Writing in reception

[Looksgoodingravy]

Within a few weeks of ds starting school he was given a letter and sounds book and were told that this book would be sent home every Friday, started with s,a,t and I presume would carry on with p,i,n etc. He happily practised his letter forming in this workbook. Since this time he's had no written homework to do and as my ds doesn't really like to sit and colour that much or write for that matter at home I'm a little worried he's not getting the letter forming practice needed, in fact he seems to be doing less than he did in the private day nursery he went to, I have asked him if he writes at school and he tells me he doesn't, although I do understand that his interpretation may be different than the schools. I've bought a small whiteboard for home and I'm going to practice letter formation with him myself, just to try and encourage him a bit more, I will also be speaking to the teacher towards the end of the week but just wondered what is to be expected in Reception, our school seem to be focussing on reading and literacy but writing seems to be less so.

It really depends on your school and their homework policy. At DD's school their "homework" for most of Reception was things like drawing pictures, cutting out, collecting leaves rather than anything more formal. I think it was towards the end of the year she did get some writing homework - and this was differentiated to individual child's ability.

The class "target" in DD's Reception class was for each child to write their name by Christmas and to correctly form all upper and lower case letters by the end of the year. However they did work with the children in ability focussed groups - some children weren't yet ready to tackle that class target whereas others were pretty much able to do it when they entered Reception.

Bear in mind that "writing" might not be formal sitting down but mark making in other ways. (e.g. forming letters in sand). Also that phonics teaching is useful for writing as well as reading.

Thanks Redsky, I just don't understand why the school started with the letters and sounds homework book and then it promptly stopped, well it never reallt got going, it's something I'm going to have a chat to the Reception teacher about. Everytime I pick ds up from Kids Club I see little groups of girls sitting around colouring and writing and enjoying doing this but ds shows little interest in this, could be why most of the time girls handwriting is much better than boys, not generalising but in my experience this is usually the case.

Thanks Redsky, I just don't understand why the school started with the letters and sounds homework book and then it promptly stopped, well it never reallt got going, it's something I'm going to have a chat to the Reception teacher about. Everytime I pick ds up from Kids Club I see little groups of girls sitting around colouring and writing and enjoying doing this but ds shows little interest in this, could be why most of the time girls handwriting is much better than boys, not generalising but in my experience this is usually the case.

My son got given a sounds book and has just been given another for double sounds. He also has a reading book and some words to recognise. We do not get given any writing homework although I know he does lots of tracing of letters at school because he brings it all home and gets given stickers for good writing. He is able to write his surname now as well as his first name, this was a class target. I got him this for Christmas which he uses during our car journey to and from school. www.amazon.co.uk/LeapFrog-19139-Scribble-Write/dp/B001W2WKS0/ref=pd_bxgy_k_h_b_cs_img_b

Thanks Kaekae, that's certainly something to look into getting for him

Thanks Kaekae, that's certainly something to look into getting for him

My advice is not to waste your money on the scribble-write

Before you start teaching him at home you might want to ask them how they teach letter formation. We were sent a sheet with pictures for each letter and a rhyme to go with them e for example is cut off the top and scoop out the egg. They said to use that if they are writing things.

Chill. I know it's hard, but let them do it at their pace. You will be amazed by the progress by the end of the year. My eldest basically refused/was not able to pick up a pencil until almost Christmas. By the end of the year he was writing page-long 'stories' independently. It can be hard when you don't really know what on earth they're doing (in my experience boys don't tell you much!). They are learning so much at school, it isn't all about reading and writing in reception.

Looksgoodingravy when the book was sent home were there any instructions with it?

It sounds like a standard "sound book" which are to practise matching the sound to the letter ... show the child the letter the child says the sound represented by the letter NOT letter formation which could be why they haven't sent any more home

mrz - why do you advise against wasting money on the scribble-write?

I have never seen one of these before - but our school/Reception does very very little writing with the children. They have told me (unless I was mishearing!) that they don't do anything much at all, in terms of writing, until Yr 1.

I would like to start practicing writing with my DS as he has fine motor skills difficulties and I feel that I need to give him as much practicing time as possible.

I've bought tracing books, but he's not really into them. He loves anything electronic, so I thought he'd like this - do you think it is rubbish then? Have you seen one or heard of one being used before?

Writing on the scribble-write (or other electronic screens) doesn't prepare a child for writing on paper and can actually cause problems if not carefully supervised. Following dots is a great fine motor activity but doesn't teach correct letter formation. Cheaper and better alternative is ordinary lined paper and a soft pencil (2B) and an adult.

I keep meaning to get some cheap shaving foam (no way is DD getting her mitts on my stuff :o) so we can spread it on a tray and write with our fingers.

Oh Ok mrz - thanks for the tip - I'll save my money.

Shaving foam sounds good fuzzpig!

They use sand and glitter too, but I'm not sure our old Dyson could handle it

Yes, but we do this too mrz, as long as it isn't just plonked it in front of a child and that's it. FGS! In my opinion it has not been a waste.

It's the fact it takes different physical skills to write on the scribble-write because the screen offers little resistance compared to using a pencil on paper Kaekae and dots don't teach letter formation.