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Primary education

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Original poster

Da hopeless at writing - here is an example.

188 replies

Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 17:52

Further to my previous thread ds (5) wrote this today. He self corrected a number of times and at the end went back and changed 'to' to 'two'. It took him around 5 minutes and says:

Jesus went into Jerusalem. He had the last supper. Judas betrayed him. The Roman king put two criminals up together. 'Which one shall I release?' said the king. Sadly Jesus was crucified.

Apart from criminals - which is spelt insanely - I'd have been able to get the rest but the handwriting continues to be horrific. He's 6 in June. This looks quite behind to me. Should I press the school for some further help? Certainly compared to all the beautiful work on his classroom walls he is behind.

Da hopeless at writing - here is an example.
OP posts:
Original poster
Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 18:44

Perhaps he's just in a really able cohort. Most of them are already six. I do think in another six months or so he will have come on and a lot if the children in his year have autumn birthday. Four of them were 6 in the first week back after the summer holidays. It's still quite a big gap developmentally at this age I guess - generally I mean. I know there are always exceptions.

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Lucy61 · 29/03/2015 18:45

That's a brilliant peice of writing. It's above age expected. It has capital letters, full stops, high frequency words spelt correctly and other words spelt phonetically. He even used an adverb, 'sadly', at the start of a sentence. You should be proud, not posting on here about how bad you think it is!

YonicScrewdriver · 29/03/2015 18:49

He used sadly to open a sentence! In year 1! Wow!

(Mother of a young year 3 DC)

SirVixofVixHall · 29/03/2015 18:52

I am stunned anyone could think that was "behind" or worse "hopeless" for a five year old year one child!!! I would think that would be better than many in my dds year 3 class, or at least on a par. I agree with pearpotter that the content, language and understanding is beyond most five year olds. I feel sorry for your ds if the school put so much pressure on very young children, that this piece of work is "hopeless". Blimey. Maybe you need to change schools?

Original poster
Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 18:52

I guess a lot of it is the handwriting. If it was really neat and beautiful (like his classmates) it would appear much better.
It looks messy even though the content is ok!
Yes I was impressed with sadly.

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sashh · 29/03/2015 18:53

It's legible, in the end that's what matters. It also makes sense and he got the wright 'two'.

I spent entire lunchtimes at secondary practicing handwriting. I'm dyslexic and now have arthritis in my hands so hardly use pen and paper.

I love his spellings, I'm guessing you have northern accents.

And where do you think technology will be by the time he leaves school? You could get him a tablet pc with handwriting recognition and it would recognise the letters.

TessDurbeyfield · 29/03/2015 18:53

Is it a selective school?

ClickingCastanets · 29/03/2015 18:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pearpotter · 29/03/2015 18:54

I don't think DD1 wrote as well as that in Y1 but was level 4A for writing at the end of Y4 in old money and is "exceeding expected levels" (whatever that means) in Y5.

Original poster
Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 18:55

It isn't selective but it seems to be quite high achieving generally. At the end of foundation stage every single child was average or above average on the foundation stage profile which I think is quite unusual?

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minkGrundy · 29/03/2015 18:56

In some countries kids don't even start writing at this age because it is accepted they don't have the motor skills.

It matters not how your dc compares to other kids in his class. What counts is that he tries, he progresses and that your expectations of him are reasonable.

Not worried about him, slightly worried about you OP. Is it that you worry excessively? If so, chill out. Or that you have unreasonably high standards?

ginmakesitallok · 29/03/2015 19:04

How on earth do you know so much about his class mates???

Original poster
Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 19:08

Well firstly the teacher said he was low ability in his cohort. I know about the foundation stage results because a close friend is a parent governor and the writing I'm just basing on what his teacher said and what I've seen displayed.

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Hottypotty · 29/03/2015 19:14

Op-I am the queen of (secretly) comparing my dd to her older, right handed, more able classmates so I know where you're coming from. But as a teacher and a year 1 mum you have absolutely nothing to worry about. At the end of year one they are supposed to be writing in sentences using full stops, capital letters and mostly correct or plausible spellings. He's doing all that and more now so is at least a term ahead.
Handwriting will come-bring in some fine motor stuff and encourage him to stay on the lines rather than letting the letters 'float away'.
I would be pleased if my dd wrote that and I'm not easily pleased!

