letter formation in y1

[sillybillies]

My DD is still forming letters incorrectly. She tends to start at the wrong part of the letter and in her words 'does it her own way'. She also does many back to front including her numbers.

She's quite able at literacy and doing well at reading. Should I be worrying about the letter formation. My thinking is that she is developing bad habits that are going to be/are already difficult to break.

I think its because she's a bit stubborn and likes to do things her own way rather than any particular problem although she is left handed.

Over the holiday I'm making her do a little work every day to try and help her re-learn and practice her letters. Three questions for you-
Should they have the basics of letter formation by this stage in yr1?
Should the school have picked this up?
Am I being mean making her do extra work over Christmas?

It's important that she forms letters correctly but I'm afraid lots of teachers/schools allow it to become a problem by letting children do it their own way

My dd is in year one, and they have laminated sheets to practise letter formation on. in book bag at least 3 times a week. really helping

We teach correct ketter formation from reception, and do additional work on it early in Y1.

I agree, it is important. It makes life far easier for them inthe long run too.

So I'm not a meanie and the school should be picking this this up. Thanks, I feel less guilty. I will let her have Christmas day/ Boxing day off though!!

We've had one sheet to practise letter formation for homework sometime back in October and it only practised the letter Y!

There are some really useful resources on sparklebox, as recommended by my son's year 1 teacher. Whilst his letter formation is ok, we are just struggling with consistent sizing of text. He is finding the printable worksheets fun, and not so much like extra work.

www.sparklebox.co.uk/literacy/writing/letter-formation/

We got detailed instructions home in P1 (equivalent of YR in Scotland) on letter formation, were encouraged to practise this at home with our DC, and the children do lots of practice of forming the letters properly at school too, right from teh start. I think it's likely to cause problems when they come to learn joined-up writing later if they aren't forming the letters properly, no?

But I do think you're a wee bit mean getting her to do extra work over the hols. It's been a long old term and she will probably benefit as much from a break. Can you work the practice into something like thank you letters so that it doesn't seem like work (eg write them out in light pencil and she has to write over your letters to practise?).

please please please don't visit Sparklebox every visit is supporting a twice convicted paedophile

Thanks for the link, the sheets look good. DD doesn't seem to mind the work too much once I get her sat down. I stupidly mentioned to a friend earlier today and she looked a bit shocked that I was making DD work in the holidays, hence the guilt.

Blimey mrz I've just had a peek at the sight, how is this sight still running?

- really mrz?

perhaps I won't use the link!

would anything here help, in case physical mechanics are hindering (so finding easy ways out)

Mrz, I had no idea and even more surprised it was recommended by teaching staff. Yikes! Thanks for the heads up.

Our LEA has banned the use of Sparklebox though DD often comes home with things from there and its in the same LEA I had heard that it was taken over by another company but aren't sure if this is true. I now use Twinkl which has similiar resources and find the formation sheets very useful.

www.twinkl.co.uk

penguinArmy Yes I wondered if her being left handed may play a role and although I think it does to an extent, I'm fairly sure its more a personality thing. She likes to do things her own way and its difficult to persuade her there may be better ways of doing things. Most of the time I'm not worried as she's bright enough to figure it out in her own time but with the writing, I was concerned that once she incorrectly learnt her letters that it would become automatic. Therefore better to correct it now whilst she's still having to think about how to write each letter.
However the fact that she can't see letters as she's writing them might be a reason. There's some good advice in one in the videos on how to hold the pencil/pen so I'll try it out on DD to see if it helps

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/8477591.stm

TINKERBELLE33 Samuel/Daniel Kinge and his father are the registered company directors of the Sparklebox site

Has anybody noticed a lack of grip and wrist weakness in children when they're scribbling and doing messy colouring play?

I'm not sure that my daughter has any gripping problems and we haven't done any exercises. She's more able to write letters when she's not thinking hard about it. The more she thinks about it the harder she finds it. For instance I explained to her that there are lots of ms and ws in her wavy line squiggles. And that she can actually write those letters without any difficulty. When she's squiggling she can write them. But if I give her a clean sheet of paper and ask for the letters they often don't come out right. Sometimes they do.

My DS is in Y1 and can form all letters properly. However, at the end of term, he could not form his numbers properly and this included some of them being back to front. The school don't particuarly see it as a problem but I personally think that by this stage, they should form them properly so I also am making my DS spend about 3 mins per day practising number formation. It doesn't take much for a child of this age as they are quite able now - DS can now form all numbers properly as we have practised it during this holiday. If your DD wants to do it her own way, I would bribe her!

To write well a child needs shoulder girdle stability which she may not have because of her young age