Writing in the Foundation Stage

Mark making Children begin to learn to write by making marks. They use crayons and pens to make patterns. They may make patterns in their food. To us it might look like scribble but this mark making is an important step into writing.

In the Foundation Stage As they grow older mark making is when a child takes a pencil, pen or paintbrush and gives meaning to the marks they make. It can be a mix of drawing shapes and some recognisable letters. It is important for children to realise that the marks they make can have meaning as this helps them express their ideas. The mark making helps them show their thinking. The marks they make can mean a word or a whole story that they will be able to tell you.

In school Children start writing in the Foundation Stage by - sharing writing- for example the teacher will model some writing for all the class to see. The children have also started writing the letters to match the sounds they have learnt in phonics. they will learn to write their name in the role play area there may be opportunities to write – a shopping list, a recipe or a letter to a character in a story. there is always a writing table in each class with ideas for letters or cards. as part of outdoor play children have paintbrushes and write on walls and the floor. they will start to tell teachers their story which will be written down for them, slowly the children will write more of the words for themselves Each child also has a writing book to show their progress in writing. We would put stories they have written in here and other writing they do to support work around the classroom.

Read2Write reading programme As part of the Read2Write programme the children learn how to write a simple sentence. Each day they learn how to write high frequency words in sentences such as I am a … Here is the…. Look at the … The teacher writes in the end of the sentence after talking to the child.

Writing symbols In school we use these symbols when children are writing. Finger spaces Full stop Capital letter Phonics These symbols help children to remember what to use when they write a sentence and helps us check their work. Other symbols are used later on.

Boys and Writing For boys writing can be something they do not choose to do. They need to know that writing has meaning and a purpose for them. We try to make sure that our topics are going to interest boys. It is important for boys that they see Dads writing as role models.

New writing skills As they move on during the year children will be able to Write a label eg naming objects Write a caption eg This is a dog. I like the cat. Write their own sentence using a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and a full stop Begin to retell a story in writing

Getting ready for writing Help your child to get ready for writing by using colouring activities and making patterns Use different writing equipment this might be paintbrushes as well as pencils, crayons and pens Mark making can be indoors and outdoors with water Use pretend play to encourage mark making eg ‘writing’ a shopping list Write a story that they tell you letting them see as you write Encourage them to hold their pencil or crayon in a pincer grip between the thumb and first finger

Tips for writing Capital letters are only used at the start of a sentence and for someone’s name. Capital I is used when writing about yourself eg I went to the shops. We teach the children to use a capital letter at the start of each sentence, to put a full stop at the end of the sentence and to use finger spaces between each word.

Early learning goals At the end of their Foundation year most children will be able to- Use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways that match their phonic sound eg yoo for you, hav for have They will be able to write some irregular common words eg the, look They will be able to write some simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others They will be able to spell some words correctly, others will be phonetically plausible that means if you use the sounds you can read the word sed for said duc for duck

How you can help at home Help them to use their arms and shoulders by being active Help them to use their hands and fingers through drying up, doing up buttons, threading beads or picking up small objects Hand/eye coordination is important too and is developed through doing jigsaws or building bricks Encourage them to form ( write ) the letters in the way we teach them Encourage them to write at home, lists or cards or little stories Let the children see you writing – letters or shopping lists Above all let it be fun not all hard work. You might have the next best selling author in your house !

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