Cursive writing for Reception children

[stretto]

DD turned 4 this summer, and has just started Reception.
Her nursery was fab and taught her to write her name very nicely.

Her prep school teaches cursive writing from the very beginning, and the teacher told me that DD is not managing to write her name in cursive (after 2 weeks of school). She said "the nursery haven't taught her to join up her letters and she needs to be doing that". She seemed a bit critical, whereas I think it's great that the nursery got DD writing so beautifully before she even turned 4.

I have tried working on the cursive script with DD, but she says she prefers the style of letters she learnt at nursery. She cried last night when I tried to help her with cursive (and I wasn't making a big deal of it, I was praising her and trying to make it into a game).

I would prefer DD to become a confident writer before worrying about joining up her letters. The cursive script looks like it could be very confusing for little ones.

DH thinks we should maybe explain to her that there are different styles of script, and let the school deal with the cursive script while we help her at home with non-cursive. The school wants us to practise cursive script at home. They have sent home a sheet with the scary-looking cursive script on it, but no worksheets or advice about how to form the letters (i.e. which direction to take the pencil in).

Any advice and perspective would be gratefully received. Thank you.

In our school cursive is taught from reception, they start with anchors and tails on letters (lead in and out lines) then once they have letter formation the correct way they join. It takes a bit more time than print but has less scope for incorrect letter formation, which is more difficult to correct at years 2/3 (wherever cursive is taught) after writing for a few years.

I wouldn't attempt to teach 2 different styles, teach what she needs to know for school as it will be less confusing for her. Register with Twinkl and you should find worksheets with letter formation arrows. here are some examples

Thank you, that is really helpful.

Our infant school gets praised for beautiful writing and gets good results for reading. They teach cursive from year 2, starting with the lead ins and outs.

To be honest I'd be concerned about the pressure being put on a reception child :( I don't think they should have had any expectations about nursery and learning should still be play based.

I have seen both approaches.

DD1's school did non-cursive writing in Reception. Dd1 got quite good by the end of the year - letters formed correctly, mostly the right size - it looked nice. Then in Y1 they started learning to join up the letters. And for the next 6 months it was a struggle. Half of the time I couldn't make out what she has written. Size of letters was all over the place. Only by the end of Y1 her handwriting stabilized.

DD2 started at a different school. Knew how to write a bit, also non-cursive. That school started joined-up writing from Reception. It didn't mean that they were actually joining up letters - just that ALL letters started with the same "lead-in stroke". And also had a "lead-out stroke". For the first couple of months DD2 complained that "she doesn't know how to write anything..." (sob, sob) We didn't do any practice at home - I left it for the school to sort out. Around Xmas time in Reception it started clicking with her. She actually wanted to start connecting letters. So we practiced while making Xmas cards - I'd do the message in pencil in joined up writing, and she's trace it. By the end of Reception she was joining up many letters all on her own.

So - as other commenters mentioned - I'd not encourage explicit teaching a different way of writing at home. If she wants to write - let her do it the way she is most comfortable for now. And - don't let her hear your annoyance with the "joined-up writing" - last thing you need is for her to resist her teacher at school. It will fall into place, she just needs time!

And finally - I agree with you that your teacher sounded too critical. It's great that your daughter already has some writing skills. Now it's the school's job to take it to the next level.

My DD has just started reception where they teach cursive from the start. I think it may help DD as some of her letters end up back to front and you can't really do that when using cursive script

Well it does seem pressurised. I would have thought that it would be better to encourage each child to develop their writing skills in the best way for them, at least in the 1st term, given that there are less than 20 kids in the class. The teacher is very nice, and extremely young.
DD got a 4+ place at a highly selective prep, but we liked the relaxed image of the school she is now attending, so this handwriting issue has been a bit of a surprise. Also, DD's fab nursery feeds into top prep schools, and they really know what they are doing, so I was surprised that the teacher appeared to be slightly critical of them. Maybe she is just a bit defensive due to her age, I don't know.

First-time school mum here, so I am probably being a bit PFB!

MomKK I left it for the school to sort out. Around Xmas time in Reception it started clicking with her Good plan! (we had more tears this evening because she didn't write a perfect number 3 - she never cried at nursery about numbers

Pico - I think it may help DD as some of her letters end up back to front and you can't really do that when using cursive script OK, that's good to know, thanks.

