Cursive Handwriting

[MichelleMorgBron]

How important is it for children to learn cursive handwriting in Key Stage One?

Our school is encouraging it, but my daughter's hand writing is really messy

My DS is in year 5, and his cursive has always been messy and slow; I have put my foot down and told him to ignore it and write as normal- he's faster and we can read it.. It's daft to try and force it on kids IMO. I was never tought it at school, but I picked it up along the way over the years, as it does come naturally; I like neat hand writing, but am not bothered if it's cursive or not!! Think it's someone at DofE being petty ...
I also doubt that teachers themselves are that enamoured with wasting that much time/effort with it..
I figure they only have till Y6 to learn to write properly- High school is so computer friendly, they 'll probably never touch a pen...

Mine have all learnt cursive from the get go. IME it looks like beetle tracks through reception and year one, then suddenly in year two it begins to look presentable.
My year 4 and year 5 girls have really nice hand writing now.

I think you need joined up handwriting to get a level 3, which is what able kids will be aiming for in Y2.

I don't think the idea that you should be able to join writing for a level should be the motivation to teach/learn cursive handwriting but the inability to join handwriting does impact on other aspects of writing.
Developmental Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists all advocate cursive handwriting for a reason ... not to be petty.

Mrz - do you think it is important for teachers to teach children in year one to hold a pencil? Just asking because it isn't happening at my DD's school and I would think that skill comes before any cursive writing.

I've had to teach my own children myself.
It doesn't seem a priority although glossy anti smoking magazines and countless PR visits from policemen and firefighters seem to be.

I work with many many children, most of whom have terrible handwriting.
I contrast and compare to the beautiful writing my father had at the age of 5.

I think it is important to begin developing an effective pencil grip as early as possible. I don't think all early years teachers/staff are aware of the stages of development so don't recognise when a child is physically ready to adopt an effective grip. Obviously the tripod grip is the best there are other variations which are fine.
www.otplan.com/articles/pencil-grasp-patterns.aspx

I would be looking for the signs even in nursery and encouraging children to grasp mark making tools correctly. An ineffective grip makes writing more difficult/slower/even painful.

www.getreadyforschool.com/preschool/pencil_grip.htm

There is currently a similar discussion in Germany about whether kids should continue to be taught the German version of cursive. Apparently, there is quite persuasive evidence that kids not taught it end up being able to write just as quickly and neatly. At our German school, the approach is: it's taught because it's still nominally part of the curriculum but the teachers do not insist that the kids use it and don't invest anything like as many school hours on it as in the past.

Thank you very much, mrz. My DD stopped writing during the hols because she said it hurt too much! Can I query the school's approach (or would this be too antagonistic?). My son will be in reception next year and I'd like to know much more about what's being taught next time round.

coldandtired - interesting about how writing is taught in Germany (if you have read any of my other threads you'll know that I endlessly criticise the system here).

We work on children's physical skills for writing and "target" children who obviously struggle.
I'm working with a Y3 boy after school who still has the fixed tripod grip of a younger child to strengthen his wrist, fingers and shoulder girdle. His work looks ok but he has to focus so much on producing it that the effort is huge so we want handwriting to become automatic and painless.