DS2 is apparently at level 1a for writing

[Littleredsquirrel]

He is in Year 2, this is below where he should be isn't it?

Any ideas for how I get him to write!!?

Only slightly but nothing to panic about yet. Has he written his christmas list yet? What about writing notes to each other on post its around the house? Could always write in invisable ink (lemon juice shows up when heated or wax candle scribbles show up under watercolour paints) even getting him to write your shopping list will help. Sometimes theres a strong link between reading and writing so make sure you are doing lots of reading together (you reading to him as well as him reading to you) Hth

I don't think it is behind actually.

1b end y1.
2b end y2.

So if progress is linear (which of course it isn't), that would lead to 1a end Dec Y2.

Unless of course you're talking mumsnet behind where you actually expect him to be at level 3 by end y2.

Some good ideas there thank you. He will love the invisible ink one.

Its frustrating since he's always been a good reader. He could read before he started school and he can pick up a secret seven or famous five book for example and sit and read it without any problem. However there are some very bright boys in his class and he now just says he's stupid compared to them and he can't do it and so he has switched off a bit. If I asked him to write a story for example he would go into a complete panic and we would have tears and the like.

Teen, you are right with levels looking at this time of the academic year. Op, in my (teaching) experience boys find writing 'a story' quite tricky, they tend to find non-fiction more appealing. Every kid is different though.

Have you seen these?

Might he respond well to trying to make a story up around the cubes? there are also other expansion packs like dinosaurs, etc.

Possibly a stocking filler?

My ds is much the same (although not that good at reading). ds likes writing lists or rude stuff! He's v imaginative but no desire to write it down. He's yr 2 and I'm sure he'll get there...

Thats great galena thank you. Fab stocking filler for him.

Has he said exactly what he finds difficult? Can he tell a story? I disagree with mindlessmama in my (teaching) experience boys are no more likely than girls to have problems with story writing or to prefer non fiction to fiction.

My dd is in year 2 as well, although we haven't been told levels. At our parents evening, writing seemed to be more about things whether she could use question marks, speech marks, full stops at end of sentences and capital letters at beginning of sentences. So now when I read with her, we talk about punctuation and also about different styles of writing i.e. why do you think that word is written in bold, why have they put a question mark there, etc.

he struggles to tell a story mrz. We played a game the other week at home where we would tell a few lines of a story and stop and each time it was his turn he just said "I can't" and started crying (but in a whiney way not a genuinely upset way).

He also says a lot of silly things. I've just given him the magnadoodle board in bed and asked him to write six words describing zombies (which he did "dead" "scaree" "bluddy" "stupid" "horibul" ) but then I asked him to write a sentence saying how he'd feel if he was being chased by a zombie (he loves zombies at the moment)

attempt 1

"i feel fine"

attempt 2

"i feel funny"

attempt 3

"I feel poo"

a minute or two of "I can't do it"

attempt 4

"I feel fritend when a bluddy zombie (backwards z) chased me"

I should point out before I get flamed that the closest he's been to seeing images of a zombie is scooby doo!

My DD In Y2 is the same. I think because there is so much to remember like handwriting, spelling, punctuation, story plan etc. she gets overwhelmed. Her handwriting has gone downhill as she is getting in a muddle trying to remember everything so we are working on this without making an issue of it. I agree little notes or lists are a good way to build up confidence to more complex things.

Oops and the "I"s were all capitals, that was just my bad typing

We work on the premise that you can't write what you can't say so I would suggest continuing to work on telling silly stories.
I would also work on retelling favourite stories.

That's helpful Mrz thank you. Is it odd though that his reading (and comprehension) and his writing are so different. We've just finished the butterfly lion as his bedtime story and he had no difficulty talking about it and explaining what was going on.

It's actually common for writing to lag behind reading as it requires additional skills. What is his handwriting like?

A 1a now is bang on track to get a 2b at the end of the year which is the nationally expected level :)

If he can retell a favourite story then try changing it ...so if it's about a dog change it to a cat or a bear ...if it happens on a winter night change it to a summer day etc

His handwriting was appalling but he had sessions with the learning support teacher last year and when he tries now it can actually be quite neat. I have wondered whether half the problem is that he's getting hung up on the neatness and making sure every letter is joined up.

We will try all the techniques everyone has suggested. He has an assessment for the junior secrion of the school in January and I know from DS1 that they have to write a story. If he can't do it in the assessment he won't be allowed to stay at school and he'll be devastated.

Current research suggests that fluent handwriting freeing up working memory to deal with "the complex tasks of planning and organizing, the production of text" so perhaps work on developing fluent automatic letter formation

Ds is similar. I don't think your example is too bad getting him to write it. I think ds would have probably got as far as "I feel poo" or perhaps "Zombie is a poohead" if I really pushed.

However ds can tell the most wonderful stories out loud. The one of mine who really struggled to use her imagination to write stories is the one who was also classed as G&T in literacy and got a level 6 at the end of KS2

I think he is doing ok. My DS is in year 3 and a 2c for writing so we were told at parents evening, they can't be good at everything and I am sure it will level out in the end.

Dd exactly the same. Handwriting is appalling most of the time. She can tell a story though. Just had parents evening and her teacher showed us some beautiful work. Apparently she can do it, does do it but not often enough to be graded appropriately. Could this be the case with your ds?

Possibly Row. We have just had parents evening and the teacher said he's really pleased with him and he's great to have in the class which is nice to hear. His reading is fab, his maths is better than it should be but his writing is not where they want it to be.

We had Chinese takeaway as a treat last night and the meal went on for about two hours. We played a game where we took a story and changed it. He did the three little pigs and went on for ages so he is capable of telling a story. He also told DH the whole story of the butterfly lion and again went on for ages. It's just getting it down on paper where we struggle. I guess it's just practice practice practice, with lots of encouragement so that he doesn't feel like he's the worst in the class and get despondent about it, which then seems to make him switch off.

By the end of the school year you won't need to worry about actual levels as they are all being scrapped with the new 2014 curriculum.