Wednesday 19 March 2014

New 2014 Letter-join features launched.

Introducing new Letter-join features to support changes to the 2014 National Curriculum for handwriting. 

New worksheets for printed letters, form-filling and dictation exercises added to Extra Resources.
 Under 'Extra resources' Letter-join has the following features added;
(1) New Letter-join Dictation exercises to encourage speedy handwriting and note-taking.
(2) New form practice worksheets for printed letters.
(3) Extra labelling worksheets for printed letter practice.

The 2014 National Curriculum changes to handwriting
The new 2014 curriculum has been changed to be more specific about handwriting. The following extract is taken from the DofE’s 'The national curriculum in England Key stages 1 and 2 framework document'.

“They should be clear about what standard of handwriting is appropriate for a particular task, for example, quick notes or a final handwritten version. They should also be taught to use an unjoined style, for example, for labelling a diagram or data, writing an e-mail address, or for algebra and capital letters, for example, for filling in a form.”

Please click here to download  a PDF of The National Curriculum in England, Key Stages 1 and 2 Framework Document from the Deptartment for Education website.

To support teachers, Letter-join now has a number of new resources:

New Letter-join dictation exercises to encourage speedy writin and note-taking

Example of a new Letter-join dictation exercise to help with speedy writing for note-aking
The screen image shows a CVC word page shown with an example of the written words.

Under the 'Extra Resources' button of Letter-join we've added a new section of dictation exercises.
There are three levels of exercises that progressively increase in complexity, and all follow a format of Listen, Write, Edit, Copy. Here's a description of the process:

Listen: Play the dictation exercise at normal speed for class to listen to.
Write: Play the slower version allowing time for each phrase to be written down. You may need to press the pause button between phrases. Explain to the pupils that if they do not hear clearly, or if they don't have time to write everything down, they can leave a blank space which can be filled in at the next stage.
Edit: Play the dictation exercise again at normal speed so that the class can fill in any blanks they have left, or make changes.
Copy: Display the text on the whiteboard for pupils to check and ask them to copy out their exercise using their best joined-up handwriting.

Exercises are grouped into three sections: Easy Practice, Harder Exercises, More Challenging!

Three new sections
Shown below are a selection of screen images you'll find within the Extra Resources section:

Dictation Exercises
Easy Dictation includes a selection of CVC words, Easy numbers and an Easy poem.



Example of an easy poem dictation exercise shown with the correctly dictated hand written words.

List of phrases, featured in the Dictation section.


Labelling Worksheets
To further support the new curriculum changes, Letter-join has additional Labelling worksheets for printed letter practice. These can be found in the 'Extra Resources' section under 'Supplementary Worksheets' or can be accessed from the Printed Letters section.


Form Filling Worksheets
An example of a new Letter-join form-filling worksheet. There are three in total offering different levels of complexity.