handwriting in Y2

[milkchocolatx5]

DS is 6 and in year 2. doing fine at school and I am a pretty easy going non pushy parent. We take it easy and simple does DS.

However, his CT us awfully critical of his handwriting. too messy, too small, not neat enough and it started bothering DS.

I don't want to start practicing hand writing at home as this kills his joy of writing but then maybe I should esp as he gets upset about the teacher's comments. I never had this problem with my older DC.

So, is the class teacher just super fuzzy or is his handwriting for a 6 year old really that bad. Have attached a pic of spellings her had to learn over the weekend. Even if he writes longer texts, his writing is of the same quality (or lack of). It looks actually lovely to me

My ds has similar problem. I actually cannot read your dd's writing.
Maybe better to use pencil/writing pen to see if it's easy to read?
Looks nice, but if it's difficult to read for others, it can be a problem.

Sorry, ds, not dd.

I can read every word, and it’s much neater than my nearly 15 year olds writing!

I can easily read it,it’s joined up and quite neat. It is on the tiny side though.
There are things you could try at home.
I don’t think the teacher banging on about it will help his confidence,or help him improve though.

I teach secondary English and that is perfectly legible and a LOT better than most much older kids' let him carry on and enjoy his writing.

The felt tip isn't helping, I agree. Pencil will be better, but I can read it. I do see a lot of children's writing though. There is a lot of emphasis on handwriting in Y2, I'd leave it to the school and do more gross motor skill stuff like riding a bike at home.

Actually, it's better than both my husband's and my GPs writing so there is plenty of hope for a productive adulthood

I think that's really good writing for the start of yr 2! The only thing would be to perhaps to take a bit more care forming the 'e' and 'b' as they seem to lose their shape but otherwise I'd be happy with that!!

That’s great! My DS is also year 2, his writing is much worse than this hand his teacher is very happy with it!

I agree with Irvine about the pen but the basics are definitely there. Is his written work in school always well presented or do standards vary?

I can read it but I get what the teacher means. It's not particularly easy to read. I have a nearly 6 year old in Y1 and her writing is larger and wonky. Is it supposed to be perfect at this age? Looking at her friends writing it's all much the same. My first observation of your DSs writing was that he puts a lot of effort in and is really trying hard.

It's way better than either of my DS. Older one is Y7.

thanks all. Will chill out. At school they use a pencil. Was just the felt tip for the spelling practice at home. he likes green

What! I cant believe shes criticising that for a 6 yr old! My oldest is 4 so i dont know what they expect in schools but i wouldnt expect a 6yr old to be writing joined up like that. Maybe i’m in for a shock tonight at parents evening lol
She isnt helping by going on at him, can you politely say, he’s trying his best and he is only 6!

I imagine the reason the teacher is being fussy is because handwriting is assessed as part of sats in may of yr.2.
However, that is example is beautiful handwriting!

Have you spoken directly to the teacher? Maybe the school have a handwriting policy to follow? The teacher should offer help to improve the handwriting rather than be so horribly critical (not that it needs improving!!)

I think it is neater than my year 2 dd's and hers has improved massively over the last 6 months.
They are doing a lot of writing/copying words over and over at the moment. I can only imagine It's SATS related.
Agree with using a pencil.
Can you build writing into another activity like a shopping list etc so It's not really a chore/homework??

the teacher gave me a few practice sheets. may have a go at the in the school hols next week.

good idea re shopping lists. But I feel very much reassured.

Much nicer than mine! Beautiful writing and I can read it all.
Well done to your DS

It’s neater than my writing!

I think the writing is fine, joined up too which is great and I had no problems reading it. I'd be jumping for joy of a child in my class wrote like that.

It is good but I would check those e’s as they look like c’s and moderators might see it as spelling mistakes not handwriting. We had children lose marks on the year six spag test because of handwriting.

It is v messy - I know 20yos with similar writing and think you should get on top of it now because it makes their uni work harder than it should be as they can’t read their own bloody notes.
I thank my mum for making me do writing at home from around the same age. I hated it but now have beautiful writing and am a writer lol

Also how can you tell if he spelt things right? Looks like he’s written ‘pritty’ to me

But I don’t think it’s ‘behind’ or anything for a 6yo ... like I said I know many adults with similar writing

It's fine - readable. Cross off doctor as a future career right now.

I actually thought this was a stealth post I think that writing is amazing for a 6 year old; you should see my DS's it's no where near as good and his YR2 teacher hasn't complained and his YR1 teacher said his writing was quite neat for a boy