As children learn to write, they go through numerous stages of development. Encourage them at each stage. The key is to make writing an enjoyable part of every day, helping students see themselves as writers. When they feel free to express themselves in writing, students will move from early scribbles and drawings toward conventional use of letters and words.
As students develop, you can help them gain these three qualities of effective writing: structure, ideas, and conventions. The new standards and assessments seek these three qualities in student writing.
Structure
Good writing has effective large-scale structure (beginning, middle, and ending) and small-scale structure (arrangement of details).
Ideas
Effective writing presents interesting information about a topic, gives supporting details, and uses words to express ideas.
Conventions
Good writing works toward conventional spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
You can use this "Qualities of Writing Rubric" to evaluate writing for kindergartners.
You may have noticed that the qualities are a simplified version of the traits of effective writing—ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. While the traits have provided the foundation for state writing standards for more than 50 years, the Common Core focuses on just three of the traits (ideas, structure, conventions) for students in grades K through 5. We call this reduced list of traits the "qualities" of effective writing.