Teaching joined-up writing in Reception, before the children can print

[Artichokes]

Is this common now?

My DD's reception teacher insists they learn joined-up. Even when they learn individual letter formation itswith all the loopy bits as if it will be joined-up. It's really much harder than print writing and seems crazy as they are learning to read print fonts and can't read joined-up.

Anyone know the theory behind this approach?

Silly idea IMO. ds1 was taught this way from year R. He is now 9 and his writing is barely legible, ds2 is now in year R (different school) and is learnign to write with the lead out only. DPs niece is 7, has been taught to write without all the joining up malarkey and has lovely, neat writing that is very easy to read.

I am a Literacy teacher and have been teaching joined up writing successfully for many years using a method I developed. I also train teachers too. If children are taught printed letters first they find it more difficult to learn joined up writing as a new skill because they have to re-learn how to form each letter. Whereas if taught to learn cursively first, children do not need to be taught to learn printed letters - they just do it automatically.

FYI I have just released software called abc Joined Up on iTunes - there is a free trial version as well as a full paid for version. It teaches children the structure of cursive letters and lets them practice individual letters and words on the iPod/iPad screen. There is more information on my web site www.abcjoinedup.com and videos on You Tube with comments by children,parents and teachers who have used the previous PC version called Letter Layers. Hope this helps.

I think going straight into cursive is best for the children, as long as they are allowed to develop their mark making skills, hand-eye coordination and pencil grip first. If they can't hold a pencil, any sort of writing is an uphill struggle.

Entry strokes may look artificial to start with but you soon get used to them and for beginning writers they do away with any worries about where to start.

I think you should support your school's writing policy and accept that the teachers are using their professional judgement, gained from years of training and experience.

"I think you should support your school's writing policy and accept that the teachers are using their professional judgement, gained from years of training and experience."

Shades of what our parents were told about the look-say method of learning to read, which left part of a generation functionally illiterate, and prompted the return to phonetics.

Teachers are not gods. Not even the fantastic ones. They are mortals, fallible like the rest of us, and generally labouring under the burden of restrictive curricula laid down by a distant authority. Many of us are just as highly educated and literate as they are, we know our children, and have the right to our opinions. That is not disloyal or unsupportive.

"I think you should support your school's writing policy and accept that the teachers are using their professional judgement, gained from years of training and experience."

I fully support the teaching of cursive straightaway - my DD (6.4) learned cursive straightaway at her French school and can write fast, neatly and accurately in attractive handwriting. But I would never dream of supporting any school policy and a teacher's professional judgement without question!

Its really not for everyone.

amberleaf - in France, the whole country learns cursive straightaway! The children practice endlessly in école maternelle and nearly all of them seem to manage.

I had big problems with DD and joined up writing when she got to it in Year 1. She has dyspraxia and having to learn the letters all over again was a disaster . By the time DS got to the reception of another school 5 years later, they were doing the cursive method which has been so much easier.

"The children practice endlessly in école maternelle " exactly. Here the children are expected to learn so much and pass so many tests, that penmanship is de-emphasised and many of them don't have the opportunity to develop their FMS enough to master writing comfortably.

Also, IIRC, French cursive is rather more logical than the cursive our dc are learning right now in the UK, in that the letter-shapes are modified to accommodate joining, eg b joining to the next letter from the top of the curved part rather than the bottom, and the top of the s being a very small loop rather than being the same size as the bottom loop.

Yes. There are things I don't like at all about the "learning timetable" in French education, but the handwriting is fantastic. DD can take dictation with an ink pen now in beautiful cursive with no smudges [proud].