Inspired by other threads, I would greatly appreciate any pointers on how to teach my 3 year old DD to write her name, using pre-cursive writing. Does anyone know of any worksheets or websites that would facilitate cursive writing later on.
My Dd was very keen to learn how to write her name on her drawings etc. I taught her to write her name and a few more letters, using exercises the jolly phonics workbooks. However, I have recently discovered that the school she will be attending teach pre-cursive writing from reception. I now realise this requires entirely different letter formation (from the line, rather than from the top). The teachers advised me not to worry, but to focus on exercises that improve pen control, like tracing shapes and wiggly lines. The problem is, my DD has been unimpressed with tracing shapes / lines, as she can identify all the alphabet by the phonic sounds and knows drawing shapes is not writing. I cant see any harm in encouraging her to write her name and letters she already knows in the correct way. Just to add, she only does writing when/if she wants to.
Any advice very welcome.
Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.
Primary education
Pre-cursive writing for pre-reception DD
AnnaMolly · 08/02/2011 12:36
Thanks Littlefish. I think you are right, and it is the cursive style that they use, with entry strokes 
. As Dd grasped printing her name, neatly, with ease, it seems like a good idea to teach her the correct way to write it now, before the wrong habits form. I am in no rush to teach her too much before she starts school, but at the same time, she is keen and seems ready now, and won't start the school nursery until this September (reception 2012). Also, Dd attends a daycare nursery at present, who also teach the children to print their names. Once I know what the correct format is, I can ask them to use the cursive style for Dd instead.
If all the schools have switched to cursive, then they should be meeting up with the feeder nurseries (via their Early Years Networks), to discuss this and to talk about appropriate fine motor skill and formation activities for the nurseries to do.
At my school, we have fairly regular discussion about phonics with the feeder nurseries, and in fact, one of the nurseries is bringing some pre-school children to join in with a phonics session tomorrow so they (staff) can see how we teach phonics for reading and writing. It's a great opportunity for us to have an open discussion with them. 
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.