At what age/grade does writing and forming letters become more intense in school?

Question

My daughter is 7 and just entered the 2nd grade. She knows her alphabet and can write the alphabet. She often writes some letters backwards still, and her penmenship is really messy. At what point/age/grade should she be forming and writing neatly with less mistakes and messy in her writing?

Answer 1

I teach kindergarten and here we begin to teach the correct forming of the letters. First grade teachers pick up where we leave off and finish teaching them how to form them. By second grade though, your child should be forming her letters correctly. Try getting her some writing workbooks.

Answer 2

Kindergarden is mainly for practice in writing the alphabet and numbers. By the first grade your child should know how to write letters and form numbers very well. They actually start writing sentences and developing paragraphs. First grade stresses writing creatively and learning to express themselve on paper, and well as starting basic math skills. If you really feel your child is a bit behind in these basic skills, ask a teacher to possible enroll her in some special classes to get her caught up, and possibly check her for a learning disability. Don't be embarassed, or be in denial like some parents are. Do what is best for your child, sometimes kids need these special classes for a short time, and then before you know it with a little bit of help,they catch up with the rest of their class.I have seen many kids who were struggling in first and second grade, totally excell after a bit of special attention.

Answer 3

My daughter is 7 too and in the 2nd grade, and she was writing sloppy at the beginning of 1st grade and by the middle of the year she began writing neater and smaller. She every once in awhile still writes a letter backwards, mostly her S's. They were writing words and sentences last year and are doing more of that intense this year so far. I would say that she will show imporivment within this year. Good Luck

Answer 4

Most schools teach printing in first grade and cursive in second. Try to point out the backward letters and show her how to do it correctly. The teacher is probably doing the same thing in school. On the neatness issue, there are many adults whose writing hasnt improved at all in their life time. Try to encourage her to write neater and try to explain that the neater she writes the easier it is for the teacher to grade her paper. You can't really change someone's way of writing. We all write differently, but you can encourge her to write a little neater.

Answer 5

It differs between school systems.I teach in a town where they become really strict as soon as you hit Kindergarten.Which makes sense because if you're taught the correct way from the start then no one has to reteach you.But my children go to school in another town and they didn't even get involved in my son's handwriting.They said they concentrate more on the academics than on penmanship.So if I were you,I would ask your child's teacher for a print out of correct letter formations so you can aide her at home.There's also a great program called handwriting without tears that helps if you can get your hands on it.Good luck!

Answer 6

Write out a simple sentence & ask her to copy it, then ask her to make up a sentence on her own & write it down. Is the the copied senctence neater? If it is, then maybe her letters & penmanship are bad because she's focusing on the thinking/creative part of writing (not such a bad thing). But, if the senctence she copied from you still has backwards letters, or is equally messy to her own made up sentence, then maybe she simply needs extra practice writing.

Answer 7

They'll start refining that now that she's in 2nd grade. Just gently correct her when you see she does a letter backward and buy her those writing tablets with the stencils and outlines so that she can practice at home. But don't worry about it, kids progress at their own pace. Just don't pressure her and she'll be fine!

Answer 8

2nd grade will begin to refine this. You don't have to wait for the school to do it either. Take an active role as a parent and make up some writing games at home.

Answer 9

my daughter also started second grade and we had a parent/techer conference a couple of days ago. I asked about her handwriting, it is awful. The teacher told me not to worry about the neatness of her writing. It will get better on her own. By the end of the year though, she will be writing a 3 paragraph essay.

Answer 10

By the end of 2nd grade her penmanship should improve, you can speed up the process by working with her in the evenings.