Penpals for Handwriting Foundation 2 Teacher's Book by Cambridge International Education

PENPALS _@o› rú

Foundation 2 Teacher’s Book (4–5 years) Gill Budgell

Kate Ruttle

Series Consultants Sue Palmer Dr Rhona Stainthorp

Contents Component chart Inside front cover Scope and sequence 2 Introduction: Penpals rationale 4 Parent information sheet (photocopiable) 11 Planning staff INSET 12 Pencil hold and posture sheet (photocopiable) 13

Term 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Introducing long ladder letters: l, i, t, u, j, y 14 Practising long ladder letters: l, i 16 Practising long ladder letters: t, u 18 Practising long ladder letters: j, y 20 Practising all the long ladder letters 22 Introducing one-armed robot letters: r, b, n, h, m, k, p 24 Practising one-armed robot letters: b, n 26 Practising one-armed robot letters: h, m 28 Practising one-armed robot letters: k, p 30 Practising all the one-armed robot letters 32 Introducing capitals for one-armed robot letters: R, B, N, H, M, K, P 34 Introducing capitals for long ladder letters: L, I, T, U, J, Y 36

Term 3

Photocopiable material:

Writing mats (PCMs 1 and 2) Long ladder letters: pattern practice and letter practice (PCMs 3 and 4) One-armed robot letters: pattern practice and letter practice (PCMs 5 and 6) Curly caterpillar letters: pattern practice and letter practice (PCMs 7 and 8) Zig-zag letters: pattern practice and letter practice

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Introducing curly caterpillar letters:

c, a, d, o, s, g, q, e, f

38 Practising curly caterpillar letters: a, d 40 Practising curly caterpillar letters: o, s 42 Practising curly caterpillar letters: g, q 44 Practising curly caterpillar letters: e, f 46 Practising all the curly caterpillar letters 48 Introducing zig-zag monster letters: z, v, w, x 50 Practising zig-zag monster letters: v, w, x 52 Introducing capitals for curly caterpillar letters: C, A, D, O, S, G, Q, E, F 54 Introducing capitals for zig-zag monster letters: Z, V, W, X 56 Exploring ch, th and sh 58

60 61 62 63 64

Lower case alphabet with directional arrows Back cover

Scope and sequence Foundation 1 / 3–5 years

Year 1 / Primary 2

Year 2 / Primary 3

DEVELOPING GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Term 1

Letter formation practice: long ladder family Letter formation practice: one-armed robot family Letter formation practice: curly caterpillar family Letter formation practice: zig-zag monster family Practising the vowels: i Practising the vowels: u Practising the vowels: a Practising the vowels: o Practising the vowels: e Letter formation practice: capital letters

How to join in a word: high-frequency words Introducing the break letters: j, g, x, y, z, b, f, p, q, r, s Practising diagonal join to ascender in words: î©l, î©t Practising diagonal join, no ascender, in words: a_e Practising diagonal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter in words: i<cœ, i<dÿ Practising horizontal join, no ascender, in words: oúw, oúu Practising horizontal join, no ascender, in words: oúy, oúi Practising horizontal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter in words: o+a, o+dÿ Practising horizontal join to ascender in words: oßlÿ, oßbe Practising horizontal join to ascender in words: o+o@ßk, o+olß

The vocabulary of movement Large movements Responding to music

DEVELOPING FINE MOTOR SKILLS Hand and finger play Making and modelling

Links to art Using one-handed tools and equipment

DEVELOPING PATTERNS AND BASIC LETTER MOVEMENTS Pattern making Responding to music Investigating straight line patterns Investigating loops

Investigating circles Investigating angled patterns Investigating eights and spirals

Foundation 2 / Primary 1 Term 2

Introducing long ladder letters: l, i, t, u, j, y Practising long ladder letters: l, i Practising long ladder letters: t, u Practising long ladder letters: j, y Practising all the long ladder letters Introducing one-armed robot letters: r, b, n, h, m, k, p Practising one-armed robot letters: b, n Practising one-armed robot letters: h, m Practising one-armed robot letters: k, p Practising all the one-armed robot letters Introducing capitals for one-armed robot letters: R, B, N, H, M, K, P Introducing capitals for long ladder letters: L, I, T, U, J, Y

