Expectations for writing in Reception?

[ladybirdsarelovely33]

Dd is in Reception and has said that they practise writing the letters (that the teacher illustrates on the board) either on the carpet or in the air.
I used to teach in Year 1 and had children coming up to me (state school) being able to write in full sentences with capitals and full stops. Even the middle ability children were able to write a couple of sentences about themselves.

DD brings home some cursive writing letter sheets but they didn't actually write them out at all. She is pretty accurate as to what goes on workwise at school.

Have expectations changed as to what Reception children do? I haven't taught Year 1 for about 7 years.

Marcine I'm just saying what's happening at our school. I'm surprised at other schools reception children are writing sentences..

Could she be mistaken at all? or being literal? e.g....She isn't writing on paper....but could she be writing on a whiteboard? or in books?

I would think it impossible for a reception child to have not being given handwriting work writing down the letters.

My dd's reception class do daily handwriting in the morning, There is a handwriting task to complete anytime during the day (which gets a stamp in a book) and homework.

Not all is on paper.... she does a lot on a whiteboard, and the task is in a book to keep track of how they're doing.

There is a board in dd's reception with examples of childrens work. Some of the children are writing sentences at this time of year.... But there are also children still working on writing their name... There is a HUGE difference between what some can and cant (do and don't) do at this age,

ladybird she's probably writing every day but not sat at tables with a literacy book. They will be mostly playing in Reception.

sally - unless the school is really struggling then most of the children will be writing sentences in the next few months. Many of them will be now. I'd be surprised if they were not writing names as that is usually an expectation at the end of nursery.

So they don’t do any writing in their phonics sessions at all? There’s no dictation of words/captions/sentences containing the sounds and tricky words they know.

If she can write short sentences, did you teach her that?

As a reception teacher, we use air writing to practise the letter shapes, and one day a week our phonics is in the hall, so we don't write anything on paper/whiteboard in that particular session. The children write it on their hands, knees, each other's backs, in the air in imaginary rainbow sparkly pen - all fun ways of getting used to the letter formation. But we also do plenty of writing in other contexts, on paper or whiteboards, and the children often choose to write during their play. We have lots of paper, books, writing equipment (my kids love highlighters at the moment), prompts for writing, and many of them will choose to write independently.

By this stage in the Reception year I would expect most children to be writing and for the teacher to be providing lots of opportunities for children to write in their chosen activities. Daily phonics sessions should include writing words and simple dictation. Personally I'd have a separate daily focus on correct letter formation. Air writing and writing on a partners back should be a precursor to writing on a board or on paper IMHO.

Almost totally agree, mrz. With the slight exception that I know a couple of schools that are getting to the point of setting independent writing tasks about now.

I’m just not sure the OP should be going in to ‘say something’ in a way that would make her a PITA on the word of her reception child and expectations at the start of year 1. Or at least not without understanding how the school teach writing and what their children usually achieve by the end of the year.

When I say independent, I’m not referring to continuous provision. There are lots of things to write on and with in all areas.

Rafals that is a good point. I am not sure how I would find out their expectations / teach writing in the school. Nothing on their website.
Dd says she only uses a whiteboard for drawing pictures.

I agree that isn't not a good idea for the OP to go in making demands but it's always useful to be informed and the fact is there are expectation that reception children engage in writing activities.

Our reception children have been writing independently in books for some time Rafa.

I think it would be OK to ask about that, OP. It could be that the school are totally hopeless and are doing no writing at all, just don’t assume that unless you know exactly what is going on.

Our school is doing writing but certainly not sentences... my assumption is it falls in the 'hopeless' category...

There are different ways of saying things. I recently asked about whether we should be correcting spelling at home or letting him work out his own spelling as I wasn't sure how they approached it at school and wanted to make sure we were being consistent with his learning there. Why don't you approach it in that way rather than "why aren't you doing xyz?"

Juniper yes, they send home these sheets with cursive letters on them but no space to write on them. I could ask them how they would like us to practise the writing.

We get reading books but no writing homework.

My DS is in reception and has learned to write in full sentences with a capital letter, finger spaces and full stop. He's been able to do this since Christmas. We have reading, writing and number homework each week.

What you describe is what my DS did in nursery, in a different school to the one he's in now. I'd go and speak to the teacher, ask to see some work and then make your judgement from there. I'd definitely be expecting full sentences by now.

I’m a Reception teacher. We practise letter formation during our daily phonics session but we don’t do separate handwriting sessions. There are lots of fine and gross motor activities in the classroom to help improve their skills during their free play. I’ve got children who can write sentences independently already and I’ve got children who can barely write a single letter. Most are in the middle, able to write words, maybe even a short caption. Most can write their name too but even if they can’t, it doesn’t mean they can’t write anything else. Name writing is a different skill to writing words and sentences. The children have lots of free writing opportunities during the day and they are beginning to take them more now. They are writing labels on their pictures, signs for their models, messages to their families and friends - things that matter to them. We don’t do writing homework either. Our approach works - last year I got 80% of children to the expected standard, the year before it was in the 70s, and not many of them were writing independent sentences at this time of year. Writing simple sentences is the expectation by early July, not now.

My son is in reception and doesn't seem to be doing formal handwriting practice but plenty of opportunity to write.
He can write a lot of words competently though I think would only do a sentence if he was copying.

Dd2 is 4yo and in reception. She started the year by bringing a phonics book home and practicing a letter or set of letters to get a sound. Since christmas she has been asked to write a sentence for her homework instead.