writing in year one

[loosinas]

my five year old (march born) is really struggling with his writing. im trying not to compare but i cant help feeling hes starting to lag behind. his letters are really badly formed, big and often un recognisable. he is really reluctant to practice his letters and hes shattered most evenings still so im reluctant to push him.... YET i really dont want him falling further behind :( ohhhhh.. what do i do.... how do i tell if its really a cause for concern or something that will improve with time ?

Love the toast idea! Shame dd1 is past that stage, and dd2 motivated anyway - for writing. Will pass on to teacher, though.

Now if you have similar tips for reluctant (but perfectly capable) beginner readers....

My DS is in Year 1 (July born) and has always been a reluctant writer BUT we are just starting to get somewhere. Tonight I picked him up from school and he said look in my bag Mummy. He has written a list of who he is going to invite to his Star Wars party! I was so happy.

His writing is actually very neat and his spelling great (all the time he spends on iPad, iPhone no doubt) he just doesn't really see the point in writing. Also, as his teacher pointed out he probably doesn't see us writing very often, which is something we are trying to change.

A good suggestion has been getting him to write something on the shopping list he wants. Getting him to chose special books, pens etc has had some success. He is obsessed with Star Wars so we started off getting him to write about that. Managed to get him to do his phonics writing homework this week by bribing him with jelly babies!

I agree with encouraging writing but not sitting down with pens and papers.

We have bought some bath crayons and DS uses them to write on the bathroom wall. Also chalk on the patio.

DS barely picked up a crayon until reception and I didn't get my first recognisable (only just) picture until last Christmas. But now DS does the most beautiful colouring and drawing.

The thing with DS is to make it have a point - he won't do anything just for the sake of it. So, lists of things he wants to buy, party lists etc.

Also, if he wants a friend to come for a playdate he has to write them a letter to ask them.

I bought some of those cheap blank cards from The Works (about £1.99 for 20) and DS happily draws and writes bithday cards to all of his toys

We do sitting down with pen and paper . Sorry old fashion here. I have old fashion exercise books and DSs write five minutes day. I put the timer on the oven on and they practice their letters by writing what they did during the day for five minutes. It really helps and I can't see how they will get better at forming their letters unless they practice! They don't mind at all it's part of their normal after-school-routine.

They usually write about something that happened at school like 'we did football at pe' or 'to day i did pant' . I help them with the spelling if they ask but they usually make it up. They are 4 and 5.

Have to say we too sit down with pen & paper for daily writing practise. We try & do other fun stuff like bath pens etc but he's so disinterested in writing we had to make it as much part of the daily routine as cleaning teeth & going to the loo! It was only once DS (5.5) realised it was going to happen however much he fussed & the quicker he did it the quicker he could go & play, that he just settled down & did it. We alternate between worksheets or just free writing (lists, story, favourite things etc) His writing is still pretty awful but I can at least read it now