Writing resources for Yr 1? Need to help DS

[RaisinHell]

I wonder if anyone can offer any suggestions or direct me to some recommended resources please?

My DS is in Yr1 and he is not writing as well as he is expected to and so I need to try to help with some kind of practice at home. It needs to be fun if that's possible as I don't want to make it a real chore for him as I suspect he is already pretty turned off.

The problem seems to be that he does not write enough in the time given, for example he might only write 3 sentences in the allowed time of 15-20 mins. What he writes is usually good quality but there is not enough of it and he is very slow to produce it.

I don't know exactly why he can't write more, whether it is physical i.e. some problem to do with the actions of writing or mental i.e. that he can't think what to write. The teacher did not know either. He does seem to get frustrated with it.

His handwriting is very neat and the letters are well formed so that could be partly why he is so slow to produce it, but it seems to me that he almost has too many ideas or thinks too much about what to write that he ends up hardly putting anything down!

Please don't tell me to do nothing as I have given it over 6 months of doing that and waiting to see if it was just an issue of maturity perhaps and he would do it in his own time. But it seems to be getting worse. His teacher has mentioned it again and now he has moved down a group for literacy.

For background he is a bright kid, a strong reader, he is very articulate, prefers science and maths and is very good at those subjects.

I would like to try to help him find a way to make writing easier so that he can get some pleasure from it and stop feeling so frustrated.

Can he tell his own stories? aurally I mean

My year 1 ds not neat and not fast with his writing. However, content imaginative. [He is left handed though teachers not worried about that- more me with concerns!]. Sometimes I think his head works faster than his hand which causes him frustration.

Oh and unless given reason/ purpose to write I don't think he sees the point. So unlike others who write for fun he does not yet. Like your ds seems to have scientific mind though his stories are fun aurally.

I was going to suggest giving him a purpose to write too. Some children aren't motivated by simply producing a piece of writing - they need to see why they should do it! Something linked to his interests is a good start. I am writing a 'growing journel' (linked to what we're growing in our Y1 garden) with my Y1 class and some of the boys are very keen to contribute! Or maybe he'd be motivated to write a story if it was for a younger sibling? A lot of children like doing that. Have a look on www.twinkl.co.uk at the themed writing paper. There's lots of nice paper to print out that would motivate a boy to write. I find that giving them special pencils can help. My class go mad for gel pens in different colours.

Also check his pencil grip/check he's not gripping too tightly. He may not be holding it in a way that is comfortable so therefore his hands aches after a while.

RaisinHell - sounds exactly like my own ds used to be up until Yr5.

On a daily basis his teacher in Yr5 would give the class the start of a sentence and then they had 5 minutes to write as much as they could of a story. My ds found this incredibly useful and enjoyable that when it came to writing a story / essay in 20 minutes he was much improved. In fact, I have to say he's a blooming good writer now, with excellent ideas, grammar spelling etc.

Thank you all, I am very grateful.

Mrz - I am not sure, it's not really something we have done I don't think and his teacher hasn't mentioned this. He does chat to himself whilst playing, I think he is taking the role of a character IYSWIM. Also he recently wrote a poem for homework and he produced that aurally in the bath actually with me scribbling it down so he could write it up afterwards. He will talk about book stories and predict endings and what happens next and play with alternatives.

2boystooloud - lots of similarities, phew! Yes my DS is also left handed and yes his brain works faster than he can cope with, not just in writing but also craft and model making and experiments. He tries to do things which I wouldn't have expected for another 2-3 years but then can't quite carry them out as he wants. And yes, I am sure he can't see the point most of the time. Occasionally he does produce a reasonable piece, perhaps when it's been something he's found more interesting.

Treesinthebreeze - I will try to think of some purposes which will interest him, he certainly managed to do a 2 sides letter to Father Christmas!! But then that was really just a list. No siblings to write for but he does have a good friend who lives far away, maybe some letter writing?? i will try the themed paper, have tried all manner of exciting pens already. I will check his grip, I think I will look at LH resources too just in case that is contributing to him being slow.

Treas - thanks, that is very reassuring. I could try that idea of giving him an opening sentence.

We work very much on the premise of "if they can't say it they can't write it" so do lots of talk before we write anything.

www.everybodywrites.org.uk/writing-games/details/writing-games/

mrz - many thanks for that link, I will give those ideas a try.