that teaching namewriting in nursery is just wrong

[BrexitentialCrisis]

It just gets on my tits.

3 year old is being asked to trace his name with a board pen onto a laminated template and sound out the letters. Every day. He hates it and it apparently takes him many minutes to do it, but he has to before he is allowed to go and play. His grip is all over the place and he says it hurts him. But his name is realllly long and the letters don't look like they sound. I'm a teacher and I really disagree with the way it's being done but don't want to sound like an arse if I flag it up. I've overheard the teacher talking about how ofsted recommended they do it so that kids are ready to write in reception. I don't want my son to learn about writing this way.
Whatever happened to painting with water on patios, threading, drawing in shaving foam and all those other fun pre-writing techniques? It's all just so lame. I just need to man up and complain don't I?

My son recognised the whole alphabet by 2.5, but didn't draw a closed shape until he was about 7. Actually, he still hates drawing...

Where I live (South Wales), children start school at 3. I'd be expecting my ds to do an activity like this at school. Sorry to sound ignorant but why do some posters seem to advocate for a much later start to writing? Isn't 7 too old? My niece is 7 and writes brilliantly, often for her own pleasures and amusement.

This kind of thing makes me want to weep. How inappropriate to force a young child to write. Pre-writing skills should be part of nursery school/pre-school, yes, with lots of different fun ways to do this. But why sicken a child of learning before he even starts school? It's even worse in the case of boys because their fine motor skills tend to develop later.

Three year olds shouldn't be sitting at a desk struggling with writing. They should be having fun learning through play.

SATSmum I think you have things spot on!

You are definitely not being unreasonable. I am an early years teacher/tutor & I would be appalled to see any of my teachers doing this.

We should absolutely be supporting children to learn literacy skills, but it should be interesting, fun & low pressure. Anything that is putting your child off writing at this young age is completely inappropriate. Of course your child's grip is all over the place- he is 3! That is completely normal for his age. He shouldn't be feeling pressured or like he 'isn't doing it right'. It makes me so mad they are doing this, as it turns the achievement of writing, which should be something he is excited & motivated to do- into a painful chore. Which is a real shame, considering he will have to do so much more of it :(
I struggle to believe OFSTED would recommend they teach it specifically in this way. There are so many other approaches they could use. I would absolutely raise it with them & challenge them on it. The curriculum they should be using (assuming you are in England) EYFS even gives examples of 'best practice' for supporting literacy & explains why this is not it.

Lovelybranches- children learn best through play. So they are picking up all of the physical & cognitive skills in an active & fun way. It is not developmentally appropriate to be sitting 3 years olds down for structured learning in this way, as many will not be ready, and it will actually create a negative association with the subject, rather than a love of reading & writing. Many 3 year olds would not have the fine motor skill ability to hold the pencil correctly, you cannot force that development, but you can offer low key activities to help develop dexterity * hand strength (playdough, lego etc...) There is absolutely no advantage in offering this type of learning early, as by age 7 or 8 most children have caught up to each other in terms of skill & understanding, but you can absolutely damage a child's interest & confidence by forcing it too early. So seems silly to rush it when there are so many other important things they could be doing.

I think Yabu. My Dd (now 12) could do this and enjoyed. Ds (5) couldn't do it and found it boring.

However nursery at this age is to slowly prepare them for school. By the end of nursery ds learnt to do it. Instead of taking ages, it takes 2 minutes. He is proud he can write his own name.

They will be working on grip during your child's time there.

Nursery is largely play. Asking them to take a few minutes o write their name is not a big deal.

I don't have a problem with Nursery teaching little ones to write their names just the way in which to taught. When my eldest two were at nursery they were taught to write their names in joined up handwriting. What's that even all about? How is that helpful to a child of 3? It was compulsory too.

My other children went to different nurserys and it wasn't compulsory. It hasn't made a blind bit of difference to any of them now they're older. My 3 and a half year old can't write his name yet. So what.

My son has learnt his at nursery but tbh not like that. He seems to enjoy it but I very much doubt that he would enjoy that method.
Lol our only issue is d vs b issue. Makes me hate p,d,b and q.

I've worked as a TA in nursery, I was supply for a while so have worked in a range of settings. I have never come across a child being forced to write like this. It's so counterproductive.

My own second child was very reluctant to write and the school never pushed it. Even in year one his teacher was thinking of ways to get him to write which would be fun and engaging for him.

I don't have a problem with name writing being taught by teaching letters as both my girls learnt that way in nursery, however I disagree with expecting a 3 year old to work at it for so long before being allowed to play.

How do you know they don't do all the other things? Making him write his name before he can go play sounds harsh, if that's what happens.

Personally I'm over the moon my pre schooler can write his name and knows his letters, but he has lots of fun playing too.

When dd1 was at preschool if they did some craft the teacher would write their name on the back in yellow pen and they'd trace over the top.
It was actually very effective, as there wasn't a child (including the two with learning difficulties) that couldn't manage a good enough approximation within a couple of terms.

