Page 103: Writing in the EYFS
What is writing? According to google, "Writing may be defined as any conventional system of marks or signs that represent the utterances of a language. Writing renders language visible ... writing is concrete and, by comparison permanent."
Often, when asked and thinking about writing in school, your brain may flood back to writing instructions of how to make a sandwich, or that class story mountain. It reach this point, letters placed together to form words and words placed together to form sentences, we must think about these marking onto paper. This is where we begin in the EYFS.
Writing and developing the ability to write stems from a range of factors. There is the obvious being able to hold the writing tool and that pencil to paper mark, but children also must have the opportunity to develop gross and fine motor skills so they are building stamina to write. Core strength is integral, children being able to sit up and use their arm for extended periods, as well as individual finger control, being able to manipulate the hands and fingers to form marks. In today's page I am going to share why making marks is so important in our curriculum and some practical tips too!
Mark making is sometimes referred to as emergent writing. It is the first step in children’s journey towards the type of writing that can be read and understood by others. The concept of emergent writing is that over time and with support, children’s mark-making metamorphoses into something that is recognisably writing.
Writing is language, usually spoken, that has been turned into symbols. Put simply, writing is all about words!
Interestingly, in the revised EYFS framework, the literacy education programme emphasises this. In practice, it means plenty of opportunities for talk, but also opportunities for children to narrate what they have been doing as this helps children to sequence what eventually they may want to write.
Provide plenty of opportunities for children to talk and develop their language.
Use photographs as prompts to help children talk about what they have been doing.
Look out for books with no or limited print and work with children to work out what the story might be.
Create times for children to repeat their personal stories to others so that their stories become more fluent.
Scribe children’s stories down so that they can see how their words can be turned into meaningful text.
How can we support a child’s writing journey?
Role-modelling .. how many times a day do they see an adult doing this?
Promoting writing is fun … avoid over criticizing and correcting
Provide a wide range of opportunities … sensory resources is great for this
Using imaginative play … children love to role play shopping! Can you write a shopping list?
Writing for a purpose … making cards is a great motivator! Specific key activities
To support our children initially writing and holding a pen, we need to support the development of their hand muscles! This is through fine motor skills!
What is fine motor? Fine motor skills is the ability to make movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists.
There are 6 key fine motor skills
Reach
Point
Touch
Grasp
Place
Release
In our environment we provide a wide range of activities to support this.
Examples include:
Using tweezers to pick up pom poms
Play dough activities such as ‘dough disco’
Threading
Using scissors
Zipping a zipper
- Miss Yeoman
(Reference useful article: https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/features/article/eyfs-best-practice-all-about-mark-making)
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