Could your dc write their name when they started reception?

[katalex]

Dd is 3.9 yrs and will start reception next September. Her 4.1 yrs cousin makes fun of dd because she can't write her own name. Dd's name is 7 letters and her cousin's is 4 letters. Most of dd's pre-school friends wrote their own name in her xmas cards, although most of their names were only 4 or 5 letters.

A couple of times at pre-school I've not known which was dd's picture because the other children have written their own names and the teachers haven't written dd's for her. Are children expected to be able to write their name when they start reception?

btw, ds used to insist on writing his name in capital letters - he'd been very impressed with it on a medicine bottle (I'd shown him the label in desperation when he was refusing to take it.)

LOL at the medicine bottle and the level of desperation.

Ds2 couldn't really write any letters when he started school but could write his name within a couple of weeks of starting school.

Ds1 couldn't either but that was related to his SN and not really relevant here.

It worked, bizarrely! Only I hadn't anticipated the, um, side-effects. Took a whole year before he would deign to write his name in lower case.

DD could write her own name by the time she left pre-nursery (she was 3.9). But lots of her friends in Reception now (she's still nursery) can't write their full name. It varies from child to child. Dd was much better at writing numbers, still is, but then there aren't as many of them to learn as letters!

speaking as a reception teacher, it is helpful if they can write their name, but not a requirement. Definately need to be able to recognize their name in writing. Perhaps something you can focus on with your child in the summer before they start reception. Most children who come to reception from nursery can write their name already, but it is something that is focussed on in the first term, being able to write a capital for their name and then trying to get their letters on the line, so as I said, although it is not a requirement, it is very helpful if they can do some or even better all of it by the start of the year

why the 'taught to form the letters wrong' being a problem? Surely if they write then how they write isn't an issue?
dd1 was reading fluently before she started school but despite her reading Enid Blyton books apparently I taught her wrong. Buggered if I know how cos she was reading fine.
But wrong. Even though she could read any word.
Sounded like nonesense.

I have a dh who was taught to form his letters incorrectly and it is a problem.

It makes it incredibly difficult to write fluent joined up writing. Dh mostly prints which can be awkwards in exams etc.

kind of depending on his mood. He's just finished the first term of reception and he's written a lovely card to us and signed his name unaided. (I was an early years trained teacher) He is only just beginning to see the point of writing and I think that's been his stumbling block but now seems to enjoy having a go. His teacher said he was behind his peers and where she would like him to be (behind at 4???? my arse!) I said he knew all his letters, could spell, verbally, most phonetically decodable words and can read simple decodable books, can hold conversations with adults and children (her words)is able to meet his own needs (hang coat, put it on, ask to go to the toilet ect) that I don't see he's behind at all. Yes most of his peers wrote their christmas cards but I didn't want to put him off by getting him to do that. (great if your child like writing, mine doesn't especially)

She must hate having teachers as parents

Oh and as to teaching them to write wrong, yes it is perfectly possible. It takes ages to undo something that you've learned especially if it involves physical memory as it may not be something you even consciously do. It annoys me that some nursery's teach letter formation without any consultation with the feeder schools they feed into on how the school teaches writing. My sons school teaches cursive script from the off which my son hates which is a totally different formation to just printing and can confuse children.

My DTS could not write their names before they started school in September and now they can. So don't worry about it.

I think there is too much pressure on 4/5yo children to perform in this country when you consider that children on the continent do not even start school until they are 6 or 7yo.

Your DD not being able to write her name is totally normal (as this thread demonstrates).

Her cousin's behaviour towards her is very upsetting though - is her mum/dad your brother/sister or your partner's? Are they doing anything to address it?

DS1 couldn't write his name before starting reception, but he could read it.

DS2 can write his own name (he is 4 now and will start reception next year). He has the advantage of letters that are easy to form, and a year where we have played a game called Writing with his big brother....

Children do different things at different speeds.

DD could. She is 4.9, so pretty much exactly a year ahead of the OP's DD, and I'm pretty sure she couldn't write her name this time last year. Not independently at least, I remember very painfully writing a few Christmas cards with her copying her name. She developed a talent for forming letters in the most perverse, bizarre, upside-down and back-to-front manner possible, so school have had to undo a fair bit of that.

Both school and nursery were very keen that children have certain social and personal skills before starting school - taking turns, knowing there are times to be quiet, independence in toileting and dressing, etc. The only 'academic' skill they wanted the children to have was to be able to recognise their own name.

My DS can and he is in Nursery but alot of kids at his nursery cant.

Yes she could but obviously it's only 4 letters, she was 4.1 when she started school and was expected to write her name. I can remember her nursery teacher telling me she was the only child who couldn't who was going up to school, she was 3.6 at the time she learnt not long after that thankfully and she was the youngest in her group and some of the children were 10 months older then her. All the children in her class wrote their names in the cards this year, DD is just now learning to write other letters.

Thanks again for the reassurance. Is it worth asking the school (once we know where she's going) what's expected?

hunker - my niece's mum is my sister. I really should say something to her but she does very little even when she witnesses her hitting dd or pushing her over. I will definitely say something if it gets any worse though.

I think it depends alot on what their name is !! Not only how long they are but also how phonetic they are.For example 'Callum'' is a lot easier to get than Niambh
My DD who is just 4 is struggling to write her own name 'Charlotte'because none of the letter sounds she knows tie up ( except for the lot' bit) but can write mum Dad and 2 of her friends names Tom and Ben

Oh but sorry forgot to say it is not expected of them when they start school

yes but she was a september baby, I cant remember when she did it first

I know when ds started at reception (now y1) the school requested that parent's worked on ensuring that the children could recognise their own name.

Ds was 4.10 when he started reception and could write his name, but I was still drawing it in dots for him to trace until a few months earlier, yet my dd who is 3.9 taught herself to write her name in the summer. They are all so different I wouldn't worry about it.

This was the only thing I ever "hot housed" my children to do. Only because I thought it would be a very useful thing for them to be able to do rather than any other reason. I'll do it with DD too.

I think DS2 could do it before Preschool actually.

I don't think what the child's name is has any bearing on whether they can write it or not other than the difficulty of the letter shapes and the number of letters. Neither DS could read when they learnt to write their names. They were just writing the right letters.

I don't think how they form the letters has any bearing on future writing either as they are taught how to write correctly later. This is a diffent issue to writing their name.