Handwriting
Although many people type most of their written communications today, children in school need to develop fast, fluent and legible handwriting.
First steps are:
Sitting upright on a chair, with feet on the floor at a table at the right height;
Holding the pencil correctly - not too tightly - so it can move freely;
Practise drawing lines, shapes, patterns and pictures to get good control;
Then children need to get a sense of letter formation. This can be done:
Tracing letters in sand, in the air, or on your skin with a finger;
Use the letterjoin software to trace on a computer tablet;
Use different writing implements - paintbrushes, felt pens, chalks to form letters;
Practise a few letters at a time until you can form them automatically.
At Thythorn, we teach children to start all letters on the line when forming them. This leads into joined-up handwriting, which is usually taught from year 2 onwards. In the SATs assessments set by the government, children need to have neat joined-up handwriting to achieve the higher standard at year 2, or the expected standard at year 6.