Transcript WritingworkshopNov272014

At Milford School we aim to help
children to develop a love of the
English language through the
spoken and written word.
We believe that literacy
provides the key to unlock all
other areas of the curriculum
enabling children to reach
their goals as they embark on
their learning journey.
• To Investigate the development of gross and
fine motor skills and the early stages of mark
making
• To find out about the early strategies used to
support children when learning to write
• To appreciate the difficulties children face in learning to write
• To find out about writing in Key Stage 1
• To see some of the resources used to support Early Years and
Key Stage 1 writing
• To enjoy, discuss and take home some ideas to support your
child at home
For handwriting children need to be well co-ordinated
through their whole body, not just their hands and fingers.
Gross Motor Skills develop
core, arm, leg strength and
coordination
climbing
jumping
balancing
skipping
batting
swinging
throwing/catching
skywriting
writing on backs
water/paintbrushes
chalks outside
BIG painting/drawing
Fine Motor Skills which
help develop hand and
finger muscles
Think
big!
sewing
threading
tap a shape
jigsaws
playdough
lego/building
drawing
colouring
cutting/sticking
patterns
painting
letter shapes
4 - 6 years
scribbles
letter like forms
random letter strings
key words
invented spelling
Encourage your
child to print the
letters first BUT
avoid over use of
capitals. Your child
will need to master
writing letters in
print form before
they can move on
to retracing lines
which are essential
for
letters like
a, d, h, y etc.
The most
important thing is
for them to enjoy
writing.
 Children are encouraged to write as part of their purposeful play.
 They don’t need a pencil to write!
 Children write in a variety of role play situations that match
their interests and stimulate talking.
 They experiment with writing by making marks, personal writing
symbols and conventional script.
 They are given lots of praise and encouragement to have a go.
We support the children’s writing
by encouraging them to hear the
sound at the beginning of the
word in their writing.
Then they progress in hearing
other sounds in words in their
writing.
Examples
of print
Children learn to form their letters in the
following formation groups:
Long Ladders
i
l
t
j
u
y
d
g
q
e
m
r
b
p
k
x
z
Curly Caterpillars
c
o
a
One-armed Robots
h
n
Zigzag Monsters
v
w
f
s
As your child becomes
more fluent at
printing letters, we
will encourage them to
retrace lines to form
letters correctly.
Our aim is for your
child to eventually join
their letters together
(cursive writing) as
they move through
Key Stage 1.
pre-cursive
cursive
As children become more confident forming letters we
move on to the skills required to produce clear and
accurate sentences. Children are encouraged to use
capital letters, full stops and finger spaces between
words.
In Key Stage 1 we also focus on what the children are writing.
Children are encouraged to write fiction and non fiction pieces.
In Year 1 we work on familiar stories and use actions to help
the children remember key words for their writing.
In Year 2 we aim to make children confident and
creative writers.
We introduce superheroes to help them remember
ways to ‘trap their reader!’
Violet Vocab
Dr. Punctuation
Captain Connective
Incredible Opener
The majority of children will phonetically spell words
in key stage 1 and on into key stage 2.
Spellings homework is started in year 1 and
continues into year 2 using the look, say,
cover, write, check method.
Our main aim is for children to spell key words
correctly and reinforce spelling the sounds learnt in
phonics lessons.
 Use different writing materials: chalk outside, sparkly pens,
water and paint brushes.
 Write lists, letters, birthday cards.
 Give lots of praise and enjoy your child’s attempts at
writing and spelling.
 When you write with your child try to use lower case (not
capitals) except at the beginning of a sentence or name.
 Look at words together when you’re out shopping, on
television or reading together.
 Talk about using WOW words to describe things.
 Count out the words in a sentence with your child.
 Encourage your child to use capital letters, full stops and
finger spaces.
Once your child begins to write fluently then the whole curriculum
opens up to them with a wealth of opportunities to express
themselves.
End of year expectations (Handwriting)
Early Years (Year R)
Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable
letters, most of which are correctly formed.
Year 1
Correctly form all lower case letters (starting and finishing in the right
place).
Correctly form all capital letters.
Year 2
Clear letter formation, with ascenders and descenders distinguished.
Upper and lower case letters used correctly.
We hope you have found this
workshop useful. Are there
any questions?
Now for the FUN part!!
Please complete the short questionnaire so
that we can ensure that the workshop was
both useful and relevant.