Help all you KS1 Teachers! An Old Chestnut of a Question....

[BaconAndAvocado]

We've just received DS2's end of Y1 NC levels and, predictably, his writing level is his poorest.

His class teacher said that he does the bare minimum, though not because he's incapable of doing more, but because he's a bit lazy/complacent.

Over the summer holidays how do I get him interested in writing?

Tia.

Watching with interest. My year 1 child does not enjoy writing, and it is his weakest area by far. His reading is good, handwriting fair, just can't think what to write.

I'm not really into work books, so have bought him a big notebook, and told him he can do anything he wants over the holiday - draw, write out maths puzzles, design computer games, write jokes, silly poems.

He's keen so far, and has decorated the front and back with stickers.

I agree with sitting's ideas (ex teacher here!). Anything to excite him in the way of pens and stationery is a good start, especially if they are limited to writing in pencil at school.

Can you send postcards to people even if you are staying at home?

Write him a letter (really post it) and ask questions for him to reply to. Let him post it back.

You could make a book about something he's interested in. A few sentences and a picture/photo on each page.

Let him write a shopping list and get the items he has written down.

Don't push him to write loads, and don't criticise what he writes. Aim for the enthusiasm. Try to show him when you're writing too. Ask to borrow one of his new pens because you have something important to write eg. a cheque/letter/form. Let him see how writing is needed in the real world. Most adults rarely write beyond a L3 in day to day life . I actually asked the reluctant writers in my class (Year 3) why they didn't like writing and the two main replies were that it hurt their hands and that it wasn't needed once they left school. If you can get his dad (or anyone else close to him) to write a bit more in front of him that would be great too. HTH

Thanks jimmy (good old Brookie!)

You've given me lots of great ideas, love the one about the letter

Will also get on the case re a new notebook to,decorate.

postcards is a good suggestion.

Are you doing anything exciting over the summer? would he be interested in sticking bits into a scrapbook and writing a bit about the things he has done? my 2 love doing things like that but they are both girls and both like writing so aren't a good example.

do you think he is bored of his own writing if that makes sense? if you asked him to tell you a story would he be able to/want to? is it that he thinks other people's writing is more exciting because they use much more interesting words? Does he have ideas for writing stories? you could make your own version of story cubes. put things in a bag and pull out 6 or something and he has to try and come up with a funny story about the things in it. so you could put in a stone, a pencil, a sock. anything really and then have to tell each other silly stories with the objects in them. if you start with something like that which is fun and not actually writing then it might help him get interested in story telling and more confident about his ideas. then you could move on to writing your stories down so you each have the same 4 things to include in a story, you each write down YOUR story and then swap the paper and read each other's out. If it is he doesn't know lots of 'interesting' words then you could look up some of the words he does use in a children's thesaurus and talk about a more exciting word that means the same. You could have little competitions so that the 'word of the day' has to be used in as many conversations as possible. It would be fun and still not actual writing so not like work at all but it will in time help him with his writing as it will increase his vocabulary and ideas.

My DS2 is not particularly interested in writing (except on his wall) but when he was asked to write a diary about what we did in the easter hols he was really keen and wrote loads, we printed photos etc as well.

That's a FAB idea peri ! Thanks

Postcards are great too mrsmelons

My ds is the same. He really can't see the point in writing. he's already pointed out that learning spellings (which they do very little of) is silly when he can just use the spellcheck.
The thing is he'll happily write all sorts as long as he can type, so I'm thinking he'll probably realise at some point that he needs to write. He loves making his own books on the computer, and he does quite a bit of that, but if you asked him to write it by hand he wouldn't even start at present.

A white board is was inspired my DS - the easel from ikea with a blackboard one side and a white board the other with a few dry wipe pens and he writes and draws loads on there now - I often get asked to photograph something as he wants to keep it, LOL.

Whiteboards are a great idea too!

Keep the ideas coming!

I have online friends that live all over the country through an online ante natal club. My daughter wrote to a few of their children and adored receiving letters back. It really inspired her to pick up a pen!

last year with my year 1 at time she made up wrote up a story. i then asked her to do pics web then cut it all up, glued and made a book even laminated it was done over a number of weeks so a page a day.

penpals good idea.

this year ind dds mixed year 1/2 cclas tehy had cuddly toy to take home with journal. we finally got benny last week and saw other kids diary entry and photos was really cute and great idea for writing tool.

dds weakness still writing but end year 2 its improved.