How can we get a 5yo (Yr1) to write faster?

[bustle]

She's a bit of a perfectionist, so her writing is very neat but she's very slow. It's got to the stage now, where half way through yr1, she's starting to get behind as the other are finishing their work and moving on without her.

Any tips? She could colour for England, but that doesn't seem to help her!

Thanks

Her teacher could set her little targets where she is expected to complete up to a certain point in a given time and has rewards based on that. She probably needs reassurance that you can use different types of handwriting for different purposes- it doesn't always have to be perfect.
But she is only Year one. Lots of children still are not 'writing' as such at this point!

Thanks spudmasher. The problem is, her teacher has been dealing with it by making her finish work during Golden Time - it's obviously not working as we're now almost halfway through the year and the poor kid's only had Golden Time two or three times!

And dd has now noticed that the majority of her class are now on the next numeracy book and she's not too far into the first one - she says she understands it (which I can believe, knowing what she's like with numeracy at home), she just tries to fill it in neatly and gets left behind.

So she is not mucking about during work time but still has to miss Golden Time???!!! Oooh I feel a letter to the teacher coming on....
That's not going to do her self esteem an ounce of good.

Although I have to admit, when we've spoken with the teacher in the past, she says she does daydream in class... perhaps that has something to do with it.

Then she should have some sort of sticker chart or something for rewarding her when she does do the right thing and finish in the given time. I stil feel it is very young to be having to finish work as such. Five year olds should be allowed to daydream imho.

Thank you, time to have another word at school then.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what we can do at home to help her? Thanks

I would let her go at her own pace.

If you start to rush her it might put her off.
If she is keeping up with numeracy does it matter if she isn't on book2?

I would also go into school and ask them to stop making her finish her work in golden time.

If she is writing neatly then although she is slow now with time she should speed up.
If she is not the only child not on book2 in the class then let her do things at her own speed.

She's only 5 and has plenty of time to speed up. It seems a pity to perhaps put her off by trying to rush her along.

Use a timer. Set it for a short time e.g 5 mins and give her a very acheivable task - e.g. writing a shopping list while you suggest things to go on it. Make it a game, a race - something fun. Show her that she really can get it finished.

A lot of children go through the perfectionist stage. She needs a bit of help to realise that sometimes, handwriting is not as important as what she's writing, and at other times, the handwriting is the most important thing iyswim.

thank you for your suggestions

thank you for your suggestions

oops

Our school made a game with eggtimers but they only had to write a key word the idea was to beat your own score. They seemed to enjoy this. Also they ahve some tasks where they focus on being neat and others where they are told it does not have to be 100 % immaculate. We have plenty of tears from girl twin here wanting to everyhting to be perfect whereas boy twin not fussed!

My son is 5 and also in year one. He is so pendantic it's not true. He hates to spell words incorrectly and likes to write neatly. However, this means he produces small amounts of work albeit of a high quality. His teacher says she is not at all worried, he is in the youngest of the class and has plenty of time to pick up the pace. At home, he writes about stuff that he is really interested in like Dr Who or aliens, and that seems to keep him focused and interested in what he is doing.

I volunteer at a local school and the ability spectrum is very wide. Some children are still forming letters and only managing the most basic of spellings...cat..dog...pan etc. So, the fact that your child is writing neatly and thoroughly I think is something for her to feel proud about. The speed will come.