Susan Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Which one do you use and do you like it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Hello, we spent a fortune on Penpals - I like it, I like the big books and so do the children. The Reception scheme is very active and has some warm up exercises to help with large motor skills. The trouble is we had a new head and she felt we should be using continuous cursive so the whole school have now adopted that approach. Personally some of my children have found that much easier than me, my writing looks a mess!!!! One thing I did use for letter formation that seemed to work really well was the formation jingles in the back of Foundations for Literacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 Thanks for that, fairynough! Is there any published material to support continuous cursive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi Susan - if there is we haven't yet bought any, it's now on our SDP so the Literacy co-ordinator is looking into it. We were just shown a handout with how to form the letters and asked to implement it. As I say the children were really keen ( I had R/YR1) I only started it with the Year 1's as I didn't feel confident enough to change how I was working with the Reception. After 2 Terms some of the Year 1's have really beautiful joined writing. I am on Maternity leave at the moment. A job for today is to tidy my school stuff away. When I come across the handout I will attempt to scan it in for you. . One thing I will say although I can't remember all the details is there is supposed to be some research that demonstrates that continuous cursive supports children with learning difficulties - something along the lines of the letter is formed without taking the pencil off the paper – and consequently, each word is formed in one, flowing movement. By making each letter in one movement, children’s hands develop a ‘physical memory’ of it, making it easier to produce the correct shape. Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Straight off I need you to know I'm not a teacher But what fairynough is saying about continuous cursive helping children make a 'physical memory' of writing rings a bell with me. I think it was covered by a training I did on making all schools 'dyslexia friendly'. I need to dig out the paperwork I got at that course (there was a book written by a local school which was a Beacon school because of their dyslexia-friendly teaching methods). So I'll have a look and see if there is any referenced research... Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Hi, we've just tried continuous cursive in reception this year - mixed results! We used the Senter resources One a Day Letter formation and most usefully their disc Handwriting for Windows. We concentrated on their own names which has worked well given a lot of whiteboard work both in class and at home, the children are certainly very proud of their work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 Maz--- been there, got the booklet! Fairynough thanks for your explanation, I have no problem with the theory. Its the practicalities that I find difficult. I have been more successful this year with teaching continuous cursive than I was last year but also think it makes it difficult for the children when learning phonics etc. I have taught them letters for reading and letters for writing. Last year I could not score anyone with hold a pencil....forms letters correctly etc although I have a few this year. Year ones are still struggling to write and I suspect this is because handwriting has not been consistently taught and that a scheme might help. We do need to review what we are doing in school and as literacy coord, I hope I have ordered the handwriting for windows software! Thanks for your info re scheme, One a day, JenWren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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