Happy Handwriting Foundation Teachers guide

Collins

Foundation Teacher's Guide

�4--.-- �---- -

Building confidence and fluency

Series Editor: Dr Jane Medwell Author: Stephanie Austwick

Contents Handwriting: an important aspect of the modern curriculum

4

The Happy Handwriting course

6

Writing a school handwriting policy

8

The Reception year and the EYFS curriculum for handwriting

10

Order of introduction of letter formations each week

11

Lower-case letter formations

13

Capital letter formations

14

Memory phrases

15

Teaching handwriting in Reception

16

Early handwriting skill diagnostic sheet

20

Teaching the lessons

21

Routine activities in Happy Handwriting: Reception

22

Introducing the Curly Caterpillar family

25

Assessment sheet for the Curly Caterpillar letters

26

Units 1–10

27

Introducing the Long Ladder family

37

Assessment sheet for the Long Ladder letters

38

Units 11–18

39

Introducing the Robot family

47

Assessment sheet for the Robot letters

48

Units 19–25

49

Introducing the Zigzag family

56

Assessment sheet for the Zigzag letters

57

Units 26–30

58

Additional Practice sheets

63

Learning letter names and alphabetical order

78

Assessment week 1: crosses and 0s

79

Assessment week 2: curvy shapes and name writing

80

Happy Handwriting

3

The Happy Handwriting course Happy Handwriting provides guidance and resources for you to teach efficient, fluent, and legible handwriting as simply as possible, and to create a clear, shared handwriting policy in school. Happy Handwriting teaches the key elements of early handwriting: letter movements, alphabet knowledge, and joins between letters, as early and thoroughly as possible.

Handwriting should be taught separately from phonics instruction. However, letter formation and knowledge of letter names contribute to phonics and literacy learning. Children who can form letters correctly and automatically, and can discuss the letters by their names, use these skills in their phonics and writing.

The teaching of correct letter movements early in children’s literacy learning is an important foundation of fluent and automatic handwriting. It is very hard to unlearn motor habits, so letter formation movements must be learnt correctly right from the start, to ensure letters can be joined up later. Children should learn the correct movement for each letter formation before paying attention to the size or spacing of letters, which will come later, in Key Stage 1.

Some children will find learning handwriting relatively easy and a few may almost seem to ‘catch’ it effortlessly. However, other children will find handwriting more challenging and mastering the complex, rounded shapes of letters and joins may need more practice and attention. Happy Handwriting builds in regular self-review of handwriting by children and assessment by teachers, so that you can use the additional resources to support children who need more guided practice. There is assessment advice and a recording sheet for handwriting assessments for each family of letter movements, and printable materials for parents or carers to support their child’s handwriting development.

Letter formation is a movement, not just a shape The Happy Handwriting course prioritises the introduction of the correct movements to form lowercase letters (letter formation), followed by their capital formations. The letters are introduced in order of letter movement families based on the formation of the letters. The order of units has been planned to ensure that children learn the formation of letters they have already met in their phonics programme.

The Letter formation families The four families are: ●

●

●

●

6

The Curly Caterpillar family: anti-clockwise round, exemplified by the letter c o cadgoq o esf The Long Ladder family: down and off in another direction, exemplified by the letter l o ilt o uyjk The Robot family: down and retrace upwards, exemplified by the letter r o rnm o hbp The Zigzag family: straight, sharp turn, exemplified by the letter z o vwxz

Happy Handwriting

Letter formation – movements There is a letter formation movement in Happy Handwriting for each letter. The dot is the starting point and each arrow represents a directional stroke. These are set out on pages 13 and 14 of this guide. There are memory phrases to reinforce this movement, set out on page 15.

Letter formation – break letters Happy Handwriting uses a lower-case script where most letters have an exit stroke or ‘flick’ to prepare children to join letters as soon as they feel able. In Happy Handwriting, the following letters do not join to letters following them: b, g, j, p, q, x, y, z, s. Letters which finish on the left (b, p, x), letters where a join would cause a loop (g, j, q, y) and letters with many changes of direction (s, z) do not join. Most adults use an efficient semi-joined script when they write, and Happy Handwriting prepares children to learn this as early as possible.

Letter formation for left handers The formation of some letters is slightly different for some left-handed children, who ‘pull’ the lines right to left, whereas right-handers will ‘push’ lines left to right: the lower-case letters t and f and the capital letters A, E, F, H, J, T.

Learning the alphabet Knowing the names of the letters allows us to talk about them and helps with phonics and spelling.

