A handwriting debate

[Rufus]

I am interested in hearing people's opinions on the contentious issue of handwriting. How it's taught is a very personal thing as each and every practitioner usually has their own, very strong beliefs. So here goes....

I am against teaching cursive script from day one however many schools in my area do it and argue for it.

 

I also spend lots of time working on pre writing skills such as gross motor and write dance before formal handwriting begins. However I am now beginning to question this and wonder whether we should start letter formation straight away as many children start writing on their own and pick up bad habits.

 

I also truly believe that in order to have an effect at all, handwriting needs to be taught every day for short periods. I don't however do this as I don't want to prioritise handwriting over everything else and don't know how and where I would fit it in.

 

I get children to write on blank paper first and then introduce lines later on, however many argue that lines should be introduced from day one.

 

What do you all think?

[Lucie]

We 're actually switching to cursive this year, with lead ins and outs. It's a case of giving it a go, seeing how it pans out then making a decision on the future of doing it that way after. I've decided that if children are really struggling then I will abandon it for them. We do handwriting alongside phonics, ie teach the correct formation when we introduce the letter,which is frowned upon by some, at the moment we start blank and introduce lines later but I think this year we will start with lines during adult led writing. Obviously I'm not going to start putting a line for children to write on in their independent work!

We usually start 'writing' formally ( for want of a better word) as soon as we have introduced most of phase 2, usually by oct half term.

 

But this year we are changing how we work, more child led, much more Alistair Bryce Clegg, again we'll see how it goes!

[Wildflowers]

It seems like many schools use lead ins. Is there a 'standard' way of forming some letters?

See http://www.cursivewriting.org/joined-cursive-fonts.html

[Wildflowers]

This is the style I would choose:

 

http://www.debbiehepplewhitehandwriting.com/index.html

 

and find this helpful:

 

 

I wonder what to do to prepare the children correctly - should we teach more able children

(we have some 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 year olds) the formation of letters with lead-ins?

[Lucie]

http://www.cursivewriting.org/cursive-22-fonts.html

 

This is the letter style we will be using next year.

[Guest LornaW]

No matter what style you eventually teach you need to begin with gross motor skills and then fine motor skills -too much too soon and they will never have the muscle control for the fine skills required to write.

 

Look on Abcdoes he has some excellent ideas for handwriting.

 

Also Write Dance and Squiggle while you Wiggle!

 

LornaW

[Wildflowers]

Which cursive 'f' do most schools use - the one with one loop or two?

[finleysmaid]

Which cursive 'f' do most schools use - the one with one loop or two?

i only have one school who uses cursive at the mo they start all letters at the bottom line so the f is a one loop

[Wildflowers]

The both start the line. One goes up to make a loop, then down to make another. The other goes up to make a hook, then down to make a loop.

[green hippo]

Hi,

We do cursive handwriting from the start (i.e. introduce it in Nursery). Although I wasn't overly keen on it to start with as I thought it would put some children off writing but it doesn't seem to phase any of them and I have to say the handwriting in our school is superb. I have been doing some work in Year 3 recently and asked my husband (who is a KS2 teacher in a private school) which class he thought had done the work and he said Year 5.

We do LOTS of fine-motor control activities in Nursery but also show the children the correct formation of letters as we introduce the letters. We do Read Write Inc through the school so the process is very much, learn the sound then write the letter(s) that make that sound - and this all ties in with the ditties that go with each letter. So the children (in Reception +) practise letter formation 4 days a week and also practise handwriting for a short time each morning.

I agree with you (Rufus) that children can pick up bad habits - we find this in Nursery as well as those who come straight into Reception so I think there is a need to do some direct teaching but sensitively done depending on the cohort. We do lots of practise of pre-writing 'shapes' e.g. straight lines, retraced lines, anti-clockwise movements, swirls etc - and they do this in Reception too - so not just actual letters.

With regards Wildflowers query about the f - with do a lead into the hook on the top, back down to the bottom with a hook but no loop, then we take of our pen and go across the middle which is where we join from. "and Down the flower, across the flower" in RWI speech!

Green Hippo x

[Wildflowers]

The 'f' you use, Green Hippo, looks like a printed 'f' so makes more sense to young children, I believe, than one with a loop at the top or one without a line-through, which printed 'f's have. An issue I can see with the one you use, with a line through, is that the letter doesn't start at the line, like all other letters do. It may also be confusing because the line-through of the 't' doesn't link to other letters, as the one on the 'f' do. We do adjust the style we teach individual children to that of the school the child will go to, so this may not be an issue.

We've just started teaching joined writing and want to avoid changing later on, or to be stuck with something that works less well.

[finleysmaid]

this was sort of where i was going....

 

http://www.crayola.co.uk/free-coloring-pages/writing-cursive-f.aspx

 

i teach the children the appropriate script for the school they are going to...so i can have several doing different things at the same time!

[Wildflowers]

Aha! That's another two-looped variety, but with the bottom loop turned the other way from the two-looped e.g. Jolly Phonics uses. I've now seen five different kinds of 'f'!