Guest Posted September 30, 2005 Posted September 30, 2005 Hi all, Started Jolly Phonics this week and, as usual, we've been doing the corresponding worksheet which goes with each sound. (Children with poor fine motor skills have been doing lots of gross motor instead). I have a couple of groups doing the letters while the rest are doing activities based around the same thing such as felt pens and huge bits of paper to practise writing on, playdough to make the letters with, whiteboards, sand tray etc etc It's got me wondering if I should actually be doing letter formation yet. I always have, but it seems to be frowned upon these days! So I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this...how soon do you start handwriting? Thanks! Jess
Guest Posted September 30, 2005 Posted September 30, 2005 I have thought the same, but the children seem to really enjoy it, as long as the sessions are kept short and there is lots of praise. I only tend to have 4-6 around me, colouring, using their new froggy grip, and I then spend 1: 1 time practising the letter formation wiht each child. I tend to write the letter sin yeloow felt pen opposite the worksheet page as I find the letters are far too small for the majority at this stage in the year. Likeyou, I have playdough, big paper/whiteboards (small and interactive), playdough, paint, magentic letters to hunt for the day's letter going on at the same time. This week I also had an empty box that the snake needed filling with objects he liked to talk about ...sssandwich for home corner, sssscissors from making area. They had to find the correct homes later on that day. One boy really enjoyed doing the finding and spent 30 mins or so hunting for objects around the classroom! I think the handwriting aspect is fine, if it is kept 'motor skills appropriate' - lots of different media and various sizes. They will need to know how to form the letters before getting into bad habits early on. Marie
Guest Posted September 30, 2005 Posted September 30, 2005 If you're following the JP timetable you will presumably be introducing a new sound each day? I do this too, but I only get the children to do one (and, later, two) letter formations a week - starting with air writing, sand writing etc and finishing with the JP handwriting sheet later in the week. So, at the mo we have only practised writing s and a.
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