Do your Yr 1 kids write neatly?

[dameofdilemma]

Just seen online homework display for dd's Yr1 class - some of the kids are writing joined up ffs :(

Dd is left handed and struggles a bit with getting a few letters the right way round and generally writing neatly (though its still legible and majority between the lines). She's fine with reading/maths/spelling and very happy at school generally so never worried about it until seeing the lovely display of fantastic efforts from her classmates with beautiful writing.

How do parents teach their kids to write like that???

Nope, ours is still big letters, some written the wrong way round. They'll get there! I want my dc to enjoy writing, not feel under pressure from me to do it perfectly aged 5

God no. Handwriting can take a long time to develop. 5 yr old writing joined up writing? Really?

My y2 kid doesn't write neatly! 😂

I still don't write neatly.

My 36 yo Oxbridge graduate brother has appalling handwriting!

Some do, some don’t. Simple as that! Of course, school will always choose the best/prettiest to show off. As long as your DD is doing her best and working hard you can’t ask much else at 5/6yo.

You're not alone! My DD is in Year 1and she doesn't really write on the line and she forgets finger spaces. She writes letters back to front and writes in a mixture of capital and lower case. I'm an English teacher too so feel under extra pressure to produce a literary genius. Ha! Tbh, all I want is for her to feel happy reading and writing - I'm sure something will 'click' eventually. I can't bare the pressures placed on KS1 - or the parents who can't help but show off about their child's ability. Ha! At the minute, she's happy running around, climbing trees, putting on plays and rummaging in the garden and I'm happy with that too.

My dd has just started y2 in y1 teacher always said she was very neat do her age which is good but she did still get letter the wrong way round. She would write b instead of d. Write an s like a 5 etc. She's got there now though. As far as I'm aware they don't encourage writing joined up at my dds school.

There is a massive spread. DS (just started yr2) has very poor writing and is the least good in his class - school saying he is probably dyspraxic - with single malformed letters and no joining up. Other kids are writing 2 sides of A4 in neat, all joined up writing. There was a simialr spread at the start of yr1.

I think it partly depends on how they are taught - my dd in Y2 went through a horrendous squiggle phase (aka pre-cursive) which looked awful, but when it clicked in Y1 she suddenly got reasonably neat, quick, joined-up handwriting. It was a bit like reading, there was definitely a moment when it clicked.

I really hate this joined up thing did to my ds. He was printing very neat and fast, but forced to write joined up totally sucked out his love for writing. He still writes pretty neat, but now painfully slow writer who doesn't like everything writing related.

I haven't the heart to ask dd to practise writing neatly. She likes writing random stories, cards, notes etc and I just feel like it will suck the joy out of it if I ask her to write on lined paper, between the lines, with punctuation etc.

With reading, maths and spelling she just sort of got it without us doing much beyond encouraging, explaining when she asked etc. I don't want writing to become a chore but am conscious she needs to practice.

Doesn't help that being left handed she tends to smudge what she's written!

My elder DD did joined up in Y1 and they started by joining letters that made sounds. Not that it was very neat though. Y2 was all joined up. Learning to type eventually trumps handwriting!

My DD is in year 1 and her writing isn't very good. She has had problems with letter formation since reception but her writing is slowly getting better, which is good. They are learning cursive writing already, and I feel that it is too early. She hardly can write normal letters! She is left handed, too. She uses scissors with her right hand and sometimes simultaneously colours pictures with both hands having different colour.

I had same problem when I was a child. I was really bad and worse than my DD. I am right handed. I got there at the end :).

DD2 has beautifully formed writing - but it takes her about a million years to write anything! I'm hoping she'll get faster by the end of the year. DD1 was quicker at the same age but much messier.

god no - she has had her first lot of homework this weekend and it included some writing - her writing is dreadful yet I know one of her friends in the same class has the most BEAUTIFUL writing - I don't care, she prefers drawing. She can always be a doctor, their writing is terrible anyway

God no - most of it is illegible except to his amazing teacher who seems to be able to decipher it though even she very occasionally gives up. She says after 15 years as a reception / year one teacher she's developed a useful skill :)

I taught my DD cursive writing when she was in reception - she enjoyed learning it so that was no problem and so now in Y2 she has very good handwriting and can write reasonably fast.
I, on the other hand, have terrible cursive writing and am too impatient to print so that gets pretty messy, too.
Time will tell about DS.

Totally depends on when they learnt joined up writing. My son started on cursive from nursery when learning his letters, so his handwriting by year 1 was pretty good. He's now year two & has really lovely handwriting & can write quickly. When he first started it was pretty messy & hard to read.

On the other hand myself & loads of adults I know still write terribly and I've been handwriting for years now!

No, with my son it looks like a small creature has scuttled over the page.

My ds' handwriting is terrible. I spent quite a lot of time with him going through a 12 week intensive handwriting programme (a daily ten minute session after school) and he did improve - his writing is at least legible now. The thing is that although it was only ten mins, that plus reading plus 2x pieces of actual homework was too much (he's only 6) so we dropped it. He is beginning to enjoy writing now though whereas before it was a battle just getting him to put pen to paper so hopefully he'll improve more in his own time.

The thing is, dd enjoys writing and I didn't think her writing was that bad until I saw what some of the other children had done.

Its hard to know what they ought to be able to do aged 5-6. Have a parents eve coming up so will ask about it.

DS has just gone in to Y2, his writing is fairly neat now but this didn't really start until Summer term of Y1. The aim at our school is to get them starting joined up by end of Y2.

Try to remember that, although the writing
should be legible, correctly formed and consistent, the content should be more important and that neat writing doesn't necessarily mean the work overall is better.