Help to present work better

[PhyllisWig]

So dd2's presentation is atrocious. She is in y2 and her teacher said she is one of the most capable in the class but her presentation is really letting her down as it is almost illegible and this is preventing the teacher from pushing her more. It's not just handwriting, it's everything - not sticking to lines, not lining her maths up etc. I saw her books the other day and was quite shocked at just how bad she is god bless her!

Her teacher is spending some one on one time with her and we're trying to find some good practice sheets for her online but anyone got any other tips? Everyone is encouraging her to slow down which does work a bit.

[mrz]

Avoid letter formation sheets ...try handwriting lines and ask teacher for a copy of the school letter formation style. Encourage correct starting point and sequence of movements to ensure there is a fluency to her writing.

[PhyllisWig]

Thanks both, will take a look. Her gross motor skills are pretty good but will have a look at her fine ones as she's always found these less easy I think - she had some low level speech delay that was a result of her mouth shaping and controll too so possibly a connection.

[mrz]

If concerned it might be worth asking your GP for a referral to a paediatric occupational therapist

[CakeNinja]

Some kids in our (year 4) class have so many problems with presentation! The content is there but it's the way it's laid out, not systematic, questions 1,2 and 3 laid out going down the page, then 4 and 5 squished next to 3 on the same line - and that's if you're lucky and can work out which question it actually is as some of them rarely write the question number!
Whole double pages missed out, work done upside down at the back of the book as they have rushed and not checked where they are.

Find out the official school font, get her to write a line each of her favourite things (one of my dds would be 'unicorns', 'glitter', 'minecraft', 'milkshake', you get the picture!

Can you go out with her and let her choose a nice exercise book (paperchase/tiger, somewhere with cute designs, and something that she really is excited about using) and then get her to do some 'work' in it?

Do keep it light and fun though.

I put post it's in exercise books now, a general page marker sticking out of the book to indicate which page they should start on, and then a smaller sticky note at exactly the like they need to start today's work on.
I've bought some scented stickers for when they work hard on their presentation, it's important that it's legible and coherent!
Well done for trying to help her though this, it's so frustrating when the work is there and done well but to a poor standard, and often they need a little bit of scaffolding to get things in the right places.

[LockedOutOfMN]

Maybe a laminated colour cpy of a sheet showing what each page should look like?

e.g. Title in the middle, date on the right, both underlined

Leave a line

Question number in the margin

etc.

(Could have numeracy on one side and literacy on the other?)


In our school, the ed. psych. team produce these for the students with dysgraphia.

Also, stickers to show which page to write on next.

Regular rewards for improvement, and explaining to her clearly what she has done well, e.g. you left a space, you wrote on the line, you copied accurately, etc.

[jamdonut]

It doesn't matter how often we model 'setting out', even doing it step by step, some of them still do it their way! ...and then wonder why we get exasperated!
Eg.
Teacher: Get out your maths book and write the short date at the top left of your page like this (demonstrates).
You do know what the short date is don't you?...does anyone not know what the short date is?.... it is dd/mm/year.

2 minutes later...."Why have you written the long date in your book? We only write the long date in our writing books! Why did you not follow the instructions I gave???

Child shrugs shoulders.

Teacher: when you have written the learning objective , leave a line.
Write the number of the question at the left of the page. Leave a space, then write your number sentence like this ( demonstrates).
Leave a line between each question..."

And this is just for maths! The same happens when setting out writing. It is always modelled, but do some of them take any notice?

[CakeNinja]

Jam, I feel your pain!
One parent got quite snippy at parents evening when a non confrontational comment was made about presentation/short date not being written and teachers comments in book etc. She said something along the lines of, "can you not sit and write it with her for a few days?" - well it's not really feasible as there are around 15 children who weren't setting it out properly, to oversee them all doing it one at a time isn't feasible, we have a lesson to actually get through!
This is why it's modelled on the board - copy it like that and it will be right!

[IAmNotACat]

All the way through primary school my teachers complained that my work wasn't neat. To be honest I didn't care and didn't understand why it mattered since the content was good. It wasn't until secondary school that I started to like making my work look nice as well as just getting it done.

[PhyllisWig]

Just come back to this so thank you all for the ideas. Love the laminated page idea actually and the nice stationery. She's a Competitive little wotsit so setting her challenges really helps.

She tried really hard with her Christmas list over the weekend but her writing is so angular! Lucky santa seems to have been able to read it all ;)

[ClimbingRoses]

Is she still writing in pencil or moved onto pen? DS when he was at the end of Y2 was still struggling with his handwriting. Doing his spellings one day I only had a handwriting pen (ballpen/felttip type thing) to hand so just convinced him it was OK to "break the rules" (his view not mine) and use pen not pencil on one occasion. HIs handwriting was transformed. Without him even trying. Pointed it out to his teacher who moved him onto his "Pen-Licence" pretty much immediately. Turns out DS did not work well with pencils. Maybe worth a try.