Principles of the Teaching and Learning of Handwriting

Handwriting Policy

Aim

To enable each child to master correct letter formation from the beginning and to work towards achieving easy to read, fluent, speedy, attractive handwriting. Those pupils who are unable to achieve this aim should be given alternative communication aids and taught how to use them efficiently.

Principles of the teaching and learning of handwriting

· Handwriting is important because it is an essential skill.

· It is a means to an end, in that writing must always be about communications of ideas, facts and feelings.

· Children who have legible, regular and attractive handwriting take greater pride and pleasure in their work.

· There should be continuity of approach to both the teaching and practicing of handwriting as pupil’s progress from one class to another.

· Furniture, resources, sitting position, paper position and pencil grip should all be considered and monitored from the early stages of writing.

· Special attention should be paid to the left hander.

· Classroom assistants and new staff should be aware of the policy.

· All letters should be formed correctly, progress monitored regularly and feedback immediate.

· The expectation should be set that children transfer their handwriting skills to all their written work.

Strategies for the teaching of handwriting

· Until a fluent joined script is mastered, handwriting should be taught in small regular slots.

· Class/group teaching should be used, followed by individual work by the children.

· Handwriting should be differentiated.

· In Early Years children should be taught the correct pencil grip. The correct formation of letters should be taught as the children are ready (have an understanding of print and knowledge of letters) and the line should be introduced from the very beginning.

· Towards the end of Year 1 children who have good letter formation should be taught to join.

· As soon as children start joining neatly they should be writing in pen.

· By year 2 most children should be taught to join and use a cursive script by the end of the year.

· Children who cannot form their letters correctly should not be taught to join.

· In Year 3, for those who are joining correctly, the emphasis should be on speedwriting.

· In consequent years the emphasis is on fluency and purpose.

· The principle scheme used is Collins.

Guidelines for the teaching of handwriting

Handwriting is a skill that has to be taught, you cannot just tell a child to try harder or make it neater, you need to analyse their writing and show them how to correct the problem. It takes time to learn how to form letters and arrange them on a page correctly. Our aim is for children to write legibly, fluently and at a reasonable speed. They must also be comfortable in order to achieve this. Handwriting should not only be addressed in handwriting lessons, but across the whole curriculum. If the teaching and learning of handwriting is to be successful it cannot be taught in handwriting lessons alone. Time is needed whereby children are taught how to form letters or joins and then have a short period to practice the skill, the teacher must remain actively involved in the lesson, moving quickly around the room ensuring that they are forming the letter, join, or word correctly. Don’t try to put too much in one lesson. When teaching time is over, remind the whole class to sit correctly; feet on the floor, chair close to table with a small gap, ensuring pencil is held correctly, that paper/book is tilted and backs straight. Copying handwriting can be meaningless if you don’t know the rules. Frequent short sharp lessons are better than one longer lesson, it is meaningless to copy large chunks of text.

There is always the problem that children have lovely handwriting during the handwriting lesson but do not transfer this to their own writing. This can only be solved by praising those who remember to transfer their skills into their own writing. Children who have remembered to form letters, joins or words correctly should be praised and rewarded with a stamp or tick on the star chart. To avoid children thinking only handwriting lessons matter, back it up with a comment that praises both handwriting and content of work. Handwriting can be cross-curricular and this will also help children to transfer it into their work. It could be that a handwriting lesson is to write captions for another piece of work.

Legibility

There are five aspects to legible writing

Shape letters should be recognisable and correctly formed. All small letters except e and d start at the top. Letters, which end on the base line, should have an exit stroke. The rounded (egg shaped) letters should start at 1 o’clock so it is easy to make the letter complete when they come back up to the top.

Size the letter bodies should be the same size. The ascenders and descenders should extend above and below the line evenly.

Spacing this should be even between letters and words

Slant All the up strokes and down strokes should be parallel and the writing should not slope too far forward or backward.

Sitting on

the line the body of the letter should sit on the line.

Early Years

Writing in the Nursery should be through play; writing corner, office, sand, etc. Reception teachers deal with all the conventions of writing as the children are ready. There is no point teaching children to write until they have a basic grasp of some of the conventions of writing. The line should be introduced very early on in Reception, not initially in their first stages of writing as formation is the most important, but it can be used in the teachers writing on the white board during phonic lessons, when plastic or wooden letters are being used by the teacher and or the children in groups or whole class work. This will help from a very early stage to get the body of the letters sitting on the line and ascenders and descenders in the correct place. When children are becoming confident and accurate in forming letters then the line can be introduced. The initial stages of handwriting would usually be linked with the phonic work going on in the classroom.