Term 3

Introducing curly caterpillar letters: c, a, d, o, s, g, q, e, f Practising curly caterpillar letters: a, d Practising curly caterpillar letters: o, s Practising curly caterpillar letters: g, q Practising curly caterpillar letters: e, f Practising all the curly caterpillar letters Introducing zig-zag monster letters: z, v, w, x Practising zig-zag monster letters: v, w, x Introducing capitals for curly caterpillar letters: C, A, D, O, S, G, Q, E, F Introducing capitals for zig-zag monster letters: Z, V, W, X Exploring ch, th and sh

Term 2

Introducing diagonal join to ascender: joining a<t, a<l<l Practising diagonal join to ascender: joining t<h Practising diagonal join to ascender: joining c·h Practising diagonal join to ascender: joining c·l Introducing diagonal join, no ascender: joining i<n, i<m Practising diagonal join, no ascender: joining c·r, t<r, d<r Practising diagonal join, no ascender: joining l<p, m<p Introducing diagonal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter: joining i<d, i<g Practising diagonal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter: joining n<d, l<d Practising diagonal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter: joining n<g

Term 3

Practising diagonal join, no ascender: joining ö Practising diagonal join, no ascender: joining a<i, a<y Practising diagonal join, no ascender: joining i<mÿ, i<nÿ Introducing horizontal join, no ascender: joining oúp, oúy Practising horizontal join, no ascender: joining oúne, oúme Introducing horizontal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter: joining o+a, o+g Practising horizontal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter: joining w>a, w>o Introducing horizontal join to ascender: joining oßl, o®#t Practising horizontal join to ascender: joining w#h, oß@h Introducing horizontal and diagonal joins, to ascender, to an anticlockwise letter: joining o®#f, i<f Assessment

Term 2

Practising diagonal join to r: i<r, u<r, e©r Practising horizontal join to r: oúr, o+orú Introducing horizontal join from r to ascender: u<ñ@¡ l, i<ñ@¡ l, i<Ñ@t Introducing horizontal join from r: e©r}e Practising joining to and from r: a<i<r Introducing diagonal join to s: d<iƒ[ Introducing horizontal join to s: w>[ Introducing diagonal join from s to ascender: s©h Introducing diagonal join from s, no ascender: s©i, s©u, s@@¿, s©p, s©m Introducing horizontal join from r to an anticlockwise letter: r>[

Term 3

Practising diagonal join to an anticlockwise letter: e©a, e©a<r Introducing horizontal join to and from f to ascender: _‹@#õ,ª _‹@ #l Introducing horizontal join from f, no ascender: _®@ u, _®@ r Introducing |u (diagonal join, no ascender) Introducing r¬@r (horizontal join, no ascender) Introducing sµ[ (diagonal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter) Introducing _‹@ #_@® (horizontal join to ascender) Capital letter practice: height of ascenders and capitals Assessment Assessment

Scope and sequence

Revising joins in a word: long vowel phonemes Revising joins in a word: lÿ Revising joins in a word: i<n<g Revising joins in a word: high-frequency words Revising joins in a word: new vocabulary Revising joins in a word: u<n, dÿ Revising joins to and from s: d<iƒ[ Revising joins to and from r: r}e, pr}e Revising joins to and from f: _‹@ #_@® Revising joins: |u

Revising joins in a word: nÿµ[µ[, s©h<i<p Revising joins in a word: i<n<g, Ÿ©d Revising joins in a word: s Revising joins in a word: i<_@® y Revising joins in a word: n<n, m<m, sµ[ Revising parallel ascenders: õ‹<õ,ª l<l, b©b Revising parallel ascenders and descenders: p©p, _‹@ #_@® Revising joins to an anticlockwise letter: c·c, d<d Revising break letters: dictionary work and alphabetical order Linking spelling and handwriting: related words

Term 2

Introducing joining b and p: diagonal join, no ascender, b©i, b©u, p©i, p©u Practising joining b and p: diagonal join, no ascender, to an anticlockwise letter, b©a, b©o, p©a, p©o Practising joining b and p: diagonal join to ascender, b©l, p©h Relative sizes of letters: silent letters Parallel ascenders: high-frequency words Parallel descenders: adding y to words Relative size and consistency: l<y, lÿµ[µ[, _®@ u<l Relative size and consistency: capitals Speed and fluency practice: e©r, eµ[©t Speed and fluency practice: opposites