Hottypotty · 29/03/2015 19:16

Could the stuff on display be final draft, neat version stuff? Could he (and I'm not saying he should by any means) write it out again with the spellings corrected and with a concentrated effort on handwriting?

Original poster
Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 19:21

He could write it out again with the spellings correct but the handwriting would be no different. Probably worse because he'd be bored second time round.
The letters do always float. They are the right way around and if he makes a mistake he realised straight away and corrects. But somehow the letters are still badly formed and the gaps between them too wide. Possibly because being a left hander he moves his hand across so he can see the previous letter and then there's a big gap. I'm a lefty and so is dh. Dh has bad handwriting and mine is only ok if I make a real effort. I also hold my own incorrectly. Dh tilts the page, writes vertically and in block capitals. Sigh. Poor ds. He was ever likely to struggle. All of the work on the wall (about 15 examples maybe) showed very neat joined writing. They've tried to make ds join and it made it much worse. I don't know why they push them to join letters when they're only just learning to form them in the first place.

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OrinocoTheWomble · 29/03/2015 19:22

His writing looks spot on to me. Y3 was when my DS writing suddenly got smaller/neater/joined up (in fact it got way too small after only about 3 words on a line!).

Am loving how your son spelt croosafide (crucified)!

Original poster
Notmymuse · 29/03/2015 19:24

Smile my favourite spelling was when he just started year 1: unforchunaitlee (unfortunately). His teacher wasn't impressed however!

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ClickingCastanets · 29/03/2015 19:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

spiderlight · 29/03/2015 19:26

How gorgeous is 'Jrooslum'?! Grin I love cute phonetic spellings - I still have a story mine wrote about a bluebottle called 'Mistu Bloobug'.

For a Y1 lefty I think it's absolutely fine - certainly a lot better than my DS's was in Y1 and he was a 'more able pupil'.

notinminutenow · 29/03/2015 19:27

Your close friend who is a governor wants to watch out! She'd be out if our Head discovered she was sharing children's results with anyone.

I'm bowing out now because loads have said your son's work is great but you're not hearing it. You just keep coming back with "but..."

Good luck to your son. Hope he continues to thrive and gets to realise just how well he is doing.

BalloonSlayer · 29/03/2015 19:28

Jeez I hope you don't show any of your awful attitude to your poor son. Sad

He is FIVE and that is a good piece of work for a five year old. His handwriting is NOT horrific. It is perfectly legible.

Poor little chap. When my DCs were 5 I would have been thrilled by a piece of work like that - and all of my DCs are considered "good" at writing, spelling etc.

Hottypotty · 29/03/2015 19:30

They're only floating towards the end-perhaps getting tired then. The gaps between letters will get smaller as his muscle memory for spellings improves.
Tilting the paper is recommended I think.
Surprised and impressed if a significant proportion of class are joining-there are some v high achievers in dd's class and don't think they have grasped it securely yet.
Honestly-I get that it is deflating when you perceive your child as 'behind' but focus on the very real positives that his sentence structure and ideas are very good. He is young in the year too. I know you've used it causally but 'hopeless' really isn't the right word-he has plenty of scope for improvement and I bet you will be pleasantly surprised in a few months time.

Anaisa · 29/03/2015 19:31

I also think it's pretty good. How can you possibly know how he compares to other children? And surely it should be about him making progress ? The tone of your post made me feel a bit sad. Your son is 5, he needs and deserves your support.

Quangle · 29/03/2015 19:33

My DS is in Y1 but an August birthday so also the youngest. I'd be thrilled if he wrote like this. You really need to get a grip on what's realistic at this age. DS is also at a high achieving state primary so I have to screen out of my mind what the hothoused six year olds are doing. DS is five and doing fine and so is your DS. He's five and used "betrayed". Honestly this is above expectations.