full stop and capital letters year 2

[topoftheladder]

Dd2 is in year 2 and although she can write lovely little stories etc, she frequently (mostly) forgets to use full stops and capitals. Is this normal at this stage? How can i help her? I sometimes wonder if she actually understands where the full stop goes. Ds1 is gifted and was doing all the punctuation (commas, speech marks, etc.) at the start of year 1 but i know that is not the norm.

My DD is year 2 as well and she will use full stops sometimes but doesn't then start the next sentence with a capital letter unless prompted. To give you an idea of the other end of the spectrum, my DS refused to write at all until yr 3 and even now needs prompting to use full stops and capitals in yr 5!

Sounds like she's doing fine and just reminding her and pointing out the punctuation while reading will all help..

I would check what is required by Level 2 and 3 writing targets. Then you will know where she stands.

Normal from what I've seen from dd and her classmates.

DD does this as well, it is one of her targets in literacy.

The teacher stressed the importants of it and DD knows how to do it, it is when they do free writing when she has these problems.

As she is above average in literacy I would assume it is "normal" to develop the skills now.

Does she use the punctuation when reading? Can she identify the full stops and capital letters on the page of her reading book? Can she explain why they have been used (ie reason for a new sentence). That will show you if she can recognise them in someone else's writing and is the first step to her using them herself.

Does she sometimes remember to use them correctly, but it's when she's caught up in the content of her story that she forgets them? That's normal for this stage of year 2. Or does she not use them correctly at all, which is a slightly bigger issue?

In the past when I've had children leave out punctuation because they've simply forgotten (too involved in plot, vocab etc etc etc) I've given them 2 coloured pencils to do their writing in and told them to change pencil each time they start a new sentence. Not only does that show me if they know how to do it or not, it acts as a very visual reminder that they need to use punctuation. It worked very successfully.

I'm using the concept of a sentence sandwich with DD. First slice of bread is a capital letter, then comes the 'filling' of words, the last slice of bread is the punctuation (using the term punctuation as even now in year 1 DC are expected to use question marks if necessary).

DD is a slow writer so mostly doing comprehension exercises from school which only requires writing individual sentences but each time she does a sentence sandwich independently I give her a round of applause & high five - seems to be working well (mainly as she's found the idea quite funny)! Later I'll introduce the double and triple decker sandwich for commas etc.

Also a sticker chart might help, especially if you can get your DD into the practice of going back and checking her work herself. A tiny sticker for each 'complete' sandwich and a little reward for every 10 stickers could help motivate a more independent approach.

Ds is in yr 2 and only just remembering. Check she does understand when to use and if she does just lots of reminding! Sounds perfectly normal to me.

I really like that idea thegamesafoot - will be trying that with both DC!