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As parents you can support your child significantly with their writing skills by doing simple activities at home. It takes time and practise for children to learn letter formation and be able to write words and sentences independently.

Spelling Letter Formation

Jolly Phonics Tricky Words

Diary Writing Writing Lists

Story Writing Letter Writing

Writing a Postcard Flashcards

Holding a Pencil Poetry

Holding a pencil

In order for your child to start learning to write they firstly need to learn how to hold a pencil correctly. This skill takes time to master and it can prove helpful to use a triangular pencil with a special pencil grip to begin with. Firstly, demonstrate to your child how they should hold their pencil and give them time to practise. You may decide to provide a range of coloured paper or felt tip pens for them to refine this skill in an exiting and appealing way.

Once your child is able to hold a pencil, you can begin by teaching them how to write their name. Start by practising in informal ways such using a paintbrush and tray with paint, sand or shaving foam. Allow your child to explore the tripod grip and practise holding a paintbrush correctly first. Encourage your child to practise holding felt pens, crayons and pencil colours, by providing them with a colouring book or coloured paper. Give them time to explore and develop their fine motor skills. Model the correct way to hold pens and pencils so your child becomes use to using the tripod grip. Your child can also develop their pencil control using numbers and alphabet stencils. This process takes some time, so don't expect your child to master this skill overnight!

Once your child is showing confidence with the tripod grip and has some degree of control when using writing implements, you could begin introducing them to writing. You child needs to show interest and be ready for this stage. The first step is for you to write in pen and your child to try going over each letter with their pencil. Explain to your child how each letter is formed i.e. where they should start and finish. Once they are able to write over your writing, let them practise writing over dotted words and then progress onto writing their name independently. Children gain a great deal of self esteem and confidence by being able to write and recognise their own name and it helps them immensely when starting school.

Letter Formation

The easiest way to teach letter formation and letter sounds is through following the steps below and using the Jolly Phonics Workbooks: Books 1-7.

Step 1

Once your child is confident with holding a pencil and has some degree of control and coordination they can begin learning letter formation skills.

The initial step is to ensure your child is able to recognise and then write the 42 letter sounds in the Jolly Phonics scheme. Some sounds are written with two letter such as 'ee' and 'or', these are called diagraphs. The easiest way to teach letter formation is though fun and practical ways which engage your child. You may choose to introduce one or two letter sounds a day or one a week depending on the ability and age of your child. Remember make sure you reinforce each letter sound everyday before introducing the new letter. Develop letter formation through plenty of practise using informal methods such as trays of coloured sand, glitter, paint or shaving foam. Children love using their fingers to practise letter formation and the experience is far more sensory and visual. Ask your child to say the sound, write it and then sing the accompanying song. Each of the Jolly Phonics letter sounds has a Jolly Song to accompany it, with actions to aid memory.

Tip- A lovely way to teach letter formation is using Brightly Coloured Chunky Chalks on an outdoor patio area. Paintbrushes and water are also lots of fun on a sunny day, and young children love watching their writing disappear in the sunshine!

Step 2

The letter sounds are divided up into seven sets, so it is best to focus on one set of letters at a time i.e. the first set being ‘s,a,t,i,p,n’. The letter sounds are not introduced in alphabetical order. The letters are taught in specific sets with the first set 's, a, t, i, p, n', choosing because it allows one to make more three letter words than any other six letters. Once your child is able to read and write the first set of letters, they can practise word building and reading using these letters.

For example,

‘s, a, t, i, p, n’

Work with your child and think of as many words as you can using the first set of Jolly Phonics* letters. If they need prompting to find a word, sound out the word clearly emphasising and elongating each letter sound clearly e.g ‘s’ – ‘a’ – ‘t’ is ‘sat’. An ideal way to practise word building is through using large Magnetic Wooden Letters. Give your child a set of letters from the Jolly phonics scheme and let them try making as many words as they can.

Encourage your child to say each letter sound and then read the word as this will develop their skills of blending and segmenting sounds, necessary for both reading and writing. Once your child is confident with word building encourage them to try writing down the words so they become more confident with their independent writing e.g. sat, pat, pan, pin, tin, tip. It would be easiest if they had their own Magnetic Whiteboard and pen , so any mistakes can easily be erased. Children can get frustrated if asked to use more formal methods of recording before they are ready, so make learning to write practical and fun to whilst you can.

Step 3

When your child is competent with the first set of letter sounds move on to focusing on the next set of Jolly Phonics letter sounds. The seven sets of Jolly Phonics letter sounds. Complete step 2 with each set of letters and letter sounds, until your child is familiar with all seven sets of the Jolly Phonics letters. To develop writing you might choose to use Stencilets which are a fun and easy way to develop writing and recognition of simple words. You could help your child practise writing and building the words from the Jolly Phonics Read and See: Basic Words books.

Step 4

Once you have learnt the letter sounds and your child is competent with identifying and writing the letters you can move on to teaching them the tricky words identified by the Jolly Phonics scheme. You could start with teaching one tricky word every two days and learning how to read and write it correctly. Tricky words will need to be learnt for your child to be able to read successfully as not all words can be sounded out. The spelling of these words will need to be taught, so it is best to take time and learn these slowly.