That idea that they should be able to draw a person before they can recognise letters is bazaar. Dd1 taught herself letters, both upper and lower case from playing on a keyboard before she was 2yo. She was somewhat a late developer for drawing though. She was definitely over 3yo (and writing several words) before she even tried to draw anything rather Tha just making pretty shapes.

Urgh, what a surefire way of making some children hate learning to write. They should not be forcing writing on a 3 year old who is not interested in it (nor on a 4 or 5 year old but that's a whole other argument)

I would definitely complain about it.

DD could write her name at 3, but it's a very short name! She is now 6, and doesn't like writing. Being able to write her name at an early age has not meant she has become any more proficient at writing than any of her classmates.

It seems another example of box ticking exercises - can count to 10, can write their own name, etc. - which on their own don't really mean a lot, but are deemed necessary to 'prove' that these 3 year olds are learning.

I love it how all the people with the experience to qualified to comment on this (teachers) are saying this is not a good idea, and not appropriate, and could put the DC off education, yet there are still a load of people with nothing but their own made up ideas about education saying that this is what nursery is for

Thank goodness we have a government that follows the sound advice of people with experience in the sector rather than basing their knowledge of education in their own schooling and prejudices.

Oh no, wait ....

OP this would really concern me, they obviously have failed to grasp the principles of EYFS.

Are there other options? Have you considered a childminder? There are some wonderful CMs out there.

I think this is a bad idea.

It's far better to concentrate on being able to hear the sounds in words and if DC are ready introduce letters that go with them in a fairly simple way. That often does not match phonemes in names (especially non-English ones).

Also, if children are too young to comply with classroom time instruction, they need terribly close supervision when attempting letter formation as it's a huge amount of extra work to unlearn a bad habit.

If they want to improve fine motor skills, then colouring in (progressively more detailed outlines), other paper and pen puzzles, threading beads, and learning to tie shoelaces are useful and considerably more enjoyable.

I don't think it's got anything to do with OFSTED or EYFS. My DD's nursery wouldn't do this.

I saw another child at DD's nursery writing her name really well and asked if I should be teaching DD as she couldn't do it and I hadn't tried to teach her at all. They said no, she could hold a pen properly and make marks and knew her alphabet so she was fine, school would teach her to write.

4 months later she is enjoying writing her name and asking me to spell words so she can write them out, but she has picked it all up at het own pace, I have just given her the pens, paper and attention

I don't think you're being unreasonable.

Is it a school nursery? I'm a teacher in a school nursery and I know that there's a huge amount of pressure on us to start so many things earlier, as the expectations for Reception, Y1 and throughout the school just get higher. Sad but true.

We have names out in the morning when children come in. They 'sign in' first by recognising and posting their name in a post box, then by having a go at writing when they are ready or when they want to.

We do lots of name and other writing practise, but as you said it's often in the sand/glitter/shaving foam, or with playground chalk or on the interactive whiteboard etc. Children also have lots of opportunities for writing, drawing and Mark making in all areas of the classroom inside and out, and we do correct pencil grip and encourage the correct grip (also through fine motor activities - tongs, tweezers, pipettes in the water tray, peg boards, threading etc). I'd never force a child who was clearly finding writing painful and upsetting.

Definitely speak to the teachers, maybe just mention he has seemed upset, stress you want to support him and them, and ask what other ways you could try to encourage his motor skills and interest in Mark making.

I want my 3 / 4 year old to just have fun at nursery - to learn to play with other children - to learn to share etc. If they happen to really enjoy writing or reading and are pushing to do it then let them do it to keep them happy. If they are not really interested then let them enjoy themselves and play.

It is wrong because they handle it badly and make it boring for him. There are lots of fun ways they could teach him to hold a pencil, and they could just gently watch out and see if he is ready to write his name: some children are, some aren't.

Trace his name? Without learning the meaning of the letters? Utter nonsense.

Children who are eager to learn how to read should not be told that it's too early, but five is a better age for compulsory teaching.

And this teaching method is all wrong. Some children have names with only two letters.
Besides, this exercise is very, very boring. Might put him off writing forever.

YANBU - there is a lot of difference b/w encouraging mark marking and name recognition and forcing it. At ds' preschool kids all had a laminated name mat that they were encouraged to find and trace over whilst waiting for the session to start but it wasn't compulsary.

Have they misunderstood the advice Ofsted have given them? I'm not sure Ofsted would have recommended this exactly, although a lot depends on the individual inspector.

The best way to prepare children for writing in Reception would be to provide activities (structured and in continuous provision) that are carefully matched to children's fine motor development and their next steps, working on their speaking skills and reading and telling lots of stories with them.

If it's hurting him, then it doesn't sound like he's at the right stage of development. It might be OK for some children at this age, just not all of them.