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Year 1 copying from the blackboard and slow writing

19 replies

stickynote · 24/09/2004 10:15

My ds has just started in Year 1 in s class that is half Y1/half Y2. He's also moved schools. I asked his teacher (after school!) how he was settling in and she said "fine, although his writing is very slow". The following day, he came out of school in tears, saying he'd been told off for slow writing but said he was struggling because he had his back to the board and kept on having to turn round to look and try and remember.

I spoke to his teacher this morning (sorry!) and she said no-one's supposed to have their backs to the board (??) and she'd try and squeeze him round the side, "but he really is very slow with his writing, that's not the only reason".

I feel very hesitant posting this and want to make it clear that I'm fully supportive of teachers in general and think they do a great job in difficult circumstances. However, I've come away from this conversation not really knowing what to do next. Do I sit down with him and make him practice, practice, practice? Has anyone else had this problem?

BTW, he's the youngest in the class and left-handed.

TIA to anyone that can help.

OP posts:
coppertop · 24/09/2004 10:26

I would have thought that in Yr1 the emphasis would be on actually being able to write, rather than the speed at which they did it. It seems a little odd to me but then my eldest is only in Reception so I don't have any real experience. Personally I'd be delighted if ds1 could write at all in Yr1.

berries · 24/09/2004 10:27

If I had a pound for every time one of dd1 or dd2s teacher said this I'd be a millionaire by now! Both of mine were slow at writing (dd2 still is) and it did/does cause some problems, partic when they have to copy from board. dd1 started to try & cover it up by writing very large, so she could still fill up the number of pages the others had - didn't work though as content was still too low. We did encourage them to write at home, bought them both a diary, and also encouraged them to copy their favourite stories out, but never made them to it. TBH not sure how much difference it made. dd1 suddenly decided she could do it at about 7 &2 months (She was one of the oldest in the yr) so that was yr2. dd2 still hasn't, but was only 7 in July (yr3) so I'm hoping she might may a leap forward. It's a tricky one as both of mine were very conscious that they were slow at writing so did want to get better, but I didn't want to put too much pressure on as it would probably turn them off completely. BTW, one problem with both of mine were that they are perfectionists(get it from their dad) but poor spellers, so could recognise when a word was spelt wrong, without knowing how to spell it right. Had to spend a long time teaching them that they didn't have to spell each word right all the time, at the age they were, that would come later. You may find he is concerned about that & that makes his writing slow.
Also, yr2 is Sats year. Although they are not supposed to put much emphasis on it, you may find the teacher is pushing to get them ready for the long writing test (well, pushing 1/2 the class) and your ds has got caught up with that.
Sorry for the long post, but can really sympathise with this one

Batters · 24/09/2004 10:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MeanBean · 24/09/2004 10:34

Mine is in year one and hasn't got the motor skills to do writing properly, let alone copy from the blackboard. I would ask for a meeting with the teacher to discuss how he is getting on and to get to the bottom of what she is expecting your DS to do, and whether in fact he can do it, and if not, what extra help will be made available for him if it is appropriate for him to do it! My DS is going to get extra help with his motor skills this term, as they've recognised it's a problem for him.

Hulababy · 24/09/2004 10:46

I think you need to go and speak to the teacher again. And try and come up with a solution. If the teacher knows this is an problem, but the writing still needs to eb done - can she not start to differentiate her work a bit more. I am sure he can't be the only child suffering.

One strategy she could use may be going your DS a sheet with some of the text already there, with spaces for him to fill him, whilst reading it. Or she could be giving him a sheet with questions about the text on it, and then he reads the board and simply anseers the questions using less words.

School may also suggest some extra writing practise too - both at school and at home. BUT make sure it doesn't become to much of a chore for him - you don't want him turning off because of it.

Hope you get somewhere.

GRMUM · 24/09/2004 10:53

On a purely practical note try to get the teacher to sit him so that his left arm isn't continually bumping into a right hander ie If they sit 2 to a desk he should be sitting on the left side of the child he sits with.

if he's the youngest and hes with year 2 kids as well does that mean hes trying to keep up with them? He could be 2 years younger than some of the class!

I think practice helps if its not excessive or boring.

Hope everything turns out ok for him.

ScummyMummy · 24/09/2004 11:34

How about some fun stuff like dot to dots at home?

To be honest, I'm pretty sure mine couldn't cope with copying from the board either (they're yr1 too, but are older- March birthdays- and right handed) and I don't think they're expected to do that at all as yet. In a mixed class like this I agree with hula that it's worth checking how they're ensuring that the younger children get the intro to school routines and differentiated/different curriculum they need. Mine have found the transition from Reception to yr 1 a bit of a shock and I would be concerned if the leap had been made even longer by introducing year 2 type expectations to the Year 1 pupils. While I'm sure that this is an issue your son's school will have considered before embarking on mixed age classes, I do think it's worth chatting through with the teacher again.

Twinkie · 24/09/2004 11:37

We use those too scummy and also got DD some great books that have gold tsras and stuff in and she is now whizzing along - ELC also do some good wipe clean books that you write words in by going over dots so you can use them over and over again!!

stickynote · 24/09/2004 12:30

Thanks for all of these. I think I'll have to go and see her again - I'm more than happy to help him at home but I've always steered clear of writing and letter formation because I thought that teachers preferred to teach that themselves, rather than undo bad habits learnt at home.

