and efficient hand placement) until the end of Kindergarten. Because fine-motor skills are necessary to control writing tools, it is helpful to know that markers are easiest for children to use; followed by chalk; then crayons; and, lastly, pencils.
Yes, with repetitive (and forced) practice, many children can learn to do this sooner. However, I would question the intent of this practice. Why make children do this sooner than their natural development allows and the research in early childhood teaching and learning recommends? Why risk their disengagement in the writing process? Why use valuable teaching and learning time on what can be a developmentally inappropriate task for many young learners?
A high-quality Pre-K program should inspire a love of learning. It should build on children’s natural curiosity about the world around them. It should be rich with opportunities for meaningful, hands-on exploration. It should provide a wealth of experiences that allow for application of content learning in real-world contexts.
So relax a little and enjoy all of the teaching opportunities that this time of year brings. Create a literacy-rich environment, engage children in meaningful learning, and support their individual skill development. Name writing will come.