Term 3

Consistency in spacing: m<iƒ[, a<n<t<i, ex Consistency in spacing: n<on ú , c·o Consistency in spacing: apostrophes Layout, speed and fluency practice: address Layout, speed and fluency practice: dialogue Layout, speed and fluency practice: poem Layout speed and fluency practice: letter Handwriting style: calligrams Assessment Handwriting style: acrostics

Introducing sloped writing Parallel ascenders: a<l, a<d, a<f Parallel descenders and break letters: i<gh<t, oúu<gh Size, proportion and spacing: i<ou ú ƒ[ Size, proportion and spacing: a<b©lÿ, _®@ u<l Size, proportion and spacing: _‹[† , v}eµ[ Speed and fluency: abbreviations for notes Speed and fluency: notemaking Speed and fluency: drafting Speed and fluency: lists

Term 3

Size, proportion and spacing: v, k Size, proportion and spacing: i<c, iƒ[©t Size, proportion and spacing: i<on ú Size, proportion and spacing: i<tƒ[, i<t’s Speed and fluency: i<b©lÿ, a<b©lÿ Speed and fluency: diminutives Print alphabet: captions, headings, labels Print capitals: posters Assessment Presentational skills: font styles

Year 5 Handwriting

Term 1

Revision: practising sloped writing Revision: practising the joins Developing style for speed: joining from t Developing style for speed: looping from g, j and y Developing style for speed: joining from f Developing style for speed: joining from s Developing style for speed: writing v, w, x and z at speed Developing style for speed: pen breaks in longer words Different styles for different purposes Assessment

Year 5 Project work

Term 1

Year 5 & 6 / Primary 6 & 7

Haiku project: making notes Haiku project: organising ideas Haiku project: producing a draft Haiku project: publishing the haiku Haiku project: evaluation Letter project: making notes Letter project: structuring an argument Letter project: producing a draft Letter project: publishing a letter Letter project: evaluation

Year 6 Handwriting

Year 4 / Primary 5

Self-assessment: evaluating handwriting Self-assessment: checking the joins Self-assessment: consistency of size Self-assessment: letters resting on baseline Self-assessment: ascenders and descenders Self-assessment: consistency of size of capitals and ascenders Writing at speed: inappropriate closing of letters Writing at speed: identifying unclosed letters Writing at speed: spacing within words Writing at speed: spacing between words

Year 6 Project work

Year 3 / Primary 4

Playscript project: collecting information Playscript project: recording ideas Playscript project: producing a draft Playscript project: publishing a playscript Playscript project: evaluation Information notice project: collecting and organising information Information notice project: organising information Information notice project: producing a draft Information notice project: publishing a notice Information notice project: evaluation

Penpals rationale Even in this technological computer-literate age, good handwriting remains fundamental to our children’s educational achievement. Penpals for Handwriting will help you teach children to develop fast, fluent, legible handwriting. This carefully structured handwriting scheme can also make a difference to overall attainment in writing.

A practical approach

Fiona Thomas (Former Foundation teacher and Teacher Training Agency researcher)

Penpals offers a practical approach to support the delivery of handwriting teaching in the context of the modern curriculum:

Every Early Years teacher knows the importance of establishing solid fundamental skills before begining to teach handwriting. Preparation is crucial – it is vital to resist the urge to rush into formal handwriting work before the gross and fine motor skills are firmly established and before children are adequately confident. Penpals: Foundation 2 is a rich resource which supports the holistic kinaesthetic approach of the Foundation stage, with a variety of art- and PE-based activities. The gross and fine motor activities offered in Penpals not only help to develop important physical skills, but also emotional skills such as confidence and self-esteem. We expect an awful lot from very young children, and well-prepared but flexible resources are crucial in supporting them. In short, Penpals provides lots of opportunities to build handwriting skills in a very peasurable way.

●

Traditional principles in the contemporary classroom

●

We believe that:

●

1 A flexible, fluent and legible handwriting style empowers children to write with confidence and creativity. This is an entitlement that needs skilful teaching if each individual is to reach their full potential at primary school.