Fluency and Speed

Fluent writing is that which is done easily and quickly. If good handwriting is established in the early stages, it is likely that fluent writing will develop automatically. This is especially true when children learn to join, children who cannot form their letters correctly are unable to join and should not be taught to join until they are forming their letters correctly. Fluency in writing usually leads to speed. Provided children are taught to form their letters correctly and easily and are given practice in writing fast, they will soon learn to control their speed effectively. However some children do not automatically acquire a fast hand and need help in developing speed. Speed needs to be practiced and those who are developing a good hand can practice writing a word for one minute and see how many they can do, or be told to write a certain amount of words in a minute etc. In doing this they would have to make sure they made it legible, while working on the flow.

Comfort

Most children should be able to produce a piece of writing without becoming tense or tired and without complaining of cramp in the hand. Good habits need to be established from the beginning.

Posture

The development of a good writing posture is dependent upon the correct size furniture. This means that children should be able to put their feet flat on the floor and place their arms comfortably on the table. Children should sit up straight and not have their face close to their work.

Place

Children should have space around them to work. Left-handed children should either sit together at a table, or sit on the left of right-handed children so that their writing arms are able to move freely. You should be aware of your left handed children and place them in a position comfortable to them.

Paper Position

There should be different paper positions for right and left-handers. In each case, the paper should be tilted until it is parallel with the writing arm. It should be positioned just to the right of centre for the right handed child and the converse for the left handed child. This is especially important for left handers so they do not use a hooked grip. The ideal position of the hand is below the line of writing, it is easier to see the writing and reduces smudging.

At the beginning of the task, the paper should be placed at a comfortable distance from the edge of the tabletop so that the writing arm can be fully supported. As writing progresses, the child should learn to move the paper up the desk. The paper should be anchored to the table with the non-writing hand. Ideally children should not be required to write on paper which is placed directly on a hard surface. When using a single sheet of paper children should be given something to lean on (presser) which could be a piece of card of a few sheets of paper.

Penhold

Writing involves fine movements of the fingers as well as the hand. One of the best ways of holding a pencil to allow the fingers to move freely and regulate the amount of pressure exerted, is called the tripod grip shown below. Once established, any pencil grip, unusual or not, is hard to change so correct teaching at an early stage is vital. A pencil grip can be used for those who find this grip difficult or who have already learned an awkward grip.

In addition to how the pencil is held, where the hand is positioned on the pencil is important. The fingers should not be too low so they cover the sharpened part of the pencil as this prevents the child seeing clearly what they are writing. Pencil shafts can be used to encourage the correct position or a simple dot or mark on the pencil.

It is well worth helping any child modify an inefficient grasp, if they have developed one, for it is likely to affect writing performance. This is most effective if the child can see their grip is detrimental to a good performance, any change needs the agreement of the child and often the support of their parents/carers. The transition period needs to be intense, e.g., every day for a few weeks. Support from home will help immensely.

Pens and Paper

When trying to encourage children to write well, good pencils, pens and paper should be provided. There are many pencils and pens available to suit a variety of needs. With pencils a standard HB is best, with younger children the triangular hand huggers are probably best to encourage a more efficient grip, but children should be moved off these as soon as they are able as they are not fine enough for neat handwriting. Pencils should be well sharpened and of reasonable length. Children are attracted to bright shiny pencils, but these are not always the best as they can be slippery.

When children can write neatly with well formed joined up writing then they should be allowed to write with a pen. We provide fibre tip pens and only these should be used. The use of pens should be monitored carefully as some children’s writing deteriorates when they move on to pen. If this does not improve after some practice then it is best if they go back to pencil. Pencil should not be made to be seen as inferior to pen, children should be encouraged to look at their work and see which tool is best for them.

When choosing paper for different writing tasks, size quality and texture need to be taken into account. A sequence of different lined papers can help beginner writers as they learn to form the letters, no lines, single lines tram lines, etc. If lined paper is not being used, an alternative is to use guide lines. Using guidelines is best used for special presentations and other work. For handwriting practice, lined paper is definitely better. The lined paper used should be appropriate for each child’s needs.

Handwriting and SEN

Children can find handwriting difficult for many reasons. Sometimes the reason is a simple one e.g. the child has learned to copy letters without being shown how to form them. In such cases, problems are easy to rectify after the child has been made aware of the difficulties and has been given a little help.

It is important to analyse children’s handwriting where there are difficulties to identify common errors which can be isolated and worked on one at a time. At other times the explanation may be more complicated and the remedy more lengthy. The child may have specific learning difficulties that affect their handwriting. These children will need an individual program and advice should be sought from the SENCO and Literacy Subject Leader. For some children alternative communication aids will be needed but they will need to be taught how to use them efficiently.

This policy should be monitored at least termly by the Literacy Subject Leader.

Reviewed November 2012