1. Handwriting at Milton Road

2. Developmental Stages of mark making

3. Using ‘shape families’ to teach letter formation For simplicity, the letters of the alphabet can be sorted into four main movement groups. Some letters e.g. f, s, have some affinity with a group but could be taught separately. The advantage of aligning letters with a key letter is to help children to remember the starting point and subsequent movement of the letter. This is particularly effective in discriminating b from d.

4. Curly Caterpillar Letters

5. Long Ladder Letters

6. One Armed Robot Letters

7. Zig Zag Monster letters

8. Developing letter shapes using gross motor movements Encourage children to skywrite with both hands. Ask another adult or a confident child to model the movement with her/his back to the rest of the children. Stand behind the children to check they are all following the movement correctly. Let children make patterns in the air or on each other’s backs. Make a letter shape in damp sand, salt or cornflour. Invite each child in the group to trace over the shape. Model the correct letter formation to the children as a teaching point. Reinforce the vocabulary of movement, for example the curly caterpillar, the long ladder and the one-armed robot. Talk about the movements as you make them, using a ‘patter’, for example for the one-armed robot: ‘Start at his head and go down to his feet. Bounce back up and go over for his arm.’ While this is helpful in the early stages, it is purely to help to establish the movement. Reinforce a letter movement by asking the children to write the letter with their eyes closed. Have laminated large letters so that children can trace the shape with cars, trains etc. Use tactile letters for children to trace over

9. Why is a good pencil grip important? If children are to develop a fluent and fast handwriting style, they must learn to hold a pencil with a grip that is relaxed but allows for efficient control of the pencil. If children grip a pencil too tightly, they won’t develop a free-flowing movement and they will tire very quickly. Experts agree that children should be encouraged to hold the pencil between the thumb and forefinger with the pencil resting on the third finger. The thumb and forefinger should also be able to move slightly so that very fine movements required for writing are possible. Commercial pencil grips, or triangular pencils, can be used to encourage this pencil hold but their use must be monitored as they can be misapplied. Care should be taken that children do not grip the pencil too tightly, as this produces tenseness in the arm and shoulder and also increases pressure on the paper.

12. Activities to develop fine motor control

13. Developing Fine and Gross Motor Skills It is important that children have access to a range of activities that will develop muscles in their hands and wrist which will make writing easier. Any of these fun activities will help: cutting out pictures from catalogues, cutting out their own pictures or along different wavy, straight or zig zag lines. Using modelling materials such as clay, plasticine, playdough, sand Painting and printing Threading beads, pasta, buttons to a timer—can they beat their own score? Use water pistols to reach a target or paint outdoor bricks with water and brushes or chalks, paint in the bath. Fix lego, screw and unscrew lids, post pennies in a box, sprinkle seeds. Fold paper to make shapes, envelopes Wash walls with soap and brushes

14. Ways in which you could help your child with writing at home Provide lots of attractive writing equipment, e.g. fancy pens, chalk, crayons and pencils, paper and notebooks etc. will help to inspire them to mark make and write. Try to encourage them to writing for a purpose following their interests —label their buildings or their pictures, make signs, postcards, shopping lists, cards or invitations. Encourage them to read back their writing to you. Write down the things your child says to support their developing understanding that what they say can be written down and then read and understood by someone else. Encourage them to sound words out as much as possible, even if they can only write the initial sound or a couple of sounds in a word.

15. Gently show your child the letter formation—this is tricky for young children to grasp. They need to know where to start the letter. We begin by teaching the children to write in lower-case letters and only introduce capital letters for the beginning of names and then at the beginning of a sentence. It is useful if you can follow this at home too. Encourage your child to have a go at writing and praise any attempts at writing. Above all…. Make writing fun!