Sigh .

OP posts:
Twinkie · 24/09/2004 12:32

stickynote as far as I am aware you are fine teaching your kid to copy letters as long as they are done as they would at school and that generally means just doing it to a formula - starting and stopping in the same place.

ourdarling · 24/09/2004 13:47

Dear stickynote, today l picked up some learning to write books and the one piece of advise that hit me (being lefthanded myself) is when showing your little one the art of letter writing is to do it with the pencil in your left hand too. My girl is righthanded so l will need to put the pencil in my right hand when l sit with her. It may help?

Dingle · 24/09/2004 14:12

This post has really got to me! It it really that different in Y1 from reception? My ds has just gone into Y1 and is the youngest in his class, having his birthday on 30. Aug.
He has been getting really stressed out with his reading, saying he's no good, and doesn't want to go to school anymore! I'd be happy that ds copies the writing, and that he enjoys the reading.I don't want him to feel so inadequate that he doesn't want to even go to school anymore!
I do try to do extra work with him at home, but I don't want to put even more pressure on him!
Sorry, my comments are no help at all, but I can understand your concern.

Shimmy21 · 24/09/2004 14:14

Hi Stickynote _ I feel a bit foolhardy admitting to being a teacher (ex) here after the battering they get sometimes on MN but this time I'd say you are right to be concerned. I agree with all the practical advice already given here but am shocked that the teacher told your son off. Yr1 is just the very beginning of a child's writing career and it must be a positive experience for the child with lots of praise encouragement etc etc. Is the teacher very inexperienced or new to Yr1? I would go back into school and express your concern that your son's writing is obviously a worry to her and ask the teacher what positive strategies she can put into place to support him. e.g. tiny little achievable targets like completing a word in a set time to be awarded a sticker. Put it in terms (to her)that you are worried about your son (rather than her methods) and you want to know how to help him. I'm sorry but we teachers are only human and if we feel we are being personally criticised the vital parent/teacher relationship can be jiggered -not excusing this but it's just human nature.

Dingle · 24/09/2004 14:26

I don't know all the details about previous"teacher threads" but in my eyes it isn't always the teacher that's the problem. Ds has gone from a reception class of 18, to a Y1 class of 30 and mixed in with the previous September intake. Yet, Y2 goes back down to 20 in a class.(someone said that this could be due to the sats results?) But surely if it is such a dramatic jump into Y1, shouldn't these kiddies be getting as much support as possible while they are keen and eager to learn?

roisin · 24/09/2004 14:46

There is a huge leap from reception to year 1, (even more so if you're going into a split years class). The government have been cutting a bit of slack on the foundation years curriculum, and certainly making it less based on formal reading/writing skills, but the KS1 curriculum hasn't changed, so teachers have to really get cracking on the formal stuff to get them all up to speed by the end of yr2 iyswim.

Our school do an intro session for new yr1 parents - about an hour after school one day - precisely for this reason; explaining the differences in yr1 and also showing some of the approaches they take to teaching literacy and numeracy.

I think you did the right thing raising it with the teacher SN, and hope she takes some steps to make things easier for him. Personally I haven't been through this, but I would be reluctant to push the writing with him at home right now - they are writing at school all day long, I think he deserves a break at home, especially if he's finding it a real struggle. Maybe review after Christmas when he's settled into yr1 routines.

twogorgeousboys · 24/09/2004 15:24

Stickynote, completely understand your concerns here and as others have said it is so important that very young children develop their confidence when developing new skills.

Agree with Hulababy, get time to talk this through properly with the teacher.

As a teacher, I generally noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference between children born earlier in the year and those born later. It's really important that the work children are doing is differentiated appropriately ie right for their level.

Left handed children need to be sat at the left end of a table with space for their writing arm.

I found that A LOT of year 1 children found copying from the board difficult at first and your little boy is very very young. IMO this is an enormous task for him. A number of children will be barely writing at this stage, so adding the spatial awareness skill required to transpose from a board (at a distance) to paper is perhaps unrealistic.

It sound like the teacher has a lot on her plate, because of the class dynamics (Y1/Y2 split) as there's a huge span of ability level in there.

If it's handwriting work, he really should not be copying from the board. He should be tracing over letters previously written into his handwriting book by the teacher (or perhaps having a go at copying underneath), writing the letters in sand, using big pens of different colours to write the letters on a huge sheet of paper etc etc.

I wouldn't advise doing writing with him at home. Any reading he's doing and perhaps spellings that are sent home are MORE than enough TBH.

What sort of pencil is he using? Is it a "chunky" grip type. If not, it needs to be.

If I ever had children copying anything down, as well as the main whiteboard/blackboard I would have another 3 small boards placed around the classroom, so every child was close to whatever they had to copy.

However, I had a considerable number of Y1 children who simply weren't at this stage yet, so I put whatever they needed to write in their books and they wrote over it or underneath it.

Yorkiegirl · 24/09/2004 15:29

Message withdrawn

Hulababy · 24/09/2004 15:34

More LH advice here - how to learn to write for PH children (and some advice for all children too).

stickynote · 24/09/2004 16:12

I really really appreciate all of this, thank you. He came out today and said the teacher had moved him so he could see the board and he found it a lot easier, so I'm hoping that he'll cope better now.

Thank you for taking the time to post .

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