Writing in Y1 - to correct or not to correct?

[emy72]

Have been to a parents' information evening about Y1 and the teacher said NOT to correct the children's spelling when writing at home at all costs as it actively discourages children's enjoyment of writing.

Great I thought, but in practice I am worried this approach wouldn't work for my DD, because:

1. she has a hugely photographic memory and so if she gets a word spelling wrong and I don't correct her she will remember that word in the way she thinks it's right;

2. then if someone else corrects her she would be mortified as she is a perfectionist and would think I set her up to fail!

On the other hand, I can see that when my DD writes she is often stalled when she doesn't know how to write a word - is this a problem?

Any teacher with an opinion on this? I am struggling now on what to do! (I have always corrected her and now I feel like I am doing something wrong!!!)

The main focus in the early years is for children to be able to put words on paper and make stories.

For children to progress they need to be able to put their ideas on paper and start developing sentences, albeit very short ones in the beginning.

They need to "hear" the sounds and understand the key letters they are hearing, for example

I rt a ltr 2 mi mm
I wrote a letter to my mum

words like the are hard to write as a sound but they might write th or h or nothing at all.

If she wants to write the correct spelling, then encourage her to tell you how she things she should spell it, listen to the sounds and write the main letters. Then and only then, add in the extra letters.

IF children rely on adults telling them the correct words all the time, then they struggle in the class and are unable to work independently.

Filling in the letters comes later.

Its almost like when adults learn to write using shorthand, they use key strokes for letters but dont include any vowels. The English language is taught from these basics, the children write the phonetic sounds that they hear and then develop from there.

So try and not focus on the spellings with your dd for the time being, focus on the story and developing those ideas.

(I know its hard to do, and as adults we want our kids spelling words correctly from the start, but the system does seem to work)

At our parents evening thingy yesterday the Y1 teacher said to do both ie praise for any word that is correctly spelt phonetically, and also point out that it can be spelt a different way.

Emy - I understand what you are saying. My dd is 5 and sounds very similar to yours. She'll write something and I'll say "great, well done!" and she'll say "yes but is it right, Mummy?" I can't then tell her it is, if it isn't so we tend to look at it together and try to work out which letters she may have missed out. She gets very frustrated if there are two ways of making a sound and she's chosen an incorrect one - such as "I like reeding". I think she has a photographic memory too, so I ask her to look at words and just see if they look how she would expect to see them in a book. Sometimes this helps her.....

good suggestions, thanks! We definitely need to work on putting ideas to paper, as she doesn't like doing it for some reason and always relies on me to sit with her and tell her what to write.

I will try and encourage her to think of something and then have a go herself, let the battle begin! It's hard also because her writing is very good, (will get several sentences write in one go) so the temptation of correcting is strong iyswim!

I think the advice to encourage ideas though is great as this is definitely an area that needs development! :o)

she doesn't like doing it for some reason - maybe because she's worried about being wrong?

Some kids like writing on a whiteboard first, because mistakes don't matter and can easily be corrected, then copying out a good copy.

Emy, does she have a particular interest or could you organise an "event" that she needs to write for? My DD is a very big fan of the Rainbow Fairies and so will happily write a letter to them every night. She puts it under her pillow and I don't even check it - I am just happy that she is writing.
Another friend of mine's daughter invited all of her friends around one day for a tea party - her DD made all of the menus, pace settings etc and so was excited about writing rather than seeing it as a chore...

emy - I meant to add, another thing my dd likes doing is typing on the computer, as any mistakes can be rectified without leaving any evidence. Doesn't help with handwriting obviously, but might help with expressing ideas? I too get a lot of "just tell me mummy" which I try to avoid doing.

I have a yr 1 dd who is completely unconcerned about her spelling although she quite likes to write. I usually just correct one word - a fairly common one and leave the others (just can't help myself ). She also likes typing on the computer.

Hey what a great idea!

I might get her to email my mum and dad - my dad had suggested it a while ago, but I never got round to it!!!!

Thanks for that!

Had a similar problem with my DS's old school. He would do great work at home and we would go through it together and correct some of the more simple spelling errors and he would remember them for next time. Great - so I thought.

Fast forward to parents evening at the start of Y2 and DS's work at school was appalling. Messy, loads of uncorrected spelling errors etc.

I told the techer that the stuff DS did at home was much better and asked why she thought that was.

Her answer was "we dont worry about spelling and presentation yet. You dont want to stress your DS out do you?".

So teaching how to do things properly is "stressing him out??????" Grrrr. I was gobsmacked!!!! I knew my DS needed a bit of a shove to do his best but the school didnt seem to care. So frustrating when you know your child can do a bit better. And it was OFSTED Outstanding too!!! What a joke.

We moved him at the end of that year.

For some reason dd doesn't check with me that her work she brings home from school is correct. For example today I have found in her book bag a lovely picture of a building with lots of people around it and written underneath is "is scool opun nau" ie "Is school open now?" I have just said it is lovely and stuck it on the fridge. Would other people point out the errors? If she'd done it at home she would have wanted me to spell every word so really I'm just glad she is writing off her own back.

My dd in Yr 1 sounds very similar and we've just done her first homework as well. She seems to not want to make any mistakes so for every word she writes she will ask if it's right. When I pointed out the spelling mistakes she got really upset and started saying 'I'm rubbish I can't do it.' I would happily let her do her own thing but when she asks me if it is correct I find it hard to say yes when I know it isn't. Do you think it ok to when she asks if it is correct say 'Yes that is how it sounds but there is also another way to spell it' and then let her either leave it or change it.

The guidlines from our school is that homework should be a joint activity with child and parent but I find it hard to know how much involvement should be from the parent.

I would correct words she should be able to spell and leave those that she has "had a good go at" writing

Runoutofideas: I am the same with my DD, if she does something at school I tend not to correct it, but it's when she does it with me at home that somehow I can't help myself!