●

2 Handwriting is a developmental process with its own distinctive stages of sequential growth. We have identified five stages that form the basic organisational structure of Penpals: 1. Readiness for handwriting; gross and fine motor skills; pattern and letter formation (Foundation / 3–5 years) 2. Beginning to join (Key Stage 1 / 5–7 years) 3. Securing the joins (Key Stage 1 and lower Key Stage 2 / 5–9 years) 4. Practising speed and fluency (lower Key Stage 2 / 7–9 years) 5. Presentation skills (upper Key Stage 2 / 10–11 years) 3 Handwriting must be actively taught: this can be done in association with spelling. Learning to associate the kinaesthetic handwriting movement with the visual letter pattern and the aural phonemes will help children learn to spell.

●

Time Penpals’ focus on whole-class teaching (via Big Book and OHTs with key teaching points clearly identified) allows effective teaching in the time available. Planning Penpals helps with long-, medium- and shortterm planning for each key stage correlated to the National Literacy Strategy. Practice Penpals offers pupil Practice Books with their own internal structure of excellent models for finger tracing, pencil tracing and independent writing. Revision Penpals offers opportunities for record-keeping, review and assessment throughout the course. Motivation The Penpals materials are attractive and welldesigned with the support of handwriting experts to stimulate and motivate children.

A few words from the experts Sue Palmer (Literacy specialist and educational writer)

Handwriting has often been the ‘Cinderella skill’ in terms of the teaching of writing and too many published resources have relied far too much (and too soon) on worksheet materials. For many young children, worksheets in Nursery and Reception classes can often be counterproductive. Instead, we should be linking preparation for handwriting to music, movement and art, and ensuring that these experiences are both appropriate for handwriting and enjoyable for the children. In this respect, the practical suggestions in Penpals: Foundation 2 are the best materials I have ever come across.

Links to national guidelines Penpals: Foundation 2 supports many national guidelines including: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (Department for Education and Skills or DfES); National Literacy Strategy Framework (DfES); Developing Early Writing (DfES); Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5 (Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum); English Language 5–14 Guidelines; Curricular Guidance for Pre-School Education (Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment).

Through the supportive context of whole-class activities leading to independent tasks, Penpals develops: ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

control of fine and gross movements that support the development of handwriting; vocabulary for talking about letter formation; oral patter to support the formation of letters within their letter families; links between phonemes and letters; efficient pencil hold and good posture; control of pencil marks to form letters correctly, to prepare for joining; opportunities for exploring shape and movement across the curriculum and in the environment.

Using handwriting across the curriculum From the time children are introduced to correct letter formation during the Foundation key stage (3–5 years), there should be an expectation that they will use the correct letter formation in all the writing they do. Bad habits should not be

allowed to develop. There are therefore many ideas to reinforce and practise good formation in the Penpals Foundation materials.

Until individual letter formation is secure, children should not be allowed to join letters. If appropriate, set handwriting targets for the children and incorporate cross-curricular writing into handwriting assessments.

How to use Penpals Classroom organisation The ideal classroom organisation for teaching Penpals is to have the children sitting at desks or tables arranged in a horseshoe shape so that they can all see the Big Book. Each child needs a dry-wipe board (preferably with guidelines) and marker pen, or pencil and paper. In the Foundation stage, it may be more appropriate to have the children sitting in front of the Big Book on the carpet. If this organisation is not possible within your classroom, bear in mind the following points as you plan your own classroom: All the children need to see the Big Book and be able to copy words or handwriting patterns from it. (Copying may not be appropriate for children in the earlier stages.) ● Handwriting is usually done on a horizontal or slightly sloped surface. Sustained practice of handwriting patterns on a vertically mounted dry-wipe board or Big Book page is not recommended but it can be useful for quick interactive teaching sessions. ●

When to use Penpals Penpals can be used flexibly to teach handwriting as recommended in Developing Early Writing. Ideally the Big Book teaching session will be followed immediately by the independent work, but where this is not possible the sessions may be split.

Timing the sessions The whole-class session for each unit, including the warm-up activities, should take no more than 15 minutes. The independent working session should take about 15–20 minutes. This should allow you time to teach within the Literacy Hour structure if you wish to do so, although the recommendation in Developing Early Writing is that handwriting be taught outside the Literacy Hour. In addition to the allocated time, extra daily ‘practice times’ of 5–10 minutes are ideal, if the practicalities of your timetable allow for it. Children can use these sessions to practise the high-frequency words, to extend their pattern practice or to revisit the letter pattern shown in the Practice Books. As with most successful learning, ‘little and often’ is the most effective approach.

