Is teaching cursive writing to Nursery/Reception pupils a good idea?

[ZephirineDrouhin]

dd is in the Nursery year at her primary school. While they don't do any formal lessons, they do encourage the children to write their own names, and have recently implemented a cursive writing policy in Nursery/Reception.

Dd was writing her name and a few other words pretty well at the start of term, but since they have been teaching them cursive writing it has become a pretty much unreadable mass of ticks and flicks.

I know it will get much better over time of course. However, I'm really struggling to see how teaching writing this way can be anything other than confusing for 4 year olds who are just grappling with the rudiments of reading and writing.

Does anyone have a more positive experience of this either as a teacher or parent?

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yes I think it is a good idea to teach from nursery.

I don't even know what cursive writing is

There's a bump for you [smil]

I wish ds had been taught it at nursery. Instead he learnt to write at nursery and then had to relearn via cursive style in reception. I think it is easier to learn one way from the outset and stick to it.

It does start out a mess but now ds is in Year 1 and is developing the most beautiful handwriting - I'm rather envious .

I think my particular concern is that they are teaching them what shapes the letters should be with the extra ticks and flicks, but don't seem to be teaching how to form them, or where to start and end, so I can't see how they will get the concept of joining them up later. So for example dd will form a "u" shape and then add a tail down the left hand side afterwards to make it cursive.

To my mind, the flicks and ticks are part of the process of joining up the letters, not part of the letters themselves, so it seems all wrong to me. But if it does actually work in the long term then that's great.

Thanks, Imsonottelling - it's like this

Oh - joined up writing

I remember doing that at primary,copying the letters into a book.

The capitals look a bit weird though do they normally get taught?

The flicks should be formed with the letters not added in afterwards. Ds's handwriting book has letters for him to copy complete with arrows so he knows where to start and which way to go. The letter is formed in one pencil stroke, ie the pencil is not lifted from the page whilst forming the letter. Makes for very quick and fluent writing once they master it.

I've never understood the whole cursive thing. Books are never in cursive. Most strategies for teaching individual sounds (eg Jolly Phonics) aren't reprensented cursively. Its too confusing for children .

Writing in non-joined-up writing is v slow though. Joined-up writing is a skill that people need to have for work etc

I think Nursery/Reception is too young to be teaching cursive writing. My DS was "taught" it from the start of Year R, but wasn't shown how to form the letters (i.e. which strokes to use first etc). When he moved schools, six weeks before the end of YR, he was immediately taught to write non-cursively and he is much more confident now, and his letters are legible. Cursive writing was way too complicated and confusing for a 4-year-old boy who was a left-hander in everything but handwriting!

I was taught joined-up writing at the age of 8 and this was definitely the right age for me.

I'mso I think children could learn it at late juniors/ secondary school when they can write at speed and have a full understanding of letters and sounds

Gotcha cybil. I thought yuo meant never learn it

MollieO, that sounds sensible. There is certainly nothing like this in dd's class. They just seem to go at it whichever way they can to make the desired shape. Which somewhat defeats the object.

Mummydragon, I think I feel very much as you do.

I think it's good that they teach it like that from the beginning. I've noticed that when it is taught later some people are too lazy to write like that and continue to print their letters well into adulthood. Some people don't have a problem with that but I think it looks... I don't know, uneducated?

If it is taught properly then it is an easy way to write and ensures good handwriting and is faster than writing letters individually as the pencil doesn't leave the page between letters. It is also apparently good for dyslexia sufferers.

I can't see the point in teaching the style of cursive writing if the method is not taught too.

I think by the time you get to end of primary or beginning of secondary good or bad handwriting habits are already formed and nigh on impossible to change.

Our DSs learned cursive writing from Reception. I felt it was wrong to impose that on a young child but as the school explained they would just have to re-learn cursive writing later if they learn printing to begin with.

The school was right. Our DSs knew cursive writing already when they went to their new school and were way ahead of the other children as a result and could ocncentrate on speling/reading/punctuation rather than learning cursive letter formation.

When our school changed we were told that boys fair better with this style as do SEN children as they learn letter patterns which aids the physical memory. The leads in shouldn't be another line altogether but a little zig zag that joins the letter pretty early on. Would have to show you as I realise this isn't entirely clear!

Also the trend to learn to print till year 2 and then, as I did, teach them joined writing in year 3 isn't needed and the children can then just get on with developing their own style not having to unlearn what they have been practising writing for 3 years.

You get much quicker and neater writing though it looks like a scribbly mess when they first start.

I, as a teacher, thinks it's great but I, as a mum, have seen that some schools are adopting it without having a totally clear idea of what it is to them and how they are going to teach it. I have had to work with ds 1 on letter formation as he wasn't being taught it at school. It was more of a 'here's the letters, now go for your life...' Girls may pick this up as they do tend to want to practise letters and writing whereas boys, though there are some exceptions!, do not.

Thank you ABetaDad - that's just the sort of thing I was hoping to hear.

Am still a little worried about the way it is being implemented in dd's school. If they are just aiming to copy the cursive shape with no idea of what the flicks and ticks are for, I would think they could end up in a godawful mess.

Anyway, will try to forget about it until next term.

That's interesting, muppetgirl. Think I may need to do some work with dd too as it seems very much as you describe at her school - do you know of any resources that parents can use for this?

I use the sparklebox website with ds I'll find the link.

Just go with the flow. There is so much that goes on in school that defies common sense but I'm sure your little one will survive. The important thing IMO is tha she feels that you and teacher both work together, sing from the same hymn sheet and love her very much. Details of teaching methods are pretty well irrelevant. I am an ex teacher who saw so many fads be lauded and then discreditted. (My own favourite approaches are now right out of fashion and I get bitter!)

here

good for pure letter formation and they don't have large lead ins...

here
I liked in the very beginning to give ds a sense of how the different siezed letters relate to each other. I also like the sky. grass, ground idea as it is a visual aid.

Also I get ds always to write on a line as if they are told 'all letters start on the line' I believe they should be given a line!
Many adults would find it hard to write a straight line of writing on a blank sheet of paper.

I also use kidzone
here
as they give you a systematic way of teaching the idividual letters. Ds loved the 'rockin' letters and we can still say' 'c' is a rocking letter to help him remember when he forgets.

You can also make your own sheets -good for spelling practise - but be careful of the 'f's' and some other letters, your school may do them differently.

Thanks so much, muppetgirl, that's brilliant.

Thanks Openbook, too - very sensible advice. This is why I started the thread. Being a terrible pedant, I feel strongly that the joins are part of the writing process rather than part of the letter if you see what I mean. Consequently it makes sense to me that children should get to know letter shapes very well before they try to tackle joined-up writing. However, I obviously need, as you say, to sing from the same song sheet as the school, so it's very helpful to get advice from other parents and teachers on here.