Primary School
Part of Every Child Matters Academy TrustWriting
Developing Writing Skills
In our Nursery, children participate in a wide variety of activities to develop and strengthen their gross and fine motor skills. These include dough disco, threading, using a range of tools, tracing shapes etc. We model and extend mark making skills in all areas, using a range of equipment and resources. Children are encouraged to give meaning to the marks they have made. By being alongside children in their play, adults support children by talking about their work, extending the vocabulary being used and wondering aloud.
The use of phonics, talk, participation in songs, rhymes and poems all help children to tune into sounds and words and to identify these when talking, singing, reading and writing.
Children are encouraged to share and explain their work. Celebrating the writing process, thinking out loud and modelling the use of talk, helps children to become confident at mark making and improves attitudes and confidence.
We encourage good posture when sitting on the carpet or when seated on a chair. Children in reception class progress to using a pencil with the correct grip and use the Read Write Inc mnemonics to become competent at correct letter formation. Please see an example of this below.
Children are encouraged to think about their writing and plan this before starting, through the use of talk and adult scaffolding. Staff model how to apply phonic skills to sound out own words when writing. Children are encouraged to write in all areas and for a range of purposes.
Extending the use of vocabulary and language is a key driver in all our work. The use of talk is therefore crucial in helping children progress happily and confidently on their writing journey.
We enjoy making large marks outside with the chalk.
We decided to draw pictures of dragons outside with the chunky chalk. We were able to give our marks a meaning and could recognise our own drawings.
We used chunky chalk to draw outside. We create simple representations of Easter eggs and added our own patterns tothem.
We sound out our own words when writing labels and captions. We are learning to apply our phonic skills when writing independently.
We are learning how to write short captions independently. We listen carefully to the sounds in words when writing.