Handwriting plays a vital role in the development of a child’s writing ability.  This is because the process of writing is very complex, especially for young children who are having to think about a lot of things at the same time.  This can lead to children becoming de-motivated to want to write.

 

To ease this, we aim to make children fluent in their letter formation, use of finger spaces and recall of spelling words as a priority in Reception and the start of Year 1, so that they have the fluency to then build what they want to write.  This increases motivation for children as they see themselves as ‘writers’.

Before more formal handwriting practice begins, the Early Years provision focusses on building strength in the right muscles to support the development of an effective pencil grip.

We follow the Letter Join Programme, which is a progressive programme from Reception to Year 2.  It develops pencil grip and control through patterns before moving to secure correct letter formation and application in words and sentences. 

The formation of each letter is linked to its letter family to support children with the right direction.

Developing the strength and dexterity of children’s arms, wrists and fingers has a big impact on how they are able to control a pencil.  Activities at home to support this include:-

 

• https://theimaginationtree.com/40-fine-motor-skills-activities-for-kids/
• https://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/fine-motor-activities.html

 

Playing with play dough is a great strength builder for finger strength.  In class we use a fun, interactive dance called Dough disco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOLR3pQt8zg

 

 

 

Click on the images below to see one of our teachers practising her letter formation:

 Writing the Caterpillar Letters - c, o, a, s, d, q and g.

learning the last two caterpillar letters - e and f

One armed robot letters - r, m, n, b, p, k and h.

 

  

Learning to write the Ladder Letters

Learning to write the zig zag letters - v, w, x and z.