Learning to write - can I type dotted letters for dd on my computer?

[MrsFogi]

I'd like to be able to type dotted letters (eg of dd's name) on my computer and then print them out? Is this possible? If so - how?

[booyhoo]

i dont know if it is possible. couldn't you just do it with a felt tip and a ruler on a piece of paper?

[LimaCharlie]

I think dafont.com have a free font you can download for this purpose

[aegeansky]

I wouldn't mess with this. The school will teach letter formation. You could quite innocently complicate things.

[MixedNutPlate]

sheets and make your own here

[MixedNutPlate]

you can also get write on wipe off books

[Snorbs]

Could you just print out her name using a standard font but with the colour set to a very pale grey?

[booyhoo]

ds starts primary in sept and in the school induction booklet they strongly advised parents not to teach their children to write as they would like all children to learn the way they teach them.

[DanJARMouse]

We are actually encouraged to help our children with their letter formation, and the second link Mixed gave is ideal.

I have saved it for my DD2 to have fun with over the summer.

[Butterpie]

booyhoo- THAT is one of the main reasons ours won't be going to school. I hate this idea that we are meant to hold them back so they can learn as part of a massive group, and they will only get individual attention if they don't conform- ie it will be seen as a problem.

All that you need to do is a small amount of research and you can find the best ways to teach it anyway.

[booyhoo]

that is a very good point butterpie. i have held off on teaching ds as i was worried i would create a problem for him.

[BaronessBomburst]

Schools these days ask you NOT to teach your children to write?!

[chubbymummy]

Wanting to help your child to learn to write is fantastic but please don't get her to write over dotted letters. If children start to do this they tend to become reliant on it. You can buy lots of booklets (often in a multi pack with number and pre-reading booklets) for developing pre-writing skills. Collins and Usborne are the one's I'd recommend. You need to model the letter formation so that your daughter can see how to form each letter correctly not just make it look right, this will get her into good habits ready for joining up writing later on. She should never be encouraged to copy write either (other than her own name and individual letters when she is very first learning to form them correctly) as this causes HUGE problems later on when children become reluctant to write anything by themselves. At this age spelling is not important, it's all about thinking of the sounds you can hear in words and recording them. She needs to be familiar with all the letter sounds (not letter names) before you move her onto writing letters and I'd suggest you display a good quality letter line at eye level so that she can use it to remind her what the individual letters look like. sparklebox.co.uk has lots of choice and is free. Most of all writing needs to be made fun, try writing with a stick in sand/mud, on the bathroom tiles with bath pens and forming letters in shaving foam squirted onto a tray.

[ChateauRouge]

Please do not use sparklebox - it is owned by a convicted paedophile, and he makes money from it!

[aegeansky]

Butterpie, sorry, this just isn't true. The 'best' way is the way that the school is going to teach them, otherwise confusion arises.

[MathsMadMummy]

yes, please don't use sparklebox!

very good ideas from chubbymummy though. you can get workbooks outrageously cheap in shops like The Works.

how old is your DD, OP?

it's a good idea to do lots of patterns too - zigzags, circles, wavy lines, erm, the one that looks like the top of a castle (?) etc... get her doing mazes too. fine motor skills etc.

FFS though. My DD wants to learn to write (just turned 3) I'm not going to make her wait 18 months for the privilege. especially seeing how loads of kids come out of school with awful handwriting anyway!

[Callisto]

Well I taught my DD her letters in just this way. She went through a phase between 3yo and 4yo were she would 'write' her name, various animal and dinosaur names and short sentences. At 5yo her writing is extremely clear - clearer than most of the other children in her reception class. I'm sure the school would have been horrified by my teaching techniques but, quite frankly, I don't care because I am the best teacher of my daughter, certainly at this stage of her education.

The idea that school is the only possible way that a child can learn to read and write is part of the reason schools are so crap and bad teachers are allowed to work for so long. Parents seem to have relinquished all responsibility for teaching their children anything at all as they have been brainwashed into thinking it is all somebody else's responsibility. Makes me bloody angry.

So, MrsFogi, go for it. It will be fun for you and your daughter. Ignore anyone who tells you not to, they are obviously far too institutionalised.

[MathsMadMummy]

what callisto said.

[Butterpie]

What Callisto said, with the added thing that, actually, since mine aren't going to school anyway, who cares what schools teach? I will be using the methods that suit my children and their own learning styles. I would still be doing that if they were going to school- I don't see school as the primary learning environment, especially not at this age.

[differentnameforthis]

I used to let my dd do it over dots, chubbymummy & she never became reliant on it.

Agree with callisto, too many parents happy to leave it all to the teachers & not give them any ground work to start with.

A little encouragement does no harm

And another vote not to use sparklebox!

[loopyloops]

Why don't you contact the school that DC will be attending and ask them for the font / a copy of an alphabet written out that they might use? Surely then the children won't get confused?
I don't think that holding them back is a good idea at all. I understand the reasons for this (I am a teacher), but I really don't think that stalling a child who wants to learn is in any way productive. They might not be this enthusiastic forever.

[Butterpie]

I have printed the "Very First Reading" words off the Usborne site and I will be laminating them for DD to write over with a drywipe pen (I added things her her name and so on as well). I'm hoping we can use them for reading and making sentences and so on.

(You don't have to buy the books to be able to print off the words and the puzzle sheets, btw)

[loopyloops]

butterpie another nice thing to do if you have a laminator is to lam either letters or words and use adhesive velcro for your child to make words / sentences.
I have done this before by making a little book which models the words (I did time using a clock then had a section at the back for the children to stick the correct phrases at the right part of the clock).
Kids live velcro!

[mycarscallednev]

Hi, I have a son with a fine motor disability, but his writing skills are being developed by an OT using sand,shaving foam on a tray and using chalk on a chalk board as it has more reistance and doesn't 'run away' from the hand. I think these are pretty useful skills if you have a child with a disability or one who is just learning. There is a useful site called 'Handwriting Without Tears' that gives stratagies for letter formation that is very good too.
We all want to give our children the best chance and capture the enthusiasm whenever that shows, just go at your childs pace and make it fun, once they think they are either doing something 'wrong' or 'having to do lessons', and they'd rather be digging in the sand, you've lost them! We all know our own children better than anyone else and that includes schools and teachers and whether our child is able or has a disability.

[MathsMadMummy]

I was also wondering, what stage should a just-turned-3yo be at, writing wise? DD's been focused on other skills lately so we've not done much fine-motor stuff, but she really wants to write now. What should she be able to do ATM?

[SaliMali1]

Writing Without Pencils from scolastic is a good book to look at to encourage writing ready for school.