Early Years - tell me my negative view on ‘Write Dance’ is wrong

[EmEllGee]

I work in an all girls school, and we tend to have a lot of very bright girls in our Early Years - some already reading/attempting to write/good knowledge of letter sounds.

There appears to be a ‘theory’ in education that this is wrong and is as a result of pushy parents. That they’ve somehow missed out on vital parts of their education, and the worst thing we can do is encourage this any further. E.g - as a school we think ‘write dance’ is the way to teach writing. Therefore we will be spending a year focussing on our midline, waving arms, making waves - with children who can already write their name.

Is this right? What research - (robust peer reviewed research) has ‘write dance’ been through? Or is it similar to ‘brain gym’?

And a parent - my daughter was writing her name at age 2. She didn’t do ‘write dance’ - and now exceeding level for writing at KS2 SATS. I don’t think she’d been irreparably damaged.

Yanbu.

I struggled with the same with my son, who was blending easily at 3 and reading quite well at 4. The implications from preschool were:

• he can't possibly know phonics/be phonologically aware
• he is "missing" a stage of "reading" that involves looking at picture books with no words
• he needs to do lots of oral sound based games for phonological awareness despite that the fact that he knows all the sounds, loads of digraphs and can read already
• he must NOT be given decodable books with words because he is not ready.

He is now y1 & is a brilliant reader. We gave him books at home.

Oh and my son was behind others at pen control/prewriting and was encouraged to do lots of the crap you talk about above. It did not work and he got further and further behind the kids who were more able with pens/crayons who chose to write and draw more so practised more. At the end of reception we gave up on the school approach, and through summer holidays did anything we could to get him to write something/ANYTHING at home every day, on lined paper to help him with size and spacing. We made it fun and low pressure. The simple regular practise made him much better at it and he's now more willing to write as he's comfortable doing it.

I think there's a hell of a lot of bollocks in early years education.

@AloysiusBear

I agree with you completely. It’s the whole ‘this child is not ready’. So we have to focus on their ‘midline’.

Yet - it’s a scheme. Where is the research (other than the advocates/pioneers of the scheme itself)?

Similar to BrainGym which has now been debunked as pseudoscience.

Again - I agree with your second post completely.

Thing is you were savvy enough to pick it up, my concern is for those who don’t.

There is a lot of bollocks in the Early Years.

Some children will not choose to write
Ever. Or until say, 8 or 9. Because they find it hard and are not interested in it. For those children, child led approaches will not work, they will simply fall behind the children who choose to write. They then feel they are bad at it, find the standard at school increasingly "hard". In reception they are usually not "pushed" to write so some unwilling writers simply won't write enough volume through the year to build skills in it and start finding it easier.

Your hand muscles get good at writing by writing. Not putting beads on a string, not playing with playdo. Writing.

What actually helps is separating the physical act from the thinking about phonics. We got our son to simply copy sentences from magazines or books that interested him. By taking away the thought about what to write, the constant practise got him better at letter formation.

Oh and what made me laugh was the EY teacher who suggested he could be dyspraxic and that was why he couldnt write well.

He could scoot at 2, ride a pedal bike without stabilisers at just turned 4, toe shoe laces unassisted at 5.

He did not WANT to write. With practise he is as capable of doing it as any other child.

My husband also has no interest in writing and he is 35.

@AloysiusBear

Yep. Agree! There seems to be an assumption that children can’t write unless they’ve squeezed enough playdough or threaded enough beads. Children are constantly using their hands - they are not some kind of floppy appendage which will only magically develop the correct set muscles for writing after 2 years of squishing dough.

I am getting increasingly frustrated with approaches in Early Years.

When I taught Reception, I had story books about coming to school, wearing your uniform, having a fun day and going home for dinner. Now, all of the stories are about children being so worried, having to be reassured with pocket kisses, and parents are being sent off from dropping their children off with packets of tissues!

You must not interrupt their play, ever. You may never ask them to complete an activity to a high standard. Even sitting down all together to have a snack is wrong.

