Wednesday 13 March 2019

Writing success in Reception





A BIG thank you to all of those parents and younger siblings who were able to join us for our writing workshop this morning. We hope you picked up some useful ideas and enjoyed the practical
activities on offer as much as the children. It was lovely to see some of our younger members of the audience embarking on their early mark making journey as well.

As always, your feedback is invaluable to us, thank you for taking the time to complete our feedback form. Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to see a member of Reception staff.

As a little reminder here is a picture demonstrating how to hold a pencil correctly:

If your child is left-handed, here are some handy tips to help:
  • Position the paper correctly. Left-handed children should sit with their paper slightly to the left of centre, and angled downwards. This makes it easier for your child to see the nib of the pencil as they're writing.
  • Hold the pencil in the right place. Your child should pinch the shaft of the pencil, not the sharpened nib (but not too high - about 1.5cm from the tip) - again, this helps to prevent the hand from obscuring what your child is writing.
  • Use the right hand for stability. By placing their right hand flat on the right-hand side of the paper, your child can prevent the page from shifting about as they write.
  • Keep the wrist below the line. Left-handers often develop a hooked wrist position, where the wrist curls over the top of the pencil, so that they can see what they're writing - but this can make writing uncomfortable. Encourage your child to keep the pencil on the line, with the wrist below, to improve their vision, reduce arm strain and prevent smudging.
  • Put a dot at the start of the line. When they're learning to write, left-handed children often naturally write from right to left. Putting a mark at the left-hand side of the line can remind them where to start writing.