Learning to Write Parents Information Evening

Getting Ready Fine Motor skills Gross Motor skills - monkey bars Reading stories Role play Talk Model writing

Resources Chalks Pens Pencils Crayons Paint brushes with paint or water Variety of paper Alphabet chart / sound mats

Development Mark making

Letter Formation/Initial Letter Sounds Development Letter Formation/Initial Letter Sounds

Development Name writing

Development Using sounds to write words / labels / captions

Development Sentence Writing

Helping Writing Sentences Writing a sentence Think it Say it / record it Write each word by sounding out Remember finger spaces

Extending Capital letters and full stops Spelling Rainbow Words correctly in sentences Starting to write longer sentences

EYFS Profile At this stage in the year a Reception child should be able to: Segment sounds in simple words and blend them together Use clearly identifiable letters to communicate meaning, representing some sounds correctly and in sequence Write own name, labels and captions Attempt to write short sentences in meaningful contexts

Early Years Goal By the end of the year the children should be able to: Use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences that can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

Confidence Confidence is the biggest blocker to a child’s progression is writing Fixating on spelling words correctly will stop a child putting pencil to paper Picking out incorrect spellings could damage your child’s confidence Praise for having a go will boost confidence, the spellings will come as your child matures

Do’s and Do Not’s Do encourage and praise any writing that your child does independently Do encourage your child to sound out words by themselves, they are great at phonics Do use sound mats and Rainbow Words lists to help Do remember how hard your child is trying, writing in a new language is tricky Do write under your child’s writing if it is difficult for someone else to read Do not spell words out for your child – children are not expected to have perfect spelling when they are starting out but do help them by sounding out words they are finding hard

Video Clip Most children will default to “I don’t know how ….” because writing is tricky and requires a lot of thought Getting children to re-sound what they have written and allow them the chance to self correct is important Try not to tell them what to do but ask them questions so they work it out for themselves Encourage them to persevere Always get them to re-read their sentence at the end to ensure all the words are there and that it makes sense