Handwriting

JT did a Happy Handwriting Week, which was very popular and successful.

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Just some ideas.

I did the 'keep a sample from the start of term' thing with handwriting last year and it was very successful. I gave them a passage to copy out in their "best handwriting" at the start of the year (year 3 and 4, but they had hardly done any joined writing at all and it was fairly grim). Then at the end of the summer term I gave them the same exercise and then showed them the originals. It was great to see their expressions when they saw how much they had improved.

I started back to basics with letter formation at the start of the autumn term and did lots of short bits of practise, including bits on mini whiteboards (especially the c-family - c d o) and extra focused practise for the strugglers. We had a display of "handwriting of the week" on the wall and their spelling homework was also handwriting homework (their spelling book had a sample of joined letter formation stuck in the front). And I talked to parents at parents' evening about the possible benefits of joined handwriting for weak spellers, which they seemed interested in (especially those who didn't join themselves).

Quite a few still don't like using joined handwriting (I think I got a bit slack about reinforcing it later in the year) but the letter formation has improved enormously, and some of the weaker writers (content-wise) are actually proud of their handwriting, so it is holding them up less. But I've got a mixed age class, with younger ones coming in, so it'll be back to basics for revision for almost all of them all at the start of term. The best ones I might let choose poems to copy up instead. **~greenhill**

Have just seen a good way for describing groups of letters to children that may help them with handwriting:

Rockin' Round Letters: a d g q c The Rockin' Round letters are a group of letters that are formed using the same basic steps as the letter a.

Climb 'n' Slide Letters: i u w t The Climb 'n' Slide letters are a group of letters that are formed using the same basic steps as the letter i.

Loopy Letters: e l h k b f j The Loopy letters are a group of letters that are formed using the same basic steps as the letter

e. (although this one depends on your handwriting scheme and whether you get them to loop ascenders)

Lumpy Letters: n m v x The Lumpy letters are a group of letters that are formed using the same basic steps as the letter n.

Mix 'n' Match: p r s o y z The Mix 'n' Match letters have mixed attributes of two or more of the other categories.

I like the names but I might do some tweaking of which letter goes in which category. **~squiggle7**

__**A section for exercises to improve gross/fine motor control and hand-eye coordination**__ Feel free to add any more that you can think of **~squiggle7
 * drawing shapes of letters in the air/foam/sand/whatever can be drawn in
 * place rows of plastic counters or cards on the table and children must turn them over (without bringing to the edge of the table)
 * Threading beads on to a string
 * Place one hand on table and with index finger of other hand move as fast as possible hitting the spaces between each finger
 * Picking up objects with tweezers
 * cutting things out very carefully with scissors
 * tracing over spirals
 * drawing lines in between printed lines without touching any of the printed lines
 * Use your other hand to do as many things as you can
 * Connect the dots
 * maze activities
 * Two children stand face-to-face, one takes the lead and the other must mirror exactly what they do.

Really useful! Thanks ~ sal 26**

Good shoulder stability is a pre-requisite for good fine motor control so activities that encourage weight bearing throught the arms and shoulders will help improve fine motor control. Eg: Writing is also a rhythmic activity so activities that promote rhythm will be of benefit eg all variations of skipping, clapping patterns, **fccwidow
 * wheelbarrows
 * crab walking
 * walking on hands and feet
 * commando crawling
 * crawling
 * pulling self along PE bench
 * push ups
 * balancing on all fours and then lift 1 leg out straight, then swap legs. Repeat with arms and then progress to opposite arm and leg lift.

This was posted by Nutty06 on the Primary Teacher Resource Centre forum and thought it looked very useful so thought I'd pop it in here too:** http://primaryresourcecentre.myfreeforum.org/about305.html

I found this:

I use letter formation jingles c – start at the top… come round… and stop.

a- start as if it was c for cat.. come back up like an acrobat… down to the ground … and flick.

o – start as if it was c for cat… but make an orange just like that.

d - start as if it was c for cat… come back up like an acrobat… now climb back up the dinosaur’s neck… slide back down to his foot and flick.

g- start as if it was c for cat… come back up like an acrobat…slide underground.. and curl back round.

q- start as if it was c for cat… come back up like an acrobat… slide quickly quietly underground…. And flick (and never do a q without a u)

s start as if for a cat all curly… but halfway down you come back early … and curl back round for a snake on the ground.

e take the elephant to the exit....back over the top... round and stop!

f a backwards flip...fall underground... curl back round...and cross.

l start at the top for l… straight down… flick and all is well.

i straight down like a stick… and flick….don’t forget the dot.

t take it from the top slide to the ground and flick…and cross it quick.

u start like i.. like a stick… under up..down and flick.

y do a u…slide underground… and curl back round.

j start like i like a stick.. slip underground..curl back round…and dot it!

r- down to the ground.. back up and round……rrrrrr.

n- down … up… round … down to the ground.. and flick.

m- start like an n…. up and round again…. and flick.

p – go down underground… back up.. and round … and curl back.

h – start high up and hurry down… go halfway back and hurry round… hot the ground and flick.

k – start high up and hurry down… go halfway back, then halfway round… curl back to the stick… and kick.

b- start at the top of the bat… come down to the ground like that… go halfway up.. over and round… to make a ball lying on the ground.

v slant down to the ground and slant up in the air

w … down up down up.

x slant down to the ground...lift your pen... up in the air...cross back again.

z zoom forward...zigzagging back...zoom again

when introducing the sounds initially in the order the sounds are taught then use the Penpals materials in letter families for developing handwriting /letter formation.

Like you, I was teaching letter formation in the order in which I taught the sounds from 'Letters and Sounds'. However now revising letter formation, I'm teach the letters in the following 'families' -

a,c,d,g,o,q (letters which start by going 'round like a curly c!')

i,j,l,t,u,y (letters which go 'up and come back down')

b,h,k m,n,p,r (letters which go 'up, down and over')

e,f,s,v,w,x,z ('odd' letters!)

I teach 'v' and 'w' as odd letters rather than as part of another family cos. they have slightly diagonal lines, rather than coming straight down.

This has been a much more successful way of teaching letter formation and, believe it or not, the children have loved handwriting practise and ask me whether they can do it! They have those specially lined books and I teach them that some letters 'go up to the attic', some stay in the living-room, and some 'go down to the basement'. Again they love this and their handwriting has really improved!

I use 'penpals' for teaching letter groups. 1. long ladder letters: l i t u j y 2. curly caterpillar letters: c a d o g e s f 3. one armed robot letters: r p h k b m n 4. zig zag monster letters: z x w v

I teach the letters in the following 'families' - a,c,d,g,o,q (letters which start by going 'round like a curly c!')i,j,l,t,u,y (letters which go 'up and come back down')b,h,k m,n,p,r (letters which go 'up, down and over') e,f,s,v,w,x,z ('odd' letters!)

I must have downloaded it from somewhere or copy and pasted it from somewhere. For joining I found this: Teach joins to anticlockwise letters such as ac, ca etc... Then go onto baseline joins such as: in, un, ch etc... Then do top joins: op, ow etc... But remember descenders such as j, g, y do no join. Also do not join f and ascenders such as b do not join