Hand writing help

ELLA

She will be 5 in December going on 25!

Baybee1984

Hehe I know how that feels!!

ELLA

I went to My Daughter's parents evening last night (first one at big school) the teacher said she is doing really well with writing her letters and copying - I asked the teacher if it would be good to print some of the suggested sheets on here, I went on to say that I thought a bit of extra time at home might help her as surely it can't do any harm - The teacher seemed gobsmacked:eek: and just didn't know what to say, I think I had taken her off the trail of her speech lol she actually changed the subject! oh well I will give it a go and see what happens.

galvanizersbaby

ELLA wrote: »

I went to My Daughter's parents evening last night (first one at big school) the teacher said she is doing really well with writing her letters and copying - I asked the teacher if it would be good to print some of the suggested sheets on here, I went on to say that I thought a bit of extra time at home might help her as surely it can't do any harm - The teacher seemed gobsmacked:eek: and just didn't know what to say, I think I had taken her off the trail of her speech lol she actually changed the subject! oh well I will give it a go and see what happens.

Why was the teacher gobsmacked?

liney

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

Why was the teacher gobsmacked?

Probably because a shameful amount of parents don't take any interest in their child's education.

lindos90

Anyone got any ideas to help older children with handwriting?

My son is 10 (year 6) and really has problems with his writing, he always has really, every parents evening the teachers have mentioned it as a problem, but he just doesnt seem to be improving.

He did some homework the other day, and I compaired it to some I had stuck on the fridge door (which he did in year 3) and there is no improvement, looks worse now really.

Im panicing now as he will be at senior school next september!!

Over the years we have tried all sorts at home to help at home, writing over dots and dashes, doing really big letters on wallpaper with a chalk, printouts and the books mentioned earlier etc etc.

I have tried to avoid making him do this work though, tried to encourage with little treats and things to aim for, although I know he finds it boring, and I am reluctant to use things like this now as they are aimed at younger children, and he aware of this too.

I noticed him writing his spellings out the other day, and he is still forming letters incorrectly, like 'a's looking like 'u's because he does not close them over at the top, I can hardly read it!

The teachers just say it will probably get neater when he is older, through more practice, and that boys writing is generally more untidy anyway.

If anyone has any ideas of fun ways for a 10 year old to get a bit neater, please let me know.

izoomzoom

I am surprised that this hasn't been mentioned already.

Handing writing is fine-motor skills and anything that can promote this will have a knock on effect for helping children to write better.

DS2 hates writing, but found doing some of these has helped:

Activities to develop fine motor skills
All these activities are general and can be used to develop fine motor skills for most children in your class. However, some children may need a much more specific programme of activities. Occupational therapists and physiotherapists will need to assess individual children's needs and advise on particular fine motor activities to address their specific difficulties.

1. Take a line for a walk – see how long the pencil can stay on the paper.
2. Sorting – small objects such as paper clips, screws, bolts, buttons, etc.
3. Clipping things together – using pegs, paper clips, etc.
4. Dressing up activities – involving the use of clothing fasteners such as buttons, zippers and laces.
5. Post-a-shape – matching shapes to the correct opening.
6. Bead threading – copy the pattern.
7. Tracking and maze activities
8. Cutting and pasting – patterns, pictures, classification activities, project scrapbooks.
9. Tracing – lines, shapes and simple pictures.
10. Copy writing patterns 1 – using coloured sand.
11. Copy writing patterns 2 – using chalk.
12. Colouring patterns and pictures – using different media.
13. Dot-to-dot pictures – using numbers and the alphabet.
14. Line-links – following the line from one end to the other (e.g. mouse to the cheese).
15. Modelling – with clay, Plasticine etc.
16. Painting and printing – using different sized brushes and different types of printing materials.
17. Jigsaw puzzles – starting with simple peg puzzles with pictures and shapes that need to be slotted into the correct space, then introducing traditional puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty.
18. Peg boards – these can be used to make simple or more ocmplex patterns.
19. Building blocks – start with larger wooden ones if possible and then introduce smaller ones.
20. Constructional apparatus –of varying degrees of difficulty (e.g. Duplo, Lego).
21. Jacks or marbles – children learn to control fine motor movements with these games.
22. Computer-aided picture and design activities
23. Sewing activities
24. Finger puppets
25. Construction activities – involving the use of plastic nuts, bolts and screws.
26. Musical instruments – playing as wide a range as available.

galvanizersbaby

Another MSE er suggested to me picking up grains of rice from ice cube trays with tweezers the other day.
Trying that one tomorrow - something tells me I'm going to end up 'finding' grains of rice all over the place! :rotfl:

Poppy9

DD had taught herself to write a few words before she started in reception. She did get a bit confused in reception though at having to form her letters differently because she is left handed. Her writing would be neat if she only had to write one sentence but the more she had to write the bigger and untidier it got.

In Y1 the teacher seemed to pick up on this and within weeks her handwriting had made a dramatic improvement and was small, neat, well formed etc. In Y2 it got worse again. After a term I spoke to her teacher as I could see her handwriting getting worse weekly but she didn't think it was. Eventually though she gave me a handwriting book for her to copy into her handwriting practice book. DD was also a bit stressed because she'd noticed her handwriting was always scruffy and smudged (a common problem for left handers).

In Y3 I spoke to the teacher at the first parent's evening and mentioned I'd been helping her with her handwriting. The teacher said she had noticed her handwriting was quite poor which surprised her because she was a very able pupil. In Y3 is when they get given pens when their handwriting is good enough. This was an incentive for DD to make continous improvement and just after Xmas she moved onto a pen.

If your child is left handed ask the teacher to sit them on the left end of a table so they don't clash arms when writing. DD found in primary school that some teachers ask on the first day "who's left handed" and makes sure they are sitting at the end of a table. Also they do things like use ring binders backwards etc.


She is Y9 now and her handwriting is fine. Being left handed she does hold the pen in an awkward way

lindos90

Izoomzoom, thank you SO MUCH for the list of activities, thats fantastic, anything that will help, and be fun/different to 'writing practice' itself!!:beer:

Hes already chosen to do some sewing.....might even get some christmas crafty stuff to make christmas presents, and kill two birds with one stone.:j :j