Penpals for Handwriting: Foundation 2 © Cambridge University Press 2003

Sequence for teaching the units

Whole-class session

Gross and fine motor skills

1 Warm up In Foundation and Key Stage 1 materials, all lessons begin with warm-up activities. These are brief activities that are intended literally to prepare the upper part of the body and the hands for handwriting. They will help to develop both gross and fine motor control.

In Penpals: Foundation 1, a series of units based upon developing gross motor skills, fine motor skills and basic letter movements is offered as a resource base. These will need to be taught and revisited at several stages throughout the Foundation phase. The shape of the Foundation 2 lessons is generally assumed to be that of moving from gross to fine motor skills. Teaching units

In Penpals: Foundation 2, 23 teaching units are provided for terms 2 and 3 (by which time most of the intake are in school). In subsequent years, 10 units have been provided for each school term.

Teaching sequence for a unit of Penpals for Handwriting You will need: the relevant Teacher’s Book page; the Big Book; ● water-based marker pens for annotating the pages. ● ●

e 3 Unit focus and phonic link These are clearly identified for each unit.

4 Introduce the page Talk about the page in preparation for teaching.

5 Sky writing patterns These activities are linked to the unit focus and involve children drawing patterns in the air.

space for sky writing and movement; ● dry-wipe boards and marker pens* or pencils and paper; ● pencils and coloured pencils; ● the relevant Practice Book. (*Remember that one of the crucial elements of ensuring good handwriting is good posture. If children are writing with drywipe boards on their knees or on the floor, good posture is more difficult to achieve.)

They are an ideal way of introducing children to a particular gross motor movement before they have to refine it as a fine motor movement. Sky writing patterns are usually based on movement needed for letter formation, but sometimes they also predict the letter patterns and joins used in the unit. Stand with your back to the children when modelling sky writing.

Children will need: ●

2 Big Book page Every unit begins with a whole-class teaching session based on the Big Book page. This introduces the handwriting focus for the unit.

o 6 Demonstrate the letter formation Notes on how to demonstrate the letter formation and then how to involve the pupils interactively. Use the Show Me and Get Up and Go activities along with dry-wipe boards. Children will also benefit from additional sky writing practice, tracing the handwriting pattern on their palms, on each other’s back, on the table in front of them, etc.

p 7 Gross and fine motor skills Additional activities (often linked to ideas from Penpals: Foundation 1 Teacher’s Book) for developing these essential skills.

a 8 Out and about activity An additional activity encouraging children to look for letter patterns and shapes in the environment.

Independent work

The right-hand page of the Practice Book

This session can follow on directly from the whole-class session. Ideally, the children’s work should be overseen by an adult. Part 2 of the teacher’s notes for each unit provides helpful advice on using the pupil’s Practice Book page together and highlights some common errors to avoid.

5 Copying letters in context Once the children have practised forming the letters, they should try to write them in a context (usually a simple phrase or sentence).

In Foundation 2/P1, children record their work in write-in Practice Books (for terms 2 and 3). They should have a sharpened pencil for their writing, but may also need coloured pencils for pattern practice. 1 Practice Book Warm up An optional warm up for use where there is a split between the whole-class session and the independent work.

Familiarity with the correct formation of all patterns and letters is expected.

6 Pattern practice Children will need to practise the patterns at the bottom of the page. These usually reflect the pencil movement of the main activity, but always enhance fine motor control as children keep within the white lines. These patterns can be made using coloured pencils. These patterns are artwork, not letters, and should be treated as opportunities to develop movement and control.

o Also in the Teacher’s Book:

7 Play and practise In the Teacher’s Book, additional pattern practice (for any medium) is suggested for those children p who are not ready to put pen to paper in the Practice Books.

The left-hand page of the Practice Book (with starting dot support)

2 Finger tracing The unit which introduces each letter family always begins with finger-tracing letters that incorporate the representative artwork (e.g. curly caterpillar, long ladder).

