Teacher's - Joined up writing

[pink84]

When do yuo normally start teaching joined up writing. DD in year 1 has just started. Is this normal?

Some schools start joined handwriting in reception others don't ever teach it ...

dd has started doing it in P4 (eqivalent to Y3). They do start off in P1 doing a 'flick' on the end of the letters which makes it easier to join them up later on

We have done it in various ways over the years, for a while we started in reception, now we introduce by the end of year 1.

My DS it doing it in reception, personally I think it over complicates things as he had learnt to write some letters and now has to learn it a different way

dd has started in reception this term after printing letters in nursery. I was a bit about this but she is taking it in her stride and producing wonderfully large loopy letters now

My DD doesn't do joint up, (year 1) but I've heard a rumour that the school may begin to use from reception. I feel sue that this will make the whole process of identifying individual letters and writing, even more difficult. I'm all for holding off.

DS started cursive writing in reception, so did my nephew (different schools).

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Lol!!

My dd has started to fully use cursive now she is in Y2, they started adding flicks by the end of reception and by the end of Y1 were forming the letters as you do for cursive without going to next step to fully joining up.
I was never taught cursive at school so I have learnt alongside dd, I worried at first that it seemed to be a big change from print be in reality it has gone really smoothly for dd and done her writing the world of good. She knew that in Y2 you did cursive and was really keen to show her new teacher she could already do it so of her own volition over the summer she wrote all sorts of things working on her cursive.
For me who has got to be one of the worst people for spelling about it has done me the world of good! In order to support dd I have taught myself and find that by slowing down my handwriting to think about how I am forming each letter makes me slow down and think about how each word is made up and how it is spelt, I have always been one whose brain goes several thousand miles ahead of where the pen is! My spelling has really improved as has dd's, this extra thought into her writing has helped her consolidate her phonic knowledge and understanding, she has come on in leaps and bounds, some of this is developmental progression but it has been clear to me that for dd cursive handwriting has been a major player in this progression.

My dd is very able and on g and t. She was reading and writing by easily by 3 and didn't go to nursery but went straight to school at 4. She could do some joined up writing already and i was annoyed when i got asked to see her reception teacher who told me she didn't like children being able to join writing so early! How stupid is that. I said that if she does it she wont be able to stop doing it. When dd went to year 1 the teacher was helping them to do joined up and dd could already do it but never had a problem with that teacher it was just the snobby reception teacher. Year 1 teacher said that reception teachers do not like children who are too able as it throws their teaching out and they like them all the same. good luck roadkillbunny to your dd. x x

The sooner the better. If it's left too late they find it so much harder.

I find it utterly weird, the obsession with the idea that a child should have to learn how to print letters without any joining strokes, then be told printing is not acceptable for proper writing and learn all over again, doing joined up writing. Why is that supposed to be easier and less confusing than learning how to do it properly in the first place??????? What use is printing letters to writing at school???? I don't think most people want their children to grow up printing everything they write at school, so why start out that way?

Joined up writing also helps children who are poor at spacing their letters and with letter sizing, particularly once they start writing words - otherwise it's very hard to tell with some children where one word is supposed to have ended and another one started. It's not as if printing your letters even looks remotely like the letters you read in books - who, for example, writes their "a" like a typed "a" even when they print it??????? So I don't think it even helps with letter recognition. Reading and recognising letters, and being able to write them are two different things. When we write, most of us write with most of our letters joined up, because it's faster and more efficient. I'm therefore more than happy for my children to learn to write that way from the start.