I am now in Year 1 because I was seen as old fashioned and too strict. I am so tired with each class coming through and being academically poorer. There is no thought to their future development and how much they are going to have to work to overcome these poorly planned out 'experiences'.

I teach Reception. We don’t interrupt the children’s play to do activities and we don’t do sit down snack. Our children achieve really well - they develop social skills and independence, as well as being able to read, write, add and subtract. With regards to things like Write Dance and the like, there are lots of activities that strengthen children’s hands and upper bodies that don’t involve writing. We weave them into our provision. We have play dough available all the time, we often have messy play materials to explore, we have small construction which involves manipulating small objects in a variety of ways. I get children to stand at the play dough table and provide the opportunity to stand in the creative area. We also have vertical surfaces for painting and writing which help children to develop strength in their upper body. I have children that enter writing their name but it doesn’t mean that their pencil grip is strong or their letter formation is correct - most young children can do with strengthening their hands. We don’t make our children do lots of sit down writing activities and they still develop good pencil grip and they can write confidently when they leave us.

You must not interrupt their play, ever. You may never ask them to complete an activity to a high standard.

I wish my son had had you. His teacher never expected or required him to do his best, and so he didnt. The expectations were just so low.

With regards to things like Write Dance and the like, there are lots of activities that strengthen children’s hands and upper bodies that don’t involve writing

Why can't they just do writing? The ultimate outcome we want from them is to learn how to write, not to learn how to play with playdo, so why can't we at least focus on using a pencil? Drawing, tracing, colouring or even (dare I say it) writing.

@agirlcandream

I’ve copied and pasted, but I think this illustrates my point:

“It is often tempting to reach for new ideas or complex interventions to improve outcomes for children. But evidence from our inspections across all our remits is that the core of success for providers – what makes most difference for young people – is getting the basics right’.

And to me - for a child who already has good core strength (I’d say the vast majority of the class do), who access playgrounds/climbing equipment regularly/can sit well etc. Is there much benefit in spending a year on a write/dance type scheme - or should we be teaching them just - how to write.

If a whole class of Reception children are progressing to Year 1 as confident writers - something more formal must have come between - painting on a vertical surface - and then - knowing how to form letters/write a sentence. And it’s THIS bit of the vital stage that we need to address/not gloss over/teach well.

Agree again @AloysiusBear. Why, why, WHY should you even feel the need to say ‘dare I say it’ - it’s just ridiculous that teaching ‘writing’ should evoke feelings of horror/tut tut/you mustn’t do that/that’s not the latest ‘trend’/have a blob of playdough instead….

Why can't they just do writing? The ultimate outcome we want from them is to learn how to write, not to learn how to play with playdo, so why can't we at least focus on using a pencil? Drawing, tracing, colouring or even (dare I say it) writing.

My class do spend time with a pencil in their hand - they write, draw and colour. We do lots of storytelling and they love to write parts of their own stories - first they start off writing their name, then initial sounds, before writing words, phrases and sentences. None of this is adult directed - it’s all child initiated. We introduce the storytelling to them but the children decide when they want to tell a story and we support them to write some of it. They learn to write their sounds in phonics sessions - something that is done in all Reception classes. They also progress to practising writing words and sentences in their phonics sessions. The other activities available in Reception classes support this - developing different muscles or different skills. Developing gross motor skills by using vertical surfaces or climbing equipment etc isn’t just for Reception or Nursery. These types of activities should continue to do throughout primary school because they benefit all children. Write Dance, for example, is a programme that goes through until the age of 8. Play dough is also good for all children and even adults - I can feel my own hand muscles working when playing with dough, especially for an extended time. Also, none of these ideas are particularly new. Again using the example of Write Dance - this is based on an approach first developed in the 1960s.

@agirlcandream

Im afraid I’m sceptical to hear that a whole class of children can all form sentences and form letters correctly purely from child initiated activities. For example - letters like e/k/the c/o/a/d/g/q - knowing to start with a capital/end with full stop - where to put spaces - this must need some adult direction.