3 Pencil tracing with starting dots to support letter formation.

4 Independent writing with an initial pencil trace and dots to indicate the correct starting point.

8 Common errors Writing issues to look a out for while pupils are working. 9 Take away This is an additional activity which can be used for extra practice or s homework. In Foundation 2/P1 these are mostly investigative activities. In addition, each unit introducing a letter family has two Photocopy Masters (PCMs) to provide pattern practice (for children who need reinforcement at a lower level) and letter formation practice (for more confident children). The second PCM may also be used in the unit that practises the whole letter family to give extra practice of the letter formations. 7

Differentiation Differentiation using Penpals can be achieved in a number of ways: Gross and fine motor skills: younger children who are not physically ready for formal handwriting practice will benefit from the Teacher’s Book suggestions for associated gross and fine motor skill activities. Some of these activities will be appropriate for the whole class while others are more suited to smaller group work with adult supervision. ● Children working individually with a teaching assistant may benefit from making patterns in trays of salt or sand in addition to working on dry-wipe boards. These children may also benefit from using the oral patter as they work. ● Take away activities provide excellent opportunities for differentiation as detailed above. Cross-references to similar Take aways can help you to select less challenging activities for those who need extra practice at a lower level. ● Higher-achieving children can be challenged by higher expectations of control and evenness of letters. ●

Assessment and record-keeping

Record-keeping

On-going formative assessment

The best record of what children have achieved will be in the Practice Books. These provide a useful record of achievement to share with parents and colleagues.

The most effective assessment of handwriting is on-going assessment because this gives you the chance to spot any errors or inconsistencies that are likely to impede a fast, fluent hand in the future. Be especially aware of left-handers and the difference between a pencil hold that will seriously limit their success in the future and one that has been found to work efficiently. On the second page of every unit in the Teacher’s Book, the Common errors section draws attention to the most common mistakes children make. The Practice Book page annotations in the Teacher’s Book also enable you to draw the children’s attention to key handwriting issues.

Teacher

Children

The Photocopy Master on page 9 offers a pro-forma recordkeeping sheet for children. You can give them opportunities to make patterns involving straight lines, loops, circles and zig-zags, but the templates can also be adapted for other experiences, including letter formation. Photocopy a sheet, record the activity type (e.g. sand play, finger painting, construction toys) in each quadrant and date it. There is sufficient space for you to record a brief comment or for the children to make patterns, or to colour in the quadrant.

Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record-keeping sheet Name ...........................................................................................................................

I have made ......................................................... in .......................................... date ................. ..........................................

..........................................

date .................

date ................. .......................................... date .................

Penpals for Handwriting: Foundation 2

ÂŠ Cambridge University Press 2003

Key issues Glossary of key terms

Activities

Talking about handwriting

●

Throughout Penpals it has been assumed that correct terminology should be used as soon as possible. In the Foundation phase, there is an emphasis on becoming familiar with the language of the hands and the language of movement as well as talking about the letter patterns and the formation of the letters. Terms used in Penpals include: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

●

Gross motor skills, fine motor skills. Lower case letter. Capital letter is used in preference to ‘upper case letter’. Short letter is the term used to describe a letter with no ascender or descender. Letter with an ascender. Letter with a descender. Flick is used to describe an exit stroke. (t finishes with a curl to the right rather than simply an exit flick.) Curve is used to describe descenders on letters (y, j, g, f ). Cross bar is used to describe the left to right line on t and f. It may also be used in relation to letters which feature a left to right horizontal line (e.g. e and z). Other important terminology used throughout Penpals includes: clockwise, anticlockwise, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, parallel, joined, sloped.

Key vocabulary

The children must be able to use and understand the following words: ●

top, bottom, up, down, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, clockwise, anticlockwise.

●

Warm ups These activities may be linked to the focus of the unit but are generally just enjoyable movement activities to warm up the muscles. Warm-up activities are suggested prior to the whole-class teaching session and again prior to the independent work in case the sessions are split. Sky writing This means tracing patterns in the air, or on the carpet or table in front of you. Encourage children to use one of their fingers as a pointer for these activities. Show Me This is the term used to describe a practice activity. Children write on a dry-wipe board, sky write, trace on each other’s back, etc. Get Up and Go This describes an activity where a child is asked to come up and point out a word or letter pattern in the Big Book. Finger tracing Children trace over the letter or letter pattern using the forefinger of their dominant writing hand. This gives the children a much better kinaesthetic memory of the movement than the smaller movement of a pencil.

In the Foundation books, certain apparatus is suggested for developing gross motor skills. Stilts, frisbees and streamers are all physical education apparatus commonly available from educational suppliers.

