Basic Literacy

In the basic literacy stage, children are able to read grade-level material and to look for meaning and ideas. As they expand the types of materials being read, they encounter both informational and narrative texts, and their writing reflects these modes. They begin to construct compound and complex sentences, to use revising strategies, and to reference sources in their writing.

During my basic literacy stage, I continued to read but mainly fantasy and mystery novels. Once I attempted to read Moby Dick, but I quickly lost interest. I also began playing board games such as chess, Monopoly, and Scrabble.

I also began to rely more and more on the computer to write. During school, I used the computer mainly to find books in the library. However, each week, our schedule had one hour dedicated to working in the computer lab. In the computer lab, we worked word searches, crunched numbers in Number Munchers, and played Oregon Trail.



At home, I used the computer to type book reports and projects for school and also my own short stories. Having voracious appetite for reading, I could not help but write my own stories. Most of my stories involved a character who looked uncannily like me and a character who looked uncannily like my cousin Jason. However, I never directly wrote about myself or my cousin. Instead, I always set the story during times distance from the present and, in doing so, burgeoned into the Refinement Stage of literacy.