Step 5

Once you have worked through the seven sets of letter sounds with your child and they are competent at writing simple words you can provide opportunities to extend their writing further. You may want to start teaching them some of the Tricky Words, which cannot be sounded out using the standard segmenting and blending approach. Tricky Words Magnets are a lovely way to reinforce these daily.

Jolly Phonics

The seven sets of Jolly Phonics* letter sounds are normally taught in this order, focusing on one set at a time.

1) s, a, t, i, p, n

2) ck, e, h, r, m, d

3) g, o, u , l , f , b

4) ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or

5) z, w, ng, v, oo, oo

6) y, x, ch, sh, th, th

7) qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar

The easiest way to teach letter formation and letter sounds is through following the steps below and using the Jolly Phonics Workbooks: Books 1-7.

* Jolly Phonics is a reading and writing scheme which was developed by Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham.

Flashcards

Flashcards with words and pictures are an ideal way to develop your child’s reading and help them become familiar and recognise words.
By using Everyday Words Flashcards regularly your child will learn to read, spell and write simple words.
You may want to introduce three new words a week which your child learns to read and also practises writing. Picture flashcards are good to start with, which have a word on one side and the picture on the other. As your child becomes more competent they can move on to flashcards with just words.
There are lots of fun games you can play with flashcards, such as pairs or snap to make it a more exciting learning experience for your child.

Diary Writing

By providing your child with a diary, they can begin to record daily events and write their own sentences. You may wish to sit with your child every other day and write their diary together. This way you give your child the opportunity to explore writing themselves but also give them the guidance they need to progress. Whilst writing encourage your child to sound out words and think about the letter sounds that build up each word.

It would be best to start with a picture diary for each day, so your child gets used to the purpose and format of a diary. As they become more competent they could write a word to accompany the picture. As their writing and ability to sound out words improves encourage them to write a sentence. This can then lead onto your child writing their diary more independently and in greater detail.

Writing Lists

A simple way to develop your child’s writing in a meaningful context is to get them to write the weekly shopping list. This is a meaningful context for them to write and allows them to see the purpose and importance of writing. Encourage your child to sound out words as accurately as they can. Only correct your child if the word is not phonetically plausible and you are unable to make it out. You may decide to teach them one new word a week, so they are learning how to spell more complex words correctly. When you go shopping encourage your child to read out the items on the list.

You may ask your child to write a list of the children in their class in preparation for a party. Let your child write the invitations too, so they become familiar with different purposes and formats of writing. You may wish to use a copy of the alphabet for your child to refer to if unsure of letter formation or capital letters. Talk about simple features of an invitation such as where their friend's name is written, where their name is written, and where to write their contact number. Remember to explain that names of people and places always start with a capital letter.

Story Writing

Being able to create and write their own stories is an essential skill which children need to develop. It will give them confidence in their abilities and develop not just their literacy skills but also imagination and creativity.

Story writing should be introduced slowly to begin with. Perhaps by reading a story to your child and then pausing half way through and asking them to talk to you about what might happen next. When they have gathered their ideas, give them the opportunity to record them in picture form as this will aid memory once they start writing. The next stage is to help them write down their ideas and continue the story themselves. Offer them guidance on how they might start and help them to sound out more difficult words. The first attempt at this will be challenging so even if your child only manages a sentence give them praise and show enthusiasm for what they have achieved. To improve their reading ask your child to read back what they have written.

When your child is able to continue stories they have had read to them, start introducing the features of good writing. Emphasis the need for capital letters at the start of their sentences and full stops at the end. Talk about how stories have a beginning, middle and end, and discuss what might happen in each part of a story. Try and ensure they incorporate this in their future writing. As they become more competent encourage them to make up their own stories. They could also illustrate the main parts of their story.

Letter Writing

Once your child has become more competent with writing simple sentences they could practise writing short letters. An ideal way to develop their interest in this is to use a first letter-writing set. Talk about the layout of a letter and perhaps look at the layout of different letters. Discuss what is included such as the address, name of the person you are writing to and who the letter is from.
To begin with it is best to write the letter together and keep it fairly simple focusing on the address and main features of the letter. You child may want to write to a favourite story book character or a family member or friend. They might want to tell them about something that has happened recently or somewhere special they have been.
Encourage your child to sound out words and write in full sentences, remembering capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.
As an extra activity, see if your child knows their address and give them the opportunity to practise writing it. Being able to write their own address will give them confidence and is a useful thing for a child to be able to do.

Writing a Postcard

When on holiday let your child choose a postcard and write it themselves. This will develop their writing skills in a fun and meaningful way. They could write to a grandparent, friend or even their teddy bear at home. You may decide to ask them to practise writing their sentences on paper first and then copying them onto the postcard, when they have decided what to write.
Again keep encouraging them to sound out unfamiliar words. Give them the chance to try writing the address themselves (copying if necessary), especially if it is going to be sent home to their favourite teddy!
When they have written the postcard, ask them to read it back to you. This will develop their reading skills and give them confidence in their writing ability.
Give praise and encouragement and allow them to post the postcard for themselves.

Image courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

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