1. Supporting Your Child with writing
Parents Meeting 1st December 9am
Welcome
INSERT PICTURE OF A CHILD IN SCHOOL WRITING

2. Supporting your Child’s Writing Development
Facts about Writing
As with reading:
Writing is a vital life skill in our society
Writing is not easy to learn or to teach- it is a complex set of skills
Writing is needed for all areas of learning in school
Writing can be functional and creative
Two clear parts of teaching writing –
Secretarial and Compositional
Children who can write well have higher self esteem

3. Developing Early Writing
For children to develop as confident early writers they must first be confident in their motor control.
What does that mean?
What does this look like?

4. Development of gross motor skills
Able to draw circles & straight lines
PE sessions – gym, games (skipping, tennis)
Tennis rackets bubbles
Climbing – during PE sessions, using outdoor equipment, trees
Window washing
Using ribbons and scarves to make large movements
Movement and dance sessions
Building with large blocks
Jedi or wand writing

5. Development of fine motor skills
Using tweezers
Finger rhymes
Cooking – chopping, mixing
Play-dough – rolling, twisting
Using small construction EG Duplo, lego
Using different tools to make marks
Pegs and peg boards
Using clothes pegs
Painting, drawing, chalking

6. How we teach writing Focused and free writing experiences
Structured sessions include weekly guided/focus writing sessions and whole class shared writing sessions
Free writing means providing quality writing areas and creating writing opportunities in all areas of the classroom EG through role-play, writing labels, writing messages etc
Secretarial Skills through
Daily phonics sessions - spelling, grammar, sentence structure
Focused handwriting taught through phonics and sensory sessions
Compositional skills through
Sharing stories daily
Talking tables and use of puppets
Acting out stories in small groups
Role-play
For each phase/ meeting we could tailor this by giving examples of activities/ show photos? Read out some amazing writing by some of our kids??

7. Focused writing opportunities

8. Free writing opportunities

9. Writing Learning Objectives
All teaching of writing throughout school is based on these main objectives
Reception
Use phonic knowledge to write words
Write some irregular common words
Write simple sentences
Spell some words correctly
Spell some words in a phonetically plausible way
Key Stage 1
To present neatly
To spell correctly
To punctuate accurately
To write with purpose
To use imaginative description
To organise writing appropriately
To use paragraphs
To use sentences appropriately
To analyse writing
To present writing
Repeatable learning objectives taught throughout the school. Mile stones/ expectations become more challenging as they develop as writers. This is in line with NC 2014.
Could we show/ talk about some examples of writing at expected levels here??

10. Understanding the Stages of Learning to Write
Developmental stages of children’s early writing
Random scribble
Scribble that looks like writing
Individual shapes that look like letters
Some real letters used randomly (especially letters from their names)
Letters and shapes written from left to right across the page
Individual letters used to represent words (initial sounds)
More than one letter used to represent a word
Transitional Phases
Standard Spelling
See example sheet and then look at writing samples together

11. Writing Expectations
Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Children 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 which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.
Keep in mind each child is an individual and will develop at different speeds

12. Writing Expectations Year 1 – Expected level
Can compose a sentence orally and attempt to replicate it in writing.
Some use capital letters
Begins to have an awareness of how full-stops are used
Some ideas may be linked by ‘and’
Writing can generally be read without mediation
Simple beginning, middle and end are becoming apparent
Begin to use more story language
Some interesting and appropriate vocabulary linked to the context
Begin to use alternative ways of spelling phonemes EG – ‘ai’, ‘ay’ or ‘a-e’
Know some words contain spelling alternatives
Write letters, most of which are correctly formed
Spacing used between words – not always consistent

13. What can parents do?
Surround your children in rich language, talk to them about anything & everything
Make your home a ‘Reading’ home, share stories, tell stories, story talk
Give them experiences to want to record or write about – 50 things …
Let your child see you as a writer- lists, notes, letters, s, news, diary….
Encourage your child to make marks/write from the earliest age & provide opportunities for them to ‘write’ for real – Cards, shopping lists, letters
Use their interests to inspire them to write – make a comic, make own match Attax cards
Support your child with home learning (writing, spelling, reading)
Make sure they can write their name accurately and form letters correctly
Take a note book on trips, encourage your child to write/make marks/draw
Look at your child’s writing together and talk about what you like and why, encourage them to think about how to improve it – age sensitive
Value all attempts they make at mark making or writing
Play games like Scrabble, Boggle, Balderdash, Upwords etc
Use the suggested websites

14. Using the internet to support your child’s writing There are many free resources and games on the web….