Call a letter by its name, rather than the sound associated with it. If children learn the letter name when they learn the movement for the lower-case letter, they can then learn the capital letter which has the same name. Of course, it is also important to discuss the sounds associated with letters in phonics, and children have no difficulty learning both letter names and the sounds associated with the letters.

Alphabetical order of letter names is an easily learnt sequence which lasts a lifetime. It enables children to use dictionaries, encyclopaedias and glossaries – and it is one system that is not changing in this digital age! It is worth teaching your Reception children to recite the alphabet and use games to consolidate alphabetical order of letters. In Reception, Happy Handwriting does this by encouraging you to sing the classic alphabet song as often as possible, and follow the letters across the page. Additional alphabet activities are given on page 78 of this guide.

Joining letters in Key Stage 1 In Key Stage 1, Happy Handwriting teaches five main joins between letters: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

vertical joins to letters without ascenders (for example: ai) vertical joins to letters with ascenders (for example: ch) horizontal joins to letters without ascenders (for example: wa) horizontal joins to letters with ascenders (for example: wh) joins to round letters (for example: ad).

The basis of all these joins is correct letter movements, so that is the most important goal for the Reception year.

Happy Handwriting

7

The Reception year and the EYFS curriculum for handwriting The Reception year addresses the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. The statutory framework for the EYFS (2021) includes handwriting as an integral part of a number of aspects of the EYFS, but does not specifically call it handwriting.

ELG Physical Development: Fine Motor Skills •

Children at the expected level of development will hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing – using the tripod grip in almost all cases (page 13)

ELG Literacy: Literacy, Writing •

Children at the expected level of development will write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed (page 13)

Handwriting is part of the statutory assessments of the EYFS as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. In Early Learning Goals 4 and 10: ELG 04: Moving and Handling. Expected Level: •

They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing (page 28)

ELG 04: Moving and Handling. Exceeding Level: •

They hold paper in position and use their preferred hand for writing, using a correct pencil grip. They are beginning to be able to write on lines and control letter size (page 52)

ELG 10: Writing. Expected Level: • •

They write some irregular common words They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others (page 29)

Development Matters (2020) identifies that in Reception, children will be learning to: Develop the foundations of a handwriting style which is fast, accurate and efficient.

Teachers should: • • •

Teach and model correct letter formation.

Continuously check the process of children’s handwriting (pencil grip and letter formation, including directionality). Provide extra help and guidance when needed.

Plan for regular repetition so that correct letter formation becomes automatic, efficient and fluent over time.

Form lower-case and capital letters correctly.

•

Teachers should teach formation as they learn the sounds for each letter using a memorable phrase.

Priorities for Happy Handwriting in Reception Key priorities for the Reception year are: • • 10

To learn the correct letter movements for lower-case and capital letters.

To learn the names and alphabetical order of the letters in the alphabet.

Happy Handwriting

Order of introduction of letter formations each week At the start of Term 1 of Reception, we suggest using the diagnostic checklist before beginning handwriting lessons. This assessment period ensures children have begun their phonics learning and met some letters in their phonics lessons before encountering the letters in their handwriting lessons.

Term 1

Letter formation strand Term 1: Introduce the Curly Caterpillar family

Alphabet activities

Introduction phase – sitting and motor assessment

Assessment week 1 – crosses and 0s, crossing the midline

Introduce the alphabet song

1

c (Introducing Curly Caterpillar letters)

Singing the alphabet song

2

a

3

d

Following the alphabet on the Practice Book page

4

g

5

o

6

q

7

e

8

s

9

f

10

Revision of Curly Caterpillar family: c, a, d, g, o, q, e, s, f

Term 2

Letter formation strand Term 2: Introduce the Long Ladder family and Robot family

Alphabet activities

11

i

12

l

Find the missing alphabet letters on each page of the Practice Book

13

t

14

u

15

y

16

j

17

k

18

Revision of Long Ladder family: i, l, t, u, y, j, k

19

r

20

n

Happy Handwriting

Assessment week 2 – curvy shapes and name writing

11

Term 3

Letter formation strand Alphabet activities Term 3: Introduce the remaining Robot family and the Zigzag family

21

m

22

h

23

b

24

p

25

Revision of Robot family: r, n, m, h, b, p

26

v

27

w

28

x

29

z

30

Revision of Zigzag family: v, w, x, z

12

Alphabet hunt (see page 78) Match capitals and lowercase letters in the Practice Book

Happy Handwriting

Lower-case letter formations

abcde fghijk lmnop qrstu vwxyz Lower-case letter formations

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2021

Capital letter formations

ABCDE FGHIJK LMNOP QRSTU VWXYZ Capital letter formations

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2021