Oral patter for Penpals At Foundation 2 we provide an oral patter for a representative letter of each letter family (l, r, c and z). l – ‘make a long ladder: start at the top, come all the way down and flick’. (For some letters in this family you will need to curve rather than flick.) r – ‘make a robot: start at the top, come down and bounce back up and over’. c – ‘make a caterpillar: start at the head, curve over the back and round’. 10

z – ‘make a zig-zag monster: start by going straight across to the head’ (left to right like a cross bar) ‘then go down the back and then straight across again’ (again, left to right like a cross bar).

Capitals It is generally agreed that there is no right or wrong way to form capitals. However, there is a general principle of forming them from top to bottom and left to right wherever possible. Guidelines on the formation of capitals are offered on the inside back cover of the Foundation 2 Big Book. Capital Y: the use of a central stalk (as opposed to a slanting stalk) is recommended as once children have completed the ‘v’ form at the top of the letter, they have a clear starting point for the downwards stroke. This formation also distinguishes the capital letter from the lower case letter and retains its shape when written at speed. Capital G: this form of G is recommended as the correct handwriting form of the letter. Variations which include a vertical line ( ) are font forms. Capital H: the formation of H using two down strokes followed by the horizontal stroke from left to right is recommended. The alternative (one down stroke followed by a horizontal and a further down stroke) can quickly resemble the letter M when written at speed. Capital K: the formation of K with two pencil strokes rather than three is recommended as it is more fluently formed when writing at speed. As skills and confidence develop, left-handers may well form capitals differently. This should not be an issue as capitals are never joined.

Penpals for Handwriting: information for parents Pattern practice and ‘play’ writing are an important part of handwriting development. When your child is ready for letter formation, ask these questions: ● ● ● ●

Where does the letter start? Is it a short letter? (a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, Does it have an ascender? (b, d, f, h, k, l, t) Does it have a descender? (f, g, j, p, q, y)

w, x, z)

The lower case letters are introduced in the following order in four family types: The family of long ladder letters

The family of curly caterpillar letters

l i t u j y

c ados gqe f

The family of one-armed robot letters

The family of zig-zag monster letters

rbn hmk p z v w x Penpals for Handwriting: Foundation 2

Planning staff INSET When you introduce Penpals into your school, it is important to ensure that all the staff in the school follow the scheme. To do this, it may be useful to hold an INSET staff meeting. The following pages of this book are photocopiable to make OHTs for this purpose: page 11 – information sheet for parents; page 13 – pencil hold and posture (NB: This can be sent home along with the parent information sheet); ● back cover of the Foundation 2 Big Book – lower case letters; ● page 60 – handwriting mats. ● ●

You may also find it helpful to copy these pages from the Year 1 Teacher’s Book: page 13 – outline of handwriting INSET session; page 14 – information sheet for parents; ● page 16 – font size and line width. ● ●

Suggested topics for inclusion in INSET meeting Organisational issues

Rationale for introducing Penpals Use the information on page 4. ● Classroom organisation Copy page 5 of this introduction for all staff. Read through it together, agreeing on the most appropriate time for the sessions, etc. ● Differentiation and record-keeping Use the information on page 8 ● Home–school links Make an OHT of the information sheet on page 11. ●

Handwriting issues

Font Use the inside front cover of the Foundation 2 Big Book or an OHT of page 16 from the Year 1 Teacher’s Book to demonstrate the font. Information on page 10 of the introduction may be used to clarify any issues arising. Font sizes If appropriate, photocopy Year 1 Teacher’s Book page 16 to demonstrate how font size is shown throughout Penpals. Writing on lined paper Children should be encouraged to write on lined paper from the time they begin to focus on correct letter formation and orientation. As the children’s handwriting becomes more controlled, the depth between the lines should decrease. It may well be that at any given time different children in your class will benefit from writing on paper with different line depths. The size of the font in the Practice Books is intended to reflect a development in handwriting. However, you should still tailor the handwriting materials to meet the needs of individual children in your class. Some children may prefer to write on lined paper which also includes guidelines for the height of ascenders and descenders. Pencil hold Make an OHT of page 13, which illustrates the traditionally recommended pencil hold. However, there are many alternative pencil holds (particularly for left-handers) and the most important thing is comfort and a hold that will be efficient under speed. Some children may benefit from triangular pencils or ordinary pencils with plastic pencil grips. Posture A good posture and pencil hold are vital for good handwriting. Although many young children enjoy sitting on one foot, kneeling or wrapping their feet around the legs of the