If a whole class of Reception children are progressing to Year 1 as confident writers - something more formal must have come between - painting on a vertical surface - and then - knowing how to form letters/write a sentence. And it’s THIS bit of the vital stage that we need to address/not gloss over/teach well.

This!

Agirlcandream i'm sorry but I dont believe all 30 of your reception children regularly wrote full sentences in a single sitting, wholly child initiated, without any adult prompting/encouragement whatsoever, in an environment where there was any choice in it.

Those phonics sessions you do are adult directed. Im guessing the children aren't allowed to wander off during those either. Do you think the all children would end the year able to write sentences if you took out the adult directed phonics sessions?

Also - don't discount work parents do at home. My son did nowhere near enough writing at school so I taught him at home - but his (poor) teacher will have got all the credit for the progress he made & will have attributed it to her methods.

I totally agree. EYFS seems incredibly backwards and stuck in a progressive rut. I am a teacher.

It feels like the rest of even primary education has moved on and switched to much more evidence based, up-to-date research and common sense practice.

But don't dare say this out loud at work. EYFS is still frequently commented on as being a haven of best practice and somewhere we can all learn things from. It is a sin to criticise.

I heard Scotland has extended this free learning (I know it isn't actually free learning, it is all planned experiences etc etc!) beyond just EYFS. There is another thread on it in Staffroom.

Going back to the original thread, I work in a similar school (all girls, academically selective) and hate the criticism of any young child who is 'ahead' and how we need to go backwards with them to fill in the inevitable gaps in their learning as their pushy parent taught them everything by rote learning with no depth of understanding. Yes that happens sometimes, especially in maths. But more often than not it is simply the comparison of average or underprivileged child where they are exposed to less due to other pressures vs. a child whose parents have been able to really engage with them, read lots, done all the motor skill work early on and given them some really decent direct instruction and practice time to reinforce skills.

I'm so confused. How can you work in an academically selective school and yet not want children who are academically ahead?

I think frustration normally comes when a parent over estimates how 'ahead' their child is and has unrealistic expectations or won't take on board advice. Also how quickly (with the right teaching) others catch up.

But that said my views that many reception eyfs settings have low expectations stand. Particularly odd in a selective school.

Totally agree OP. I despair at EYFS teachers insisted children can't possibly be ready for reading and writing..... Um some parents had them doing loads of squishing playdoh, painting, colouring, mark making with crayons, building duplo etc from the age of 18mths. So literally for YEARS by age 4.5 starting school they've been doing it and guess what? They are quite keen to progress and do a bit more! Thankfully my kids went to a school where the reception teacher basically surreptitiously began the transition to yr1 as early as permitted and was building in more structure, and writing. Result? Really confident, high achieving kids.
All EYFS does is widen the gap between the kids of highly educated, affluent parents who just do the writing at home, and kids in more deprived areas where parents just believe the school that kids 'aren't ready' 😢

A whole lot of people on this thread who haven't read much early years research.

Nope just a parent of kids who were defo okay to practise developing the muscles for writing.... By using a pencil. Revolutionary, right

A lot of early years research is focussed on an education setting making up for things not happening in poorer homes - getting deprived children to essentially a normal level of development. The focus is on the catch up of the poorest, not the attainment of more able children. This is why the category of "exceeding" the early years goals was taken out - you can't close an attainment gap if your most able children are progressing as fast (and faster) than your poorest.

Kweeniebeanz is right. My kids were playing with playdo, mark making, building duplo from 12m old! What are they gaining from doing more of it at age 5, to the exclusion of other activities that provide opportunity to earn new skills?

Also there's an assumption that "high ability" children display "asynchronous" development, such that a lot of EYFS practitioners tend wax lyrical about the need to focus on non academic skills when in reality, some children are at a higher development level across the board.

As a teacher new to EYFS, I’m really enjoying this thread. I’ve always taught KS2 before and am finding EYFS rather challenging!

Helios how are you finding it, conceptually, compared to KS2? Do you think the very child led/play based/non directed parts of your provision drive the progress to meeting the EY goals in reading & writing?