Evelyn's First Written Word

I was so excited when Evelyn sounded out and wrote her first word yesterday!!! She was drawing a picture for a friend named Kaitlyn, and she wanted to write the friend's name on the picture. She said Kaitlyn's names a couple of times, then said it must start with a K. She wrote a K. She said Kaitlyn a few more times, concluded that the next letter must be L, and she wrote an L. Evelyn asked for help with the next letter. I switched roles from mommy to teacher and asked her which letter she thought would come next. After saying the friend's name a few more times, she decided N must be last. She looked at her paper, pointed to the letters she wrote (KLN), and proudly announced, "Kaitlyn!"

Reflecting back on some of my master's degree courses, I know that Evelyn is right on track with her pre-writing skills. The phonics program at her preschool is definitely sinking in, so she can not only write her letters, but she can also correctly match sounds with letters. Most beginning writers use only consonants, filling in the vowels comes later, so she's right on track there. We're all so proud of our little Peanut! I wonder what she'll write next . . .