The nursery didn't do your dd any favours if they didn't teach cursive with the lead in and out strokes.

I used to be resistant to children being encouraged to write in cursive script early till ds turned out to be dyslexic. For him cursive script was a bit of a saviour because it helped him develop the right muscle memory and largely prevented him from writing letters back to front.

They should be playing at nursery and perhaps picking up a few letters and numbers - not learning cursive!!

I chose our infant school precisely because their reception and general curriculum was play based (change of head has changed that but if I were looking for private I would so be looking for a school that had a lot of play/outdoors free play.) I guess if you've chosen somewhere high pressure for a 4 year old that's what you should expect to a certain extent.

We chose the non-pressurised option! (or so we thought...)
Good to hear the positives about cursive script, thank you.

She's in reception and is essentially being given homework. That's ridiculous.

LBP, it's not that uncommon in Prep schools. One of the wee boys I nanny just started school and he has a Jolly Phonics sound sheet and number writing sheet and an ORT sight reading book to do four nights a week. Madness!

Hate to say it, but it's common in state schools too - DS is now in year 1, being taught cursive (slightly ridiculous as he's only just figured out how to hold a pencil, and still copies the letters as shapes rather than writing them correctly) - he gets reading every night, and spelling, handwriting and maths 1 sheet each every week (and the spellings obviously have to be practised every day during that week, the Maths is a more work for me than him, and the handwriting needs to be done more than once too).

At least in year 1 they have to be in school legally. I remember being taught to do 'joined up' writing at about 8 in the 80s in a good private school; why the mad dash to start so early. It's hardly like they are going to be facing time pressure in an exam is it so need to get their thoughts down on paper as fast as possible.

They get homework and a reading book weekly in reception at our school - from the very first week! Normal bog standard state primary. No cursive until year 3 here though.

Some children will reach compulsory school age in reception, littlebear, although I agree with what you're saying.

Gosh. Our school has changed to become a bit more pressured in yr 2. I'm seriously glad I chose one that didn't really do homework in infants. (High achieving secondary teacher myself, I don't believe in homework for most of primary other than reading. And even then forcing the "every night" can put small children off learning. I'd rather a lifelong learner)

I thought the same about cursive in YR, but it seems like you have to have the learning to write pain at least once and at least we got it over with and dd ended up with decent joined up handwriting by the end of Y1, rather than doing all the pain all over again in Y2 for cursive. As long as they don't push too hard but just teach pre-cursive from the start it seems to work well.

DD came home today and said she wanted to practise writing her name in joined-up writing, She very quickly was in tears.
I told her it doesn't matter, and that she can write her name beautifully so she shouldn't worry at all. But she said "now that I know about joined-up writing, I need to be able to do it".
It feels like she has developed a sense of failure, less than 3 weeks after starting school. She is a summer-born 4 year-old.

The mums I talked to today at the school gate said that it's completely ridiculous. And one of them said her older child is in the year above and doesn't write well at all. I found out this system was started last year by a new head.

Poor DD, that sounds rubbish for her.

DS is getting an A4 worksheet a day Monday-Thursday with one cursive letter on it, which shows how to start/form them. I'd be happy to scan and send the copies to you if it would help?

I saw examples of this in the reception classroom when we had a new parents evening in the summer term. It seemed to be the whole class, not just the best. All of them were legible and looked pretty good. Some were smaller and more even, but I was impressed. My DD is practicing cursive letters at school, but is still writing in her usual style most of the time at school and home.

I'd give it time and reassure your DD.

OK Pico, that is reassuring to hear,
goodusername, thank you, that is kind. We do have one cursive sheet with all the letters, although no worksheets (someone upthread very kindly sent a link to the Twinkl website though)

The cursive sheet is not always helpful though. For instance, DD has an 'r' in her name which makes it impossible to approach the following letter in the way that the example sheet says it should be formed. She is unsurprisingly confused by that.

Within the classroom, each child in DD's class has a name card showing them how to write their name using cursive script, along with names on pegs and in various other places, all in the same script. Does your DD have this?

Perhaps you could ask the teacher to write it out for you.

Thank you, I will check this.

My little boy is in reception and doing well. Personally I'd tell DD that if she finds it upsetting, she's not to practice at all. My DS does all his practice in class, while we concentrate on more important things like reading and playing. In fact non if my children have ever bought home letter shape practice. They attend a very academic high achieving school with top sats.