Developing Better Writers

Supporting your child in writing

De-motivation for writingWhich of these do your children think - when you ask them to do

some writing?

Yahoo!It’s hardI hate writing storiesI don’t understand what I have to doDoes it have to be true?I can’t think what to writeI’ve got an idea but I can’t think of a good endingI can’t write quickly enoughI’ll do it quickly so I get to on to something less boringCan I do a picture?Will I have time to finishThis is a big bit of paper – do I have to fill it all?Is spelling importantI can’t think what to call the charactersWill I be able to use the computer?Who’s going to read this

The Mechanics

Writing begins with mark making Recognising and writing letters of the alphabet (the

graphemes) Listening for sounds (phonemes): -

Initial End Middle

When children can hear all 3 they begin to write CVC Words – e.g cat Learning the blends e.g. bl as a beginning blend & nd

as an end blend Learning the vowel phonemes & alternative graphemes e.g. ai, ea igh, ow, ue All of these skills are closely related to spelling &

reading

Over to you!

Sound buttons – help to count the number of phonemes in a word

Cat c a t mouse m ou se

Goat g oa t cheering ch ee r i n g

Phonic Vocabulary

It is important to use the appropriate language when working with your child

Grapheme – visual representation of a sound Phoneme – a sound that can be made up of 1 or

more letters Blend – two letters that can be blended e.g.

cl, gr ( you can still hear both sounds) Digraph /vowel digraph – two or more

letters that when joined together make a completely different sound e.g. ch, sh, th & ea, oa, igh, ough – not phonetically decodable

Be resilient and have a go! You can work with a partner

meat

chief

sound

mountain

flower

How you can help?

Practise reciting the alphabet – practise actions & recognising phonemes

Practise writing the graphemes – correct formation

Read and say lots of rhymes together Practise targets that are discussed and sent home

following parent interviews (these will be more specific to your child’s level of ability)

Provide lots of encouragement Provide lots of opportunities for your child to

engage in any writing activity

Type of activities

Play sound games Look for graphemes in words Listen for phonemes in words Provide different writing genres: -

Shopping lists Greetings cards Letters Stories Books Poetry

Encourage your child to use descriptive language when you are out and about.

Give them two short sentences and ask if they can find an interesting connective to join the two pieces of information.

Planning to motivate writing

Plan for thinking time Plan for talking time Plan to allow time for children to

interact with topic through drama/role play

Plan to make it enjoyable To become successful writers children

need to see writing as a special treat.

How do we measure progress?

ELG1-8

ELG 9

NC1C

NC1B

NC1A

NC2C

NC2B

NC2A

NC3C

NationalAverage at

the end of Year

1

NationalAverage at

the end of Year

2

Every half term, the children do a teacher assessed piece of writing.

Level Criteria for 1ANational average for the end of Year One

Invents own composition but writing may be disjointed

Writing can be read without mediation Writing is written for the writer than the reader Uses simple sentence structures and repeats Beginning to use capital letters and full stops to

punctuate some sentences Handwriting should be legible but may have some

inconsistencies CVC words spelt correctly and makes phonetically

plausible attempts at more complex words

Main criteria for Level 2BNational average for the end of Year Two

Writing begins to show elements of story or sequential structure

Some detail given to engage the reader Occasionally chooses vocabulary for effect Uses noun phrases that are simple in structure Uses simple and compound sentences and some

connectives More accurate use of capital letters and full stops Handwriting is clear with ascenders and descenders

distinguished and upper and lower case letters not mixed within words

Spelling: makes phonetically plausible attempts reflecting a growing knowledge of whole word structure together with an awareness of visual patterns and letter strings

Blue Peter Demonstration!

Book making Take Home Packs – vowel digraph

mats Handwriting strips

Handwriting

Is it important –YES! If handwriting needs mediation it can

mean the difference in a writing level. We use the Sheffield Scheme of work All letters (even when printing) begin from

the line. Teach children to smile in and out of

letters In school we encourage good handwriting

at all times – not just during handwriting practise.