Creating a great beginning writer

 There are a lot of things to tackle when starting out writing - particularly foundations.

The first things we tend to tackle are the fine and gross motor skills. Having those well developed skills lets our tamariki sit for a specified period of time, allows them to hold a pen, write from left to right and space letters - as well as ensuring they are formed correctly and the same size. Getting proficient with letter formation and phonics helps us with fluency in selecting and getting letters down on a page.

Generating an idea, and telling the teacher a sentence that matches is a crucial step - can I come up with a sentence and do I have other ideas that connect to my original idea. Executive function is key in that engagement - can I hold an idea in my head; can I engage in the writing process? Oral language is also important - can I generate a sentence with clear speech, using the vocabulary I need.

Then comes the spelling and decoding.

Foundational writing skills

In our class we utilise a lot of fine motor skill-building activities into our writing rotation: threading, colouring, sorting, puzzles, playdough, water play, the playground, tweezers, Lego...it looks like we are just playing but these are important developmental steps.

Again, our girls are more keen to engage in the process. We develop the letter formation alongside phonics. This year we are giving our girls a push from the get-go to see if we can attempt an easTTLe test at the end of the year. This will be interesting because they are probably not at the stage considering their age to attempt this, but our of interest, I am seeing how far we can go.