Year 2 Handwriting

[Peanuts33]

Does anyone know if DS will be marked down in his Year 2 Sats for bad handwriting?

[2BoysTooLoud]

I have bad habits to sort out with ds then. Fun times ahead! I will ask teacher for support though as ds more likely to take teacher seriously. Always convinced he is right with me. Thanks for advice.

[mrz]

it's why I'm not a fan of those letter formation books you can buy. Unless someone watches to make sure the child is starting in the right place (usually top) and going in the right direction then bad habits can easily be established.

[easterbunnyhopsback]

We have sent loads of information home about handwriting, co-ordination activities, letter formation, etc, so we were really pleased when one of the less able writers asked the TA to write him a special handwriting homework sheet. She carefully prepared it, with big examples of how to form the letters again, and duly sent it home.

The next day, the A4 page was FULL! Full of letters all formed wrongly!

We were SO frustrated, especially as I had talked to the boys' mum about the importance of letter formation at a parent interview the previous week. It flushed many days of small group work down the drain!

Handwriting must be a well-supervised activity, not one to 'let children get on with', as bad habits are really difficult to get rid of as children get older.

[mrz]

most letters are/should be formed the same regardless of being left/right handed. Exceptions are letters with cross strokes such as t and f where the cross stroke is formed right to left rather than left to right.

[2BoysTooLoud]

Should my 5 year old ds practice with right handed arrows? I notice if left to own devices he forms his letters oddly. I think his teacher is happy with his 'content' and his writing is legible but if they do joined up writing soon I think ds will have problems unless he follows right handed arrows. [Should I just leave him to it?!].

[mrz]

Lots of lefties have beautiful handwriting but the basics of good letter formation is important

[2BoysTooLoud]

My left hander going to have problems 'joining' due to way he forms letter; look ok but formed sort of backwards. Back to basics with 'arrows'? He won't like it!!

[mrz]

I think joining can give children a fluency in writing that is missing with the stop start of print.

[viewfromawindow]

Please just remember that for some children the neatest they can do when they are concentrating might not be as neat as you think it should be! I teach Y3/4 and I have had poor handwriting for ever. I have to make a massive effort in the classroom even now to keep it neat for the children - for some of us neat handwriting just doesn't come naturally. Could be the "don't care" attitude might be hiding a "can do but just can't seem to do it and find it very hard".
I see quite a few children who get really obsessed that their writing isn't neat enough and therefore it is all rubbish, when actually there is much in the content to be proud of, and they then turn into reluctant writers when, yes it is hard to read at the moment, but if they end up not writing much at all this is even harder to help them make progress.
My own DD is in Y5 now and has had poor handwriting write from the start (lots of sarky comments from people re: but she's a teachers daughter!". HOWEVER it is just now in Y5 where it seems to be coming together. She has never been encouraged to join her letters before as it was always said it wasn't good enough printed to be ready for cursive. BUT joining the letters seems to have oddly seem to have been the making of her. Don't get me wrong... it's never going to win awards, but the improvement is vast.
Oh and she got all level 3's in her Year2 SAT's with the most appalling handwriting so it doesn't effect their scores massively at this stage.... the markers are used to having to try and decipher all sorts of writing!

[mrz]

It only takes 5 mins in the classroom too

[PoppetUK]

Going to sound like the terrible pushy mum I am. I've just pulled out the handwriting practise and cd because I've noticed that handwriting has slipped. It's something that only takes 5 mins of practise and becomes quicker and neater with practise. The last time I helped them practise was September as we were waiting for school places to be allocated.

p.s the cd also keeps them quiet for 5 mins and during the holidays and I love that 5 mins of focus and quiet time!

[ThingOne]

I'll search for your thread Indigo.

[IndigoBell]

Fantastic content and accurate spelling and punctuation - well he doesn't have any of that either but I think that doesn't get harder to learn when you are older, whereas handwriting just gets harder and harder to learn the older you get......

[mrz]

Fantastic content and accurate spelling and punctuation don't mean anything if you can't read what has been written. Well presented work makes the reader want to ... well read.

[IndigoBell]

I know you do.

Mrz - you have given me lots of tips and advice over the last year - all of which I've taken on board - but probably the most important advice you've give me is this "We care about presentation."

I will be talking to DSs teacher straight after Easter about exactly this. I'm sure this is the thing that is stopping him from improving. They take him out for 'Speed Up' every day - but then when he is in class they don't ever comment on his handwriting.

I'm really hoping that all it will take now is for his teacher to care about presentation

I think DS will get in a strop for a few weeks and refuse to do any work - and then after that he will improve....

[mrz]

Send him to me Indigo ... we care about presentation!

[IndigoBell]

ThingOne - I had a long thread about this yesterday.

I think it's a huge problem that 'he knows it's not good enough but he doesn't care'

Most Some schools don't care if your child ever has presentable handwriting. It doesn't effect their SAT marks....

So chances are, your child will improve in Y3 and all will be fine. But if it doesn't - don't expect school to care.

If his handwriting is really bad - they'll just get his SAT paper transcribed :(

[ThingOne]

My DS1's teacher has said they concentration on the content rather than the handwriting. He is left-handed, 7 and his hw is crap. He knows it's not good enough but he doesn't care. I wish I could get him to try to improve but he gets very upset when made to practice the formation of letters. I've given up banging my head for fear of injury .

[TheFlyingOnion]

He'll be marked down in SATS and other writing assessments if his handwriting isn't good enough. The teachers will be looking that the letters are a regular shape, aligned properly, taller letters and letters which hang under the line are the correct size, and for evidence of joining. Whether he can do these will affect what level his handwriting is assessed at but the previous poster is right, its a small percentage of the mark.

Of course if his handwriting is illegible he might miss marks for content and spelling simply because the marker cannot make out what he is trying to say....

FWIW handwriting is not taken into account in any other assessments bar composition (literacy creative writing)

[Decorhate]

My ds has appalling handwriting in comparison to most of his classmates. His teacher is not bothered by it at all - she says it has improved! I don't think it is a problem at this age but worth keeping an eye on & maybe practising a bit at home?

[mrz]

Really it depends how bad is bad?
Would it prevent someone reading his work?

[CoonRapids]

Get the impression from DS school that handwriting is acknowledged to be something some children naturally better at than others and that more weight given to other elements of writing in SATS, e.g. imagination, using interesting vocab, punctuation, spelling, (but not always needing to be 100% correct, showing knowledge of phonics etc.), use of capitals.

[2BoysTooLoud]

I'm interested in this as my year 1 ds age 5 is left handed. His handwriting not great. Guess he will be marked down unless he majorly improves!

[peckle]

up to 3 points awarded for handwriting which is a small proportion of the mark