0-2 y

• Enjoys reading with caregiver
• Learns to hold books right-side up and turn pages in the correct direction
• Points to pictures in response to questions about them
• Can tell the difference between print and pictures
• Learns to hold a large crayon, marker, or chalk and scribble

2-5 y

• Understands that a story continues on the next page
• Learns the direction that print moves in (appropriate for the language)
• Can isolate sentences into words, words into syllables
• Can take apart words and syllables into separate sounds
• Can sing the alphabet song, recognize and label all letters
• Understands that specific letters make sounds
• Recognizes own name and common commercial print banners
• Writing: begins to draw things in the environment, begins to write name

5-7 y

• Reads picture books alone, for pleasure
• Can identify and categorize sounds represented by letters
• Can identify and count the number of sounds in words
• Can put together individual sounds into a word and take apart a word into individual sounds
• Can sound out words by taking specific sounds out of them
• “Decoding” begins: recognizing sounds in a printed word and sounding them out to form the word
• Some words recognized by sight
• Writing: spells out words according to how they sound

7-9 y

• Reads printed stories alone, for pleasure; may be fiction or non-fiction
• Starts to play with the sounds of the language, as in Pig Latin, Gibberish, or other “secret” codes
• Starts to learn appropriate rules for writing (e.g., grammar, punctuation, capitalization)
• Begins to know and apply reading “rules” or patterns to make shortcuts and avoid decoding,
• “Learning to read” turns to “reading to learn,” so there is an increased focus on comprehension of written material
• Writing: Spelling mistakes become less frequent, starts to compose book reports, complexity begins to match that of speaking; mostly tells stories in writing

9-12 y

• Reads to gather information (reads to learn) and for pleasure
• Understands more complex forms of writing (beyond expository, such as poetry)
• Reads with very few errors; decoding is automatic, with understanding of written materials being the focus
• Writing: Increasingly complex, containing conjoined and embedded clauses; begins persuasive and expository writing in school

12-18 y

• Studies strategically to retain information read
• All basic rules of writing structure should be mastered
• Thinks critically about material read, distinguishing opinion from fact; reasons and applies logical rules to material read
• Writing: More complex than speech, increases in complexity of form, content, and use if education continues beyond high school