Toukley Public School

Handwriting

Handwriting in the early years

In New South Wales public schools, students learn to use the NSW Foundation Style writing font. The following resource may provide guidance and activities to use with students in the early years. This resource will complement the phonics sequence activities. Each letter has a short script to support students in forming letters. The following is an overview of lower case and capital or upper case letters and numbers in the NSW Foundation Style.

Tips to help your child develop fine motor skills for successful handwriting

In order to support handwriting development, teachers engage students in a range of fine motor activities to strengthen hand muscles.

Encourage your child to develop fine motor skills by:

• using their fingers to draw and build in sand

• using a range of pencils, crayons and markers to draw and make patterns

• using play dough and clay to create shapes and patterns

• drawing patterns in the air

• playing with pegs and helping to hang out washing

• playing games that involve tweezers or tongs

• threading activities such as beads and string

• craft activities involving cutting and sticking.

Starting to form letters

In the early years, students develop basic skills of writing, including correct pencil grip, good posture and handwriting movements, using a thicker pencil.

Teachers support students to learn correct letter formation by building skills in a sequence, including:

• drawing a range of shapes such as straight lines and circles

• exploring patterns such as a soft wave or pointed peaks

• having students write over a highlighted letter, with a dot to show where to start

• writing the letter using a letter outline with a starting dot

• writing the letter using a starting dot on a line

• writing the letter in dotted lines.

Structuring a handwriting activity

Posture

Having a rhyme to start the lesson can be a fun way to encourage students to engage the correct posture and position.

The following is a suggestion:

1 2 3 4 Are my feet flat on the floor?

5 6 7 8 My chair is in, my back is straight!

Pencil grip

We encourage students in the early years to use a thicker pencil and the tripod grip. Ways to encourage the tripod grip may be to put a dot or sticker on the pencil to make sure fingers are in the right position.

Websites

Making an Alphabet book

All of the information on this page can be found at this website.

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