Kinetic Letters Handwriting

Handwriting is extremely important at The Bay CE Primary School. Children usually do handwriting lessons on the floor as this helps their writing muscles to develop gradually. Surprisingly, pencil grip is an important part of this, as incorrect grip can make writing longer pieces very difficult and uncomfortable. Every session, children are taught to use their three-finger pencil grip whilst they carefully write the different letter families. Once children can confidently form all of the letters, they then move on to correctly learning to join.

Research shows that flick joins make it easier for the child to join their handwriting. It is important to note that not all letters need to be joined. If you finish the letter to the left, you do not need to join it, e.g. s, b. additionally, you do not need to join descender letters, e.g. f, y, p. Different to previous methods, letters do not need a ‘lead in’.

Please watch the handwriting videos to see the ‘Move It, Say It, Write It’ method. Encourage your child to practise at home and have fun learning together!

Please note that due to the proximity of the camera, pencil grip may be hindered.

The Four Threads of Kinetic Letters:

Red Thread: Making bodies stronger
- Children understand that they ‘need to be strong for writing’ and are regularly taught on the floor to build this strength.
Green Thread: Holding the Pencil
- Children understand that the 3 Friends Hold helps them to write with flow, for extended periods of time, without being distracted by aching hands or fingers.
Yellow Thread: Learning the Letters
- Children understand that 6 Moves (letter families) are combined into movement sequences for each letter/number formation.
Blue Thread: Flow, Fluency and Joining
- Once children are confident with letter formation, they are taught to join using flow.