3 ways to mess up teaching early writing
/Whether you believe that your child will be asked to write in their 4+ Assessments or not, you must prepare them to be able to go into their Assessments and write.
To go in and write with accuracy and precision.
Teaching early writing does not mean doing writing with your child once every blue moon. It means teaching it daily and consistently. It means blocking out time in your diary to sit with your child and do writing with them.
At the very minimum, you will teach your child numbers 1-10 (formed correctly), all letters of the alphabet and to write their name.
I’ve seen early writing taught beautifully and I’ve seen it taught very badly.
Here are 3 ways to mess up teaching early writing and I would avoid these at all costs if you want your child to be successful in the writing part of their 4+ Assessment.
1. Telling your child that what they have done is wrong.
At the ages of 2 and 3, they can never do it ‘wrong’. So don’t tell them that they have done it wrong. Praise them and be specific. Eg. I love that you have drawn the circle to look like the number 8 or I love that straight line for the number 4.
2. Not blocking out small pockets of time each day to teach writing.
Writing once a week will not cut it if you are preparing your child for their 4+ Assessments.
Do it daily even for just 1-2 minutes and be consistent with this. Add it to your diary if you need to.
3. Leaving it to the last minute.
Preparing your child for the writing part of their 4+ Assessments 2 months before the Assessment is not good enough. Leave plenty of time for this. Each child is different and unique. Some children will master this quickly and others will take longer.