chair, they will find it easier to sustain good handwriting comfortably if they adopt a good posture. Left-handed children Left-handed children should not sit to the right of right-handed children as their papers will meet in the middle! Left-handed children should be taught to position their paper to the left of centre and then angle the paper for comfort as suggested below. There is no reason why lefthanded children’s handwriting should be any worse than that of right-handed children. Sloped surfaces Children who experience some motor control difficulties often benefit from writing on a slight slope. The easiest and cheapest way to provide this in the classroom is to use substantial A4 or foolscap ring-binders of which there are usually plenty in school. (The ones that held the old National Curriculum documents are excellent for this purpose!) Commercial wooden or plastic writing slopes are also widely available. Angle of paper: using the writing mats Make an OHT of the writing mat for right- and left-handed children as provided on page 60. You can photocopy these onto A3 paper, mount them on card and laminate them to make table-top mats for the children. Use the spaces provided to allow children to find the optimum position. Show the children how to line up the corners of their books to create a comfortable angle for writing, or how to use Blutack to secure lined paper to the mats. Encourage the children to explore personal variation of the angles. Remind the children that they need to move their paper as they change from left- to right-hand pages!

Pencil hold and posture

Pencil hold ● Pencil held between thumb and forefinger. ● Middle finger provides extra support.

Posture ● Feet flat on the floor. ● Head up, not resting on desk or hand. ● Paper at the correct angle. Spare hand steadies the paper. ●

Penpals for Handwriting: Foundation 2

Introducing long ladder letters:

CD-ROM

l, i, t, u, j, y

Gross motor skills

Unit focus: introducing the long ladder letter family. Phonic links: hearing initial phoneme l; alliteration in long ladder.

Letter animation Talk about the long ladder family mnemonic. Play the letter animation and say the patter. Children make the letter shape and say the patter.

Sky writing Children copy the three patterns which emphasise movements in the long ladder family. Say “Start at the top, come down.” as children begin each movement.

• • •

Children walk tall. Children stretch out on the floor. Children stretch up, then slowly fold down (link to music and movement).

Fine motor skills

•

Children make play dough long ladder shapes. Then they trace them with a finger.

• • •

Children weave with paper strips. Children thread strings of beads. Children arrange strips of paper to make long ladders.

Play and practise

Challenge artwork The picture illustrates a word beginning with the target letter. Children identify the picture word (leaf). Write the word and establish the target letter.

Word bank Choose a letter to discuss. Click on the letter to make it grey. Model and discuss the movements needed to form the letter. 14

Group work Practice Book warm up 0 Children practise sky writing long ladder patterns.

Independent work

Identify the unit title.

Children finger trace these letters saying the sound.

Remind the children to use the oral patter.

Can the children identify the pictures and the initial phoneme? Can they spot the double in the middle of lollipop? Children read the words and then trace the s.

Children write the missing s in the spaces. Can they think of another word beginning with ?

p Big Book page 2

Introduce the page • Encourage the children to talk about the page before you begin. • Point out the long ladder artwork. Skywriting patterns • Emphasise always starting at the top, coming down. Exaggerate no flick/flick.

Practice Book 1 pages 2–3

Check pencil holds while children pencil trace over the letters.

Check correct letter formation as children write the letter independently.

Children write a line of s. Check for pencil hold and correct letter formation.

Children trace over the patterns.

Common errors

• •

not starting at the top

•

reversing the flick

omitting the flick

•

letters not sitting on the line

Take away Children use PCM 1 or 2 as long ladder family pattern or letter practice.

Out and about activity Go for a walk to look for long ladder shapes (e.g. drainpipes, climbing frames, corners of buildings, gate posts). Ask the children to stretch up and trace the shape down to the ground. 15

Demonstrate the letter formations • Demonstrate the long ladder pattern using the ladder picture and the oral letter family patter (see page 11). • Emphasise the starting point and exit flick, and use the patter. • Demonstrate the rest of the letters. Get Up and Go Ask the children to point to the starting point of each letter in the family. Show Me Children practise the letter l. • Ask children to put the letters into sets. (t and l have ascenders, j and y have descenders, i and u are short.) • Note that the descenders curve to the left on j and y. • Look at the two short letters in this family, u and i.