cursive handwriting in reception

[madamearcati]

DD2 started in reception this term and the children are learning to write in this style
DD is a keen little writer and was writing phonetically before she started school usually forming her non-joined up letters correctly.
It seems that all the children are struggling with this new style where every letter starts on the line and is joined up.It just seems to be putting unnecessary obstacles in their way.I mean how hard is it to swap to joined up writing at 6 or so ?

Our primary school is doing this too. It seems to be becoming the norm. Dd1 is in Y2, and she has been told to switch to the new handwriting, and the school is introducing it from reception for the little ones. Not sure what I think about it yet...

Can you see the story written at the bottom of this page on the website you linked to?

I wrote that

My DD changed schools in September - she's Yr2. She went from straight forward writing to having to write 'from the line'. It was a pita for about 2 weeks, then she just started doing it.

Any thing I wrote down for her, I wrote using letters 'from the line' and she just started to copy it and then do it for herself.

Tis becoming more common from what i hear.

"how hard is it to swap to joined up writing at 6 or so ?"
I think that's the point - with cursive you learn it once. My DC school have been learning this way for yonks. In Reception, I admit, the writing looks terrible, but then it suddenly comes together in Yr1.

They have always done this here in France. First they learn to form each letter with all the curly bits (more curly bits than your example, v old-fashioned!), then they join them up.

At first it all looks very wiggly and pretty illegible, but more often than not becomes lovely amazingly fast. It teaches them excellent pen control/fine motor skills.

It is becoming more common, and i don't understand the rationale behind it either. It appears to me that children who are good at writing will pick it up whatever method they are taught. But for children who are finding it difficult, I would far rather see them learning to print letters and get them half legible, than learning all these joins as if they are part of the true letter.

It also means there is far less consistency between the letters they are learning to read in books (generally in san serif fonts) and those they are expected to write. I used to teach for the OU and we were all made awae that fonts with serifs were far harder to read if anyone has a sensory impairment.

Fwiw, ds1 learned to write using the Nelson system (printing but with flicks that they then use as the start of joins) and took really well to joined-up handwriting. At the start of Yr2 he said handwriting was his favourite subject! Whereas ds2 (Yr 1) has real difficulties with his handwriting and I really wish his school wasn't trying to teach him cursive.

My DC are already using this (in fact an even more complicated wiggly version of this) in Swiss school.

DS is 5yo and managing really well. He started school here.

DD started writing in Germany and only moved on to joined up writing when we moved here a year ago. She picked it up pretty fast.

The thing is children who find handwriting difficult and learn to print, only to have to switch to joined writing later find it incredibly hard, I have several boys in years 7 and 8 whose handwriting is shocking if they had been taught cursive from the off it would have made their lives so much easier.

It could be worse, I was forced to learn to write joined up in italic font, because the head liked it - fecking impossible, totally mad thing to try to teach us.

Interestingly cursive is recommended by the Dyslexia Association.

I think it would have been easier for my DSes to have learnt cursive from Reception.

Ds1 used to have problems because he used to automatically form his letters from right to left and end up with mirror writing half the time. With joined up writing he found it much easier to form the letters correctly.

Ds2 has fairly good handwriting but has found the change to joined up writing very confusing.

My dc's primary have been teaching cursive writing from day one for a long while.

Ds1 was the only one of mine that it has caused problems for as I taught him to write a few words before he started school, only to be told when he started that I'd taught him the wrong style He did pick it up eventually..

It didn't cause any problems for ds2 as he learned that style from the start at home and then at school and in fact he writes beautifully.

The only real problem that I encountered with the cursive style is that most activity books / early writing books that are aimed at young children tend to teach the printed style rather than the cursive style..

Doodlez
Have just printed off Georgia's story for DD. Very nice.

My DD started with cursive writing in Reception and whilst it was illegible for at least 2 years it has suddenly come good and there has been no time wasted on relearning handwriting along the way. My DS (different school) learned printing then joining up and his writing is appalling as he can't be bothered to make the effort to do the joining up - not an issue if joining up is the only way you know how to do it!

Cursive capitals are printed. Capitals don't join up with the rest of the words.

Leonie - they know not to join up CAPITALS!!

I see your confusion leonie. BTW I LOL when I realised BoringBoring was actually a font, and not something you'd made up to describe handwriting!!

I wish my sons school did this as I think it can help with fine motor control and with spelling as they see the word as whole.

My friend is a head teacher and brought it in, in her school and says the results are amazing. The handwriting has improved dramatically throughout the school. I wondered about them being confused because the print they read and their writing being different. She said it has not been an issue because children are so used to seeing different fonts everywhere (computers, video games, packaging differetnt books magazines etc)

Well I would assume if a child has some sort of special need theres would be differentiation. I just asked how the majority of children dealt with it as I wondered if it would be an issue. It was fine for the boy with aspergers in her class but obvously children are all different.

It was definitely the vast majority not just a few that improved in her school.