School has been open some two months and many parents are anxiously watching the reading and writing progress reports of their very young children.

Learning how to read and compose messages is the most important skill a child can acquire and it is at the beginning of schooling that we must be ever vigilant to ensure classroom practices are rigorous, supportive but of good quality to promote successful reading and writing development.

What are some of the reading milestones a parent can expect from their children as they make progress through the first and second year of school? What are the specific behaviours a parent should notice as their child brings home books for fluency practice?

Some of the very earliest reading behaviours to see developing as children attend to print are:

¦ attending to print using know words,

¦ pointing to words with 1-1 matching on 1 and 2 lines of text,

¦ fluently reading of some high frequency words,

¦ articulation of the first letter sound in an unknown word,

¦ noticing unknown words and searching for cues in picture and print,

¦ rereading to cross-check the first letter with the meaning and language of the text.

As students gain more experience with print other reading decoding behaviours are developed including:

¦ self-monitoring with greater ease,

¦ using known words and patterns to check reading,

¦ searching through words in a left-to-right sequence with the blending of letters into sounds and repeating of words to confirm,

¦ taking words apart at the larger unit of analysis,

¦ reading high frequency words fast, fluently, and automatically,

¦ becoming faster at noticing errors and initiating multiple attempts to self-correct.

With more experience with print an increase of flexibility in decoding strategies is evident including:

¦ an expanded reading vocabulary: showing interest in unfamiliar words read,

¦ solving of multisyllabic words by noticing parts within the words,

¦ increasing speed at taking words apart at the larger unit of analysis,

¦ the use of meaning to solve word problems (prefixes, suffixes, roots, compound parts),

¦ reading of longer texts with greater accuracy and fluency and preprocessing of errors before mistake are made.

Parallel to decoding strategies is the development of comprehension. These skills include:

¦ retelling of stories in logical and sequential order,

¦ discussion of main idea and story characters,

¦ description of the story setting,

¦ the use of language phrases, book talk, and/or special vocabulary form the story,

¦ detection of the problem and solution in the story,

¦ sharing of specific supporting details from story,

¦ ability to connect the text to other texts (text-to -text)

¦ responding to story at a personal level (text-to-life),

¦ describing the story ending.

Writing development at the earliest stages is about encoding and fluency skill development including:

¦ the writing of known letters with correct formation,

¦ use of space between words with greater accuracy,

¦ recognition of the link between known sounds and related letters;

¦ slowly articulating the word with blended sound,

¦ the writing of a few high frequency words with accuracy,

¦ the acquisition of a writing vocabulary reflective of the attention to reading,

¦ the use of first parts of unknown words,

¦ and the inclusion of new words from reading experiences in writing.

With more writing instruction and practice, development skills include:

¦ the noticing of common misspellings; and the use of resources to check work (dictionary) and the acquisition of a writing vocabulary that reflects reading,

¦ an analysis of sequence of sounds and recording corresponding letters; segments and blends sounds in words with greater ease,

¦ construction of words using larger units of sound to letter patterns,

¦ becoming faster and more efficient at writing words,

¦ the application of onsets and rime patterns for writing unknown words,

¦ and the noticing of similarities between word patterns.

With the end in view, writing skills grow more complex to include:

¦ expansion of writing vocabulary to include new and unusual words,

¦ the attention to syllables when writing and problem-solving with greater ease,

¦ writing of increasingly longer texts with great accuracy and speed,

¦ flexibility in word choice; revision in word choice and the use of a thesaurus as a resource,

¦ the use of dictionaries, editing checklists and other resources to self-correct writing.

As the first third of the year ends, parents should be asking specific questions about the reading and writing development of their children. Any reporting or evaluation of progress should be comprehensive including comments about spelling, reading, comprehension, handwriting and story writing.

Within the initial three years of school, children will acquire these skills at varying rates. Therefore, evaluation made by the teacher should describe literacy 'progress' made and literacy 'needs' to be learned. This progress report should be aligned with an established set of specific behavioural actions and written standards embedded in the school's curriculum.

It is important to note, students in the early years do not acquire literacy skills by a pass or fail grade.

They gain these skills over a course of time at the hands of a skillful teacher and supportive home environment. Let the discussions begin as we describe children's progress in ways to encourage their continued growth in literacy.

Next month: The role of 'fluency' in learning how to read.