Think, Draw & Write Literacy Assessment: Early Years & Foundation is a developmentally appropriate and highly adaptable tool designed to assess and support early literacy skills. Ideal for both Early Years and Foundation settings, this resource encourages students to make meaning through drawing, speaking and writing—offering valuable insights into each child’s stage of literacy development.

With flexible templates and differentiated rubrics, this activity allows educators to observe students' ability to express ideas, use vocabulary, link spoken and written language, and apply early writing conventions. It’s ideal for individual assessment, beginning-of-year benchmarking, or use during early literacy units.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Communicate meaning through drawing and oral language
• ✅ Connect spoken words with written symbols
• ✅ Develop and apply emerging writing behaviours
• ✅ Demonstrate vocabulary knowledge and letter-sound awareness
• ✅ Strengthen handwriting, pencil grip, and sentence structure

What’s Included:

• 20 Think, Draw & Write templates with drawing and writing spaces
• Early Years Literacy Observation Rubric
• Foundation Writing Assessment Rubric (aligned to Australian Curriculum outcomes)
• Optional extra writing page for extended responses
• Editable versions of all documents for classroom differentiation
• Versions available in our basic fun font and all Australian state fonts

Materials Needed:

• Printed templates (A4 or enlarged to A3)
• Pencils, crayons or markers
• Optional: writing scaffolds, picture books or shared text as stimulus

How to Use:

• Present students with a writing prompt and encourage them to draw a detailed picture
• Support students in orally describing their picture and record or scribe responses for pre-writers
• Students write a sentence or short description using known sounds and words
• Use the appropriate rubric to assess each student’s stage of literacy development

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use as an assessment task at the beginning, middle or end of term
• 💡 Create a classroom book from students’ completed pages
• 💡 Include in portfolios as evidence of visual, oral and written literacy

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Prompt students with open-ended questions like “What’s happening in your picture?” or “How does this make you feel?”
• 💛 Provide sound charts or labelled visuals to support emergent writing
• 💛 Offer the blank version to create custom prompts that align with your current themes

Think, Draw & Write Literacy Assessment: Early Years & Foundation is the perfect tool for building and assessing essential literacy skills in a playful, meaningful and developmentally appropriate way.