Expectation of writing in Y3?

[onthebus]

DS is in Y3 and hates writing. He will not voluntarily write more than the odd word (e.g. From in a card) ever. He writes at school because he has to (his teachers have picked up that he doesn't enjoy it) but every time he has to do writing homework at home we have much sighing and gnashing of teeth.

DS had homework over Christmas to write a description of what he did on one day of the holidays. Cue much moaning and complaining from DS. He eventually came up with something that IMO (not being a teacher) is quite reasonable in terms of content - he includes some interesting vocabulary and sentence structure, uses some varied connectives and includes description both physical and of what he felt. However not having seen any longer writing from DS recently I was surprised to see ...

• his handwriting is not great. He's done lots of work on this in the last term and it is now reasonable if he really focuses on it but it is very sprawling and hard to read if he doesn't

• he regularly (about third of the time) misses out capital letters and/or full stops

• he misspells many common words e.g. verrry, sum (instead of some), wot and generally writes "I" in lower case.

• he misses out apostrophes e.g. dont or adds ones that don't exist e.g. wan't

• his writing is very large even when he is focusing on his letter formation

• he moans a lot while writing that it hurts (I don't know if it does - poor grip? - or if this is an avoidance technique)

I appreciate that good content is a major plus point, however I would have thought the other points would have been "sorted" by now? What is the expectation for writing in Y3? (not sure if it is relevant but he was assessed as 2a at the end of Y2 so I guess my expectation is that he would be competent in the basics by now)

I'm not sure how he has been assessed as a 2A at the end of Y2 from your description I'm afraid.

To award a 2A I would be looking for consistent use of capital letters and full stops and other punctuation. I would be looking for accurate spelling of common words and personally I would be looking for letters correctly formed (big fills more space) but it could be painful so hand wrist shoulder exercises might be a good help). I would also be looking at around 200 words.

has writing been made fun or is it a chore? try creating a space ship (or what ever he is in to) staring with drawing and labeling the equipment (do it casually) then move on to alien encounters for example and his reports back to the captain.
If kids complain it hurt it is avoidance. Lots of reading can help as well, making cards, getting him to see the every day very casual use of writing and start with engaging him before correcting everything. When we write we draft then correct (crazy they dont teach this in school!) so even giving scrappy paper rather than scary white paper or scary book with empty pages can really help. Ask the school how they are engaging him with writing rather than teaching him it! check out pie corbett who is a genius! good luck and keep going or he will fall further and further behind!
Hope this helps! Im working hard to help schools understand that writing has to be emergent, engaging, casual, drafted before all the tedious corrections!

levelling writing

I disagree that a child who says it hurts is using avoidance writing for lots of kids is physically painful.

www.northumberlandcaretrust.nhs.uk/services/services-files/community-health-service-files/childrens-occupational-therapy/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Handwriting.pdf

Big handwriting, complaining of pain when writing and making silly mistakes sounds like someone who does find handwriting uncomfortable to me - it's hard to focus on good letter formation, spelling, grammar and content at the same time as dealing with a hand that feels cramped, tired and uncomfortable. How is his pencil grip, how does he hold his wrist when he is writing (bent or straight, above the paper or on it, etc), how hard does he press with the pencil, what sort of posture does he adopt when writing, what does he do with the hand that isn't holding the pencil, what position is the paper in, where are his feet positioned as he writes, etc, etc....? Some children find writing on a sloping desk/writing slope helps a lot, as does finding a pencil they find more comfortable to grip with (whether triangular, fatter, thinner, with a grip, etc), as does making sure their desk and chair are at an appropriate height. Not, of course, that he will have much tolerance for you faffing around trying to work out the best equipment and body position for him, even if it does help!!!!

mrz - The handwriting pdf is really good. It has given me lots of ideas to help ds with his writing.

mrz Thanks for the "Levelling Writing" link, just had a look and it is clearer than any other that I have looked at in the past - probably also provided by your good self !. Just a quick question though, is it simply one mark scheme devised by one school for their own use or is it a nationally recognised scheme? I ask because there are things on there, in the level 4 section, that my 7 year-old has mentioned are her writing targets, or that she has already achieved. Thanks.

Can I ask a question too - if a child doesn't do joined up/ cursive writing does that mean they can't get a level 3?

nicknamealreadyinuse - have PM'd you.

also try buying comic life: really cheap and excellent, engaging and fun. People are also talking about scribble pad on ipad but dont know much about it.
Also should have said "usually" avoidance and seen some schools use really fat pencils to help them!

I would disagree that it is "usually" avoidance although it is often regarded as such and personally would always make an OT referral combined with a suitable programme. I would also avoid using the scribble pad as it actually reinforces bad habits.

Technically a child working at level 3 will show the ability to join but if everything else is to a high standard and writing is legible and correctly formed a level 3 would be awarded.

mrz At the risk of sounding totally self-centred what would you say in answer to my question?

The Bristol Writing levels is based on APP (DfE ) and the Ros Wilson (commercial adaptation) so although it is produced by one LEA it is based on national expectations.
Is your daughter a solid level 3? If so it wouldn't be unusual to target aspects of the next level for the next stage in development and it isn't unusual for a child to show evidence of higher level skills while still working to secure a lower level.

mrz that's just it - I haven't the foggiest where she is level-wise!

(I did try to read the her teacher's notes upside-down at parent's evening but unfortunately she folded her hands together